Metamorphosis

Weakened Foundation

Chapter 28

Weakened Foundation

The entire ride home from the center, both teens were quiet; only one thing on their minds.

Holy shit, we kissed!

Seth stopped the car in front of her house. They sat in the silence and listened to the car sounds.

"Well, here we are."

"Yep."

More silence filled the car. It was starting to get suffocating.

"So… I'll call you in a couple days and we'll talk to that adoption agent?" he asked. She looked up in confusion.

"What? Oh, yeah, call in a couple days. We'll um… talk."

"Yeah, talk."

Even more silence. Finally, they decided to break it.

"Mira-" he began

"Seth-" she began at the same time. Meeting each other's gaze, they laughed nervously.

"Merry Christmas." He said. She nodded and unbuckled her seatbelt.

"Merry Christmas."

The brunet stared as she got out of the car and walked up to her front porch. She turned and gave him another small wave before she unlocked the door and walked in.

Mira's family came home early than she expected them to be. First Marli and Matt came bursting through the door in a fit of laughter, then in walked Adam in a bout of laughter. Audrey trailed behind with her arms crossed tightly and glaring at her husband.

"You're home early." Mira commented. Audrey ignored her and smacked Adam upside the head.

"I cannot believe you did that!" the older woman exclaimed "My mother is barely talking to me already. Why did you have to do something so stupid?"

"What happened?" Mira asked. Adam ducked as Audrey tried to smack him upside the head again and turned to his oldest daughter.

"For twenty years, your grandma Katherine has bitched that I never get her a decent Christmas present! And that is because I despise her with every fiber of my being. So this year I finally got her a present!"

"Boy did you, dad!" Matt yelled while hanging up his coat in the closet. Mira looked at him suspiciously.

"What? What did you get her?" she asked. Before Adam could answer, Audrey intervened.

"He bought her an urn!"

"With her name on it!" Adam defended.

"Then he asked if there was a chance that she could be in it soon!" Marli said with a laugh. "Grandma got so mad she started throwing plates at dad!"

By this point, even Audrey had to join in the laughter. But as soon as she saw her husband smirking at her, she immediately turned stony again.

"This does not mean that I'm over this!" she said sternly. Adam quickly put on his 'kicked puppy' face.

"Sorry, mommy." He said sweetly, holding out his arms in what appeared to be a peace offering hug.

The three Pascal siblings exchanged glances. This was a moment of truth: would their mother knock down a few barriers and actually make real contact with their father.

Audrey smiled and walked into his arms, hugging him around the neck tightly.

The teens all sighed with relief.