Tough Love (Book 2)

26. Coming Clean

~Ryan Kelly~

I heard a knock on the door. I got up and went to open it.

"Hey."

"Hi," I greeted. I tried to look past her. "Where are the kids?"

She sighed, "They didn't wanna come."

I bowed my head in disappointment. I stepped aside to let her in and closed the door behind her. "They'll never forgive me... will they?"

"They will. You're their father. You just have to prove you're really and truly sorry."

"And how do I do that?"

Karla shrugged. "I don't know. But we'll figure that out later. For now, you have an appointment in two hours to worry about. Have you had breakfast?"

I shook my head.

"Why not?"

"Not hungry."

"When was the last time you ate?"

"Last week... the last meal we had together was the last meal I've had."

"Ryan... a week?! That meal you're talking about wasn't even a meal, you were just trying to get something down to please me! When was the last time you had a full plate of food?"

I sighed. "I haven't had an appetite since you left before the divorce."

Her eyes widened. "Why?! That's like almost two months!"

"Cause... well... I was confused... and my mother only ever needed me to please her... so... I just stopped taking care of myself and no one cared to ask if I was ok."

She raked her hair back. I could sense her disappointment. She sighed. "What would you like for breakfast?"

"Anything. As long as I don't have to eat alone."

"Ok."

Karla made waffles and made us both a mug of coffee. Hers, dark but sweet, mine, extra creamy.

"Breakfast," she sighed placing my breakfast in front of me.

She sat beside me in front of her own breakfast.

I picked up my fork then stared at my plate. I looked at Karla who was also staring at her food holding her fork. She looked at me. "Eat up," she encouraged.

"You too."

She chuckled. "You don't have an appetite either, huh?"

I sighed, "Yeah. But you put a lot of effort into this though."

Karla got up with her plate, "Yeah but, we aren't in an eating mood." She took mine, "I guess we'll just save it for another day."

"Wait!" She stopped. "Can I at least taste it?"

She put the plates down, "But you just said you don't have an appetite."

"Yeah but... I wanna at least taste what you put a lot of work into."

She picked a piece of waffle with her fork and held it in front of me. I leaned forward and ate it. "Mmm..."

"Is it good?" she asked.

"Yeah!" I picked a piece of waffle with my fork. "Taste," I smiled showing her the fork.

She ate from my fork. "You're right."

I took a plate from her and began eating the waffles. As I ate, I realised how hungry I actually was. It was as if the more I ate, the hungrier I got. I finished all the waffles on my plate in a matter of 10 minutes.