When It's Time to Move On

Door 3 - Chapter 39 - How They Lived

"They just couldn't believe I'd picked a place like this," said Roslin.

Harris could imagine how flabbergasted the guys must have been at first sight of the coffee shop. But considering their personalities, they could find something fun out of a children's daycare center as well. And he was quite sure this was where they were.

"How's Auden been?" He asked eyeing his friend on a slide as Laarni took a picture of him.

"He looks sober enough, and you can't have a drink here," Roslin told him. Considering there were several children running about, that was a given. "How're you holding up?"

"I told you, I'm fine," he smiled, hoping it extended to his eyes. "You know, now that I think about it, this place looks kind of familiar."

"I think back when you were a child, this shop was in its heyday, so I won't be surprised if you visited with your parents."

"My mom, probably, my dad would never set foot in a place like this. He could never stand all this brightly colored stuff; he was much more lenient than my mom, though. Sort of an opposite thing they had going, but it worked."

"Sounds like a good match."

"You just knew this was meant to be. They had their challenges, but they never let me and my siblings feel it. There was a time when we weren't so well off financially but I never found out about it until we were in a better place. They never wanted to trouble me."

"It comes down to support, I suppose. Whether it's as strong as you thought it was, you would never know until times get tough." Roslin surmised wistfully.

Harris could picture a younger Roslin sitting at the table with her husband, perhaps sharing a cup of coffee while their daughter was happily on the swings.

"Your friends are just about the daintiest people I've ever seen," she observed Hank carrying Sylvia in his arms and placing her on the swing to her objections.

"Yeah, it's a good thing for people like me who need to remember how to love life," said Harris. "Hank and Sylvia are looking to start a family in fact, and Laarni and Auden should be married soon."

"And you've never thought of the whole marriage thing?"

"With the culture I'm from, there was no way I wouldn't have," he smiled. "But when my family passed away, all these normalities of life felt surreal in a way."

"I get it, my life with Oreo seems a lifetime ago."

They sat in silence for a few moments as Harris recalled memories of his childhood, playing with his siblings, and long road trips with the family. Meanwhile, across him, Roslin seemed to be reminiscing as well, fiddling with the zebra-striped cup in her hands, a shadow of a smile across her face.

"Trust Harris to put a damper on the mood, huh, Roslin?" Auden appeared, taking Roslin by the arm and pulling her toward the play area. "Come on, show him how you were swinging before."

"I wasn't, it was you guys," she laughed as she complied.

Harris observed in amusement as his friends surrounded Roslin, and not just her, children seemed to have taken a liking to them as Hank lifted them up on his broad shoulders. Laarni and Sylvia snapped those moments while Auden was busy with Roslin. 

His friends were quite the daintiest – as Roslin put it – but they weren't very great when facing problems. He remembered how difficult it had been for them to digest the news of his cancer the first time around. Their crushed and silent faces looking down upon him on his bed had completely disheartened him to the point that he'd refused to see them.