Remember When ↠ l.p.

Excuse me?

"Um, I do think that it's a bit weird." I frown at him. The seconds seem to last minutes as I race to find something to say, trying to figure out how to react to what he said. Is this some sort of resentment rising at the fact Tessie calls me 'mommy'? After the first time that he heard her call me mommy-the day that he moved into a regular room again-I took him aside to make sure that he really was okay with it...

~

"I'm honestly just glad that she has someone, a mother figure. Without Sophia or either of her grandmother's here, it wouldn't have been easy to find someone I trusted with her or one she would have latched onto so quickly and easily. It does bother me, but that's just because I'm not used to hearing her say it." He runs his hand through his slightly shaggy hair that's grown longer due to his coma. "She didn't call Soph mommy. She called her mother, it's what Sophia wanted and I didn't argue with her. I didn't care. But, I'm not bothered in a way where it makes me uncomfortable or upset, if that's what you're worried about."

"I was. I don't want you to think that I'm somehow replacing Sophia, that's the last thing that I want to do." I sigh and cross my legs, trying to get comfortable in the plastic chair beside Liam's bed. He's resting after the big move back into a regular room. 

"I know that that's not you. I know it's hard for you to really believe that, from what little I can recall I wasn't very nice to you." He sucks in a gust of air with a wince. "I'm sorry about that."

"You don't need to apologize, you weren't in control." I say softly, placing a hand over his and smiling gently.

"The fact that I wasn't in control makes me all the more glad that you were there for Tessie. In fact, seeing her call you 'mommy' is proof of that. I wasn't in a position to take care of her since I wasn't even able to properly take care of myself. So I'm glad that you were there to step in and care for her."

~

I thought that he was fine with it, he had seemed to be completely supportive of it and hadn't mentioned it again. I take a deep breath and try to compose myself. My cheeks are heated slightly and I feel disoriented. If his plan was to confuse me, it certainly worked. I have no idea what he's up to. I put on a what I hope is a relaxed face and nod to him. "Maybe you should scrap that idea and head back to the drawing board. Surely you can find another nickname from Isabella..." I wink awkwardly at him and walk out of the room before my mask of carefree banter can begin to falter and crack.

I hurry into the living room where Tessie has taken it upon herself to try to spread out the large sheet alone. She's not accomplishing much and has ended up dragging what she's laid down behind her as she tries to spread out another section. "Here," I offer "let me help you with that. It looks like this sheet is being troublesome!" She sighs in relief and hands me one of the sheet ends. We begin to work together and get the sheet spread out quickly between the two of us. This, I decide, is easy. Children are easy, but men? Never easy to understand or handle.