A Parental Proposal

The regret that follows

Leah was full on freezing Eric out.

It had been over two weeks and Eric couldn't even get a glance from Leah. He didn't even know it was possible to be this invisible to someone.

Despite sharing a room, Leah made sure to never come face to face with Eric. She timed everything. She was gone before him and was asleep before he came to the bed.

She started sleeping on the floor and Eric didn't even get a chance to argue with her on that.

That was the worst part. He didn't get a say in anything. She froze him out completely.

Oh, and there was another worst part as well. Food.

During the first week of their marriage he got to taste her food and really loved it. In that shirt span he had gotten used to having someone at home cook for him.

But the day after their tiff, that was gone. He thought it was a one-day thing but it wasn't. There was enough food only for Leah and the kids and not for him. She made sure of it.

On the other side, the kids seemed to be taking a liking towards Leah. Haley was easy to please, so Eric wasn't surprised much. Haley liked everyone. But even Sally seemed to be warming up to having Leah around. She didn't talk much yet though, but just the fact that she was open to being with Leah was a progress. And Eric was happy seeing that.

He tried to talk to Leah. Plenty of times, in fact. But all his advances were cut off. She wouldn't listen. And Eric knew she was right to do so.

Eric knew he was wrong. He was wrong on so many levels that night. And he regretted it deeply. He hadn't intended to be that harsh. His head had been elsewhere.

Earlier that day, Eric had received a phone call from his ex-wife who had threatened and manipulated him with every possible scenario of how Leah could be bad for the family. She had painted Leah as a gold digger and Eric had blown her off at the moment. But then it had been gnawing at him all day and despite his better judgement he had given into it when he was home.

He had embarrassed Leah first by entering without knocking and then had blamed her for nasty things.

He had been ashamed of his behaviour ever since and wanted to explain it to Leah.

But more than 2 weeks have passed and she still wouldn't give him a chance.

It was weekend again and Eric was determined to end this silent feud.

Saturday morning, Leah was sitting with the kids in the balcony with their mid-day drink. Eric usually woke up late on Saturdays and was only just out of the room.

"Good morning, my sunshines!" He called out to the kids.

"Daddy! Good morning!" Haley said chirply. She placed her glass of juice on the table and ran to him.

Haley was followed by a less enthusiastic but equally happy Sally. They both hugged him and kissed him.

"Did you sleep well?" He asked and they nodded.

"You daddy?" Sally asked softly.

"I slept really well, thank you! What are you guys drinking?"

"Miss Leah made lemon juice for us. Do you want some daddy?" Haley asked.

Eric cast a look at Leah but she wasn't looking at them. She was scrolling through her phone instead. Eric was sure there was no juice left for him and even if there was Leah wouldn't want him to have it.

"Nah. Daddy's gonna have some coffee."

He fetched himself some black coffee and joined them at the balcony. He was seated right next to Leah but still she went on like he didn't exist.

"What do you girls wanna do today?" He asked the kids.

"Miss Leah said we could watch a movie. Get pizza for lunch, maybe."

"Pizza?" Leah asked. "I don't remember saying pizza," she said raising an eyebrow.

Haley snickered.

"You naughty!" Leah laughed. "But okay, if you want pizza and if your dad approves, I'm good." She still wouldn't look his way.

Haley looked at Eric pleadingly and Eric immediately gave to go sign.

"Yay!" Haley said and high-fived Sally. "Let's go pick a movie," she said to Sally and soon they were both gone. They meddled around the firestick for a movie.

Leah and Eric sat in silence. Eric half expected Leah to walk away but she stayed out, looking out of the balcony and enjoying the city view.

"I've been meaning to talk to you," Eric started after a long moment.

She did not respond. She didn't even turn to him and kept drinking her juice.

"The other day..." Eric swallowed. He had practiced this speech so many times in his head, but now he couldn't find the words.

"A lot had been happening that day. You know...at work...and then the phone call... I...um..." He stammered and looked away. He tried to say sorry but a sudden ego that he didn't realise was there stopped him.

"I didn't mean..."

"Never mind," Leah spoke suddenly. Eric looked her way and saw that her eyes were ponned on his face. "My whole plan of, um what did you call it? Oh, yeah, luring you in was way out of line."

It took a second for Eric to get the sarcasm.

"I should've waited a little more, you know. First I should have tried to get closer to you like a friend and then I must have shown you all that I've got," she gestered a palm across her chest. "I'm sorry you were so unimpressed by what you saw."

"Okay, okay!" Eric held up his hand in defeat. "I'm sorry. What I did and said were all wrong. Look, I don't want to give excuses but it was a bad day for me. Work was shit and the kids' mom called and said some nasty things. It all caught up to me and I snapped at you in the worst way possible. I'm not proud of it."

Leah stared in silence.

"I'm sorry. Really sorry. For not having the basic courtesy to knock before entering and for saying all those ugly things to you. I'm ashamed and am really sorry."

Leah looked away.

Eric sighed. "I also want to thank you. For all that you're doing for they kids. It was a huge change for you and in spite of our differences you're good to the kids. I do notice it and I'm grateful."

Leah finally nodded.

"I'd like a clean slate, Leah. And this is for the kids' sake. I don't want them to see us fighting. That's not an environment I want them to grow up in. They've seen too much of that with their mom and me and I don't want more of that. I'd understand if you don't want to be friends with me and I'm not even expecting that much. But let's not give each other the cold shoulder. Let's be at least on talking terms."

Leah took a minute before nodding. "Okay."

"And once again, I'm really sorry."

"It's fine."

And Eric hoped it would be from now on.

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Author's note: Thank you my darling readers for giving this story a chance. You make me wanna write more 🫰 please vote if you liked this part!

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