Yours Truly ❁ n.k.h

• chapter twenty six •

All of the bags in my hands barely touched the floor when the sounds of a wail hit my ears. My eyes nearly bulged out of my head as they shifted around the dim living room, trying to follow the sound. I slithered through the door and shut it behind me.

I didn't even bother putting my keys down or taking my jacket off as I sauntered through the house.

A head full of dark brown ringlets and bow shaped lips curved into an 'o' form was the last thing I expected to see. Our dark eyes met each other in the illest stare down before the smallest and sweetest smile curved to fit their face.

Angel was so caught off guard by my presence that she ran into my legs, sniffles and all. I reached an arm around her body to rub her back. I never broke the eye contact I had with Xochitl.

"Hey." They drawled lowly.

"Hey." I threw back.

Angel was now prodding at one of my hands and inspecting the wedding ring on one of my fingers. I'd found it again when I was sifting through my clothes earlier. It's been a while since I wore it but I figured since I was home, it was okay to wear it again.

Xochitl smiled at my daughter who was now pulling the keys from my other hand to play with. I smoothed a few fly aways from her head.

"I didn't know you'd be here, you never texted me back."

I guided us to sit on Angel's bed, pulling her into my lap. My best friend and I were now shoulder to shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. Things have just been crazy around here." I looked down to wipe away old tears and lay a kiss on A's cheek. "Are you okay?" I whispered, to which she just nodded, too stuck on clinking together my keys.

"Yeah, I heard..." Xochitl spoke up. Their shoulder knocked into mine playfully. "She told me she snuck you."

This made a laugh bubble up in my chest and past my lips. I could see a smile widening on their face.

"Bro, snuck me is an understatement."

They nodded slowly. Their eyes seemed to ask a lot of questions that we knew we couldn't openly talk about at the moment. I tried to answer them with my own but it didn't feel right.

There were so many holes in the story that I felt they weren't accurately given. I hadn't actually spoken to them in maybe two weeks.

Everything was such a grand estimate of time now and I felt like shit for letting so much of it pass me by.

"Nah, but I'm glad to see you. Are you...?" They pushed.

I looked at the spitting image of my wife and I. A different sense of calm settled over me knowing I was now where I belonged again, and there was no running left for me in my future.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm home now. For good."

"Cool."

We sat there in serenity for a few minutes, either lost in thought or just not wanting to lose the moment we weren't sure if we'd ever have again. There was a lot Xochitl and I needed to talk about but we both knew now wasn't the time.