Season Of Love (gxg) | ✍︎︎

12. Catch Your Eye.

They were quiet for a few moments as they sipped their tea. but after a while, Yvette broke the silence between them with the very last words Noelle wanted to hear.

"I got a call from Irene this morning."

"Oh," is all Noelle responded with.

Irene is Tayden's mother, and even if their kids are no longer together, their friendship is still as strong as ever. They were friends long before Noelle and Tayden ever got together. In fact, they're the reason they met in the first place.

"She said you had dinner with Tayden last night."

"Yes, I had dinner with Tayden last night. Word travels fast, it seems," Noelle said the last sentence into her teacup.

"That it does. I wonder why I had to find out through her and not my own daughter, though."

"Because you always make a big deal of things every time I mention Tayden. I wasn't trying to hear all of that."

"I do not make a big deal."

"Mom." Noelle looked at her mother with her head slightly cocked to the side and a pout set on her lips.

"Okay, fine," the woman sighed. "I guess I have been a little much in the past."

"It wasn't that long ago. And I was gonna tell you about my meeting with Tayden, I just wanted time to process what it all meant first. I needed time to sit with what we talked about."

"And what exactly is there to process? Are you guys going to try and work things out?"

"If you're trying to ask if we're getting back together, the answer to that is no. That's not happening. Not now or ever."

"Noelle, he's a doctor. He's so perfect. What happened?"

"Mom, I was only marrying him because I felt like I was supposed to. I was never actually in love with him, and I'm almost positive you should be in love with the person you're marrying."

"But you were always so happy with him."

"That's true. I was happy with him, but I was never really happy with myself."

"I don't understand," Yvette said as she shook her head disapprovingly. "I try to understand you, I really do, but I just don't get you, Noelle."

"I'm not sure you need to understand. I knew in my heart marrying Tayden was not the right thing to do. And I don't care if no one else understands why I made that choice. Tayden understands and he accepts and respects my decision. Honestly, he's the only other person who matters in this situation."

"And you're sure you leaving Tayden had nothing to do with Dwayne?" She asked very accusingly. Yvette has been suspecting Noelle and Dwayne of being more than friends since they were teenagers, no matter how many times she's proved to her they are not and will never be more than that.

"Here we go."

"I'm just saying. You've always been so... close.. to Dwayne."

"Because he's my friend. At this point, it feels like he's family."

"I know you guys had that thing in high school when—"

Noelle refused to let her mother finish that thought before she was correcting her for what felt like the millionth time. And quite frankly, she was tired of defending her relationship with Dwayne to her mother. She expected this type of behavior from other people in town who would give them certain looks when she would go out with Dwayne, but she was not going to accept it from her own mother.