The Divorce

9|Visitor

One week later

"I'll have the soft serve vanilla ice cream in a dish, please." The man orders. He then looks down at his daughter who was busy brushing her barbie doll's hair with a tiny plastic comb. "What kind of ice cream do you want, Jules?"

Julia keeps her focus on her Barbie's messy blonde hair. "Chocolate with a cone, please."

"But you always drop your ice cream scoop whenever you eat it with a cone, sweetheart."

Julia sighs dramatically but agrees with her father. "Fine. I'll have it with a dish."

The man orders for Julia, and orders for his mother who wanted a chocolate mint in a cone.

Today is the man's day off from work, and it's been a while since he's last seen his mom. He offered to come pick his mom up and have her stay at their house for a few days. It was the least thing he could do since his mother was living alone with nothing to do in her house all day long.

And the man missed his mother so much. And right now at this chaotic time of his life, he needed her the most.

After he picked up his mom, he asked if she wanted to join him and Julia for some ice cream at the local ice cream parlor. His mother happily agreed.

"You don't have to pay for me," his mother, Sophia says as she pulls a few bills from her purse. "It's very sweet of you, dear. But I've got it covered."

"Oh, come on mom. It's just ice cream," the man hands a twenty dollar bill to the cashier. "And besides you never let me pay for you. It's the least I can do."

Sophia smiles and tucks her money away. "You're such a good son."

———————-

The three of them decided to sit outside on one of the benches to eat their ice cream.

Julia accidentally gets a bit of chocolate ice cream stuck onto her Barbie's hair.

"Does your barbie need a napkin, sweet pea?" Sophia asks Julia with a hearty chuckle.

Julia nods. "My Barbie wanted to eat ice cream too."

Sophia laughs and hands her granddaughter a napkin. "I'm sure Barbie enjoyed it."

Julia thanks her and begins wiping the ice cream from her doll's hair.

Sophia turns to her son. "How's your wife doing? I haven't talked to her in a while."

"She's doing well." The man lies.

The woman was not doing well, she was doing the complete opposite from that.

But it was quite the usual for the man. Listening to her constant screaming and insults was considered normal to him by now.

He just couldn't bring himself to tell his mother of how badly his marriage actually was. His mother loved his wife. How could he tell her that he doesn't want to be with his wife anymore?

"Just well?" Sophia questions.

The man nods. "Yup. She's planting roses in our little garden in our backyard. She's such a good gardener."

"Tell her to plant some marigolds too! They make your house brighter." Sophia says, while taking another lick from her ice cream.

————————-

After they finished their ice cream, the three of them headed inside the man's car.

"Thanks for treating us," Sophia says as she buckles her seatbelt. "The ice cream was delicious."