Another Chance

The Truth

Olivia's eyes danced across the enormous dining room, sitting across from him at the oak table that must have been at least fifty feet long. Relentlessly, she watched him as he moved his fork oh so slowly through the thick substance of yellowish cream corn.

Scrape. Scrape. Gulp. Scrape.

She wanted to puke at the sight, because seriously? Cream corn is gross. But she knew that she couldn't. Instead, she just sat across from him, one leg carefully situated under her small frame, while the edge of her other heel rested on the edge of the seat of the chair. Her chin was resting on the top of her raised knee, and she sat patiently, silently while he ate.

Finally, she got sick of the silence. "You didn't tell me I was going to have to stay here, Louis. And more so, you didn't tell me that he was going to pick me up," she stated cautiously. She had to say something, the silence was killing her.

Minutes passed. Nothing. He just sat there still, his head staring down at the bowl as he continued to stir.

Scrape. Scrape. Silence. Scrape, Scrape.

His face was unmoving, tilted downward as he stared at his hand. This was killing her. He wasn't eating, and he definitely wasn't talking. She was about to remove that spoon from his hand and feed it to him like he was a little kid, airplane noises and all.

Her sigh was audible as she continued to watch the moving spoon, transfixed by the movements and the sound that they would make, especially since there was nothing else to focus on. What to say,...what to say?

"Lou...?" she trailed off again, hoping he would take the bait and answer her. He grunted in response.

"Louis, sweetheart," she continued. "I didn't travel 2,000 miles to watch you play with your food. FaceTime would've been cheaper," she stated. She was trying to bring humor to the situation, but it obviously wasn't working as he just made a disgruntled noise.

She watched nervously, painfully, as he got up. He looked angry. She turned her head away and closed her eyes as she heard him throw the bowl into the sink, the spoon and cream corn flying throughout the area where the sink was. She took in a shaky breath. Was it really this bad?

Her feet seemed to slowly untangle themselves from her position as she moved to get up. Her eyes took in his form, seeing his elbows lean over the corn covered edge of the sink, his hands moving to cover his face. She thought she saw his body quiver, perhaps from crying, but she wasn't sure.

Her feet moved her to his body more quickly than she had imagined, and in no time, she was standing next to him. Her arms wrapped slowly around his waist, her lips moving to his hat covered head, shifting it slightly so that she could kiss his temple. She felt him quake in her arms, and soon, she heard the sobs come.

This was not going to be easy.

"Shhh," she comforted. "Let's get you cleaned up." Unaware of their silent watcher, she slowly helped him stand up straight, reaching over to grab a washcloth to rid his forearms of the icky cream corn. She then slowly reached up to pull his cap off, resting it slowly on the counter, staring up at his face. His eyes were bloodshot already, probably from nights of restless sleep, and they were starting to get puffy from his crying. She hadn't seen him cry in years.

"Ohh....Louis, sweetie," she uttered. "C'mere," her voice whispered silently. She felt his strong arms wrap around her tiny waist, his nose slowly nuzzling against the soft skin of her neck as his body continued to shudder with tiny sobs. Standing there, her hand slowly caressed his back as she silently swayed with him, trying her best to comfort him. "It'll be okay, Louis. It'll be okay," she finished.