Broken Strings

C H A P T E R T W E N T Y - E I G H T

"Um..." Her lips parted as she struggled to say something. Her eyes kept darting from the baby girl cuddled in his arms to the little girl who kept running around in circles around her father. She smiled up at Franco as he gave her a quick side hug before getting the high baby seat for his daughter.

The guilt was a little easier for her now. Because Franco had moved on. And because he had done so, the guilt was a little easier for her.

"Hi." Anisha breathed out the word, before she slumped down to sit, unable to stand on her own two feet any longer.

"Hey." Franco gave her a warm smile before turning to his daughters. "This is Mia and she's three."

"And this is Cassandra, five months." He put the pacifier in her mouth just as she started making crying noises. "I'm so sorry. My wife works night shifts at the hospital and the babysitter couldn't watch them today. Also, I figured you'd want to meet them."

"Cassandra?" Anisha nodded as Cassandra squirmed in her seat.

"For Cassie."

Anisha looked at Mia, his three year old daughter as she took her father's phone and started playing some dress-up game on it.

"And um, we, I mean Cassie and me, we wanted to call our daughter Emilia and Mia for short. So um yea."

Anisha let out a heavy breath, her lips trembling. She folded her hands together on top of the table.

"I'm so sorry." She shook her head as he reached for her hand. He gave her hand a small squeeze. "I'm so sorry about everything. Cassie, I mean-"

"It's fine. It's been years, Anisha." He paused as he looked around the small bakery. "How are you and Andrew? I ugh called Dianne a few years after, right before I got married and she told me you two had a son?"

Anisha bit her lip before she looked outside again. She could see the pier lights, bright during the cloudy day. "Yea, I have a son, Ryan. He's amazing."

Her voice quavered a little and her eyes became a little glossy as she thought about her children. "And a daughter, Mira. She's honestly the best. I don't know. I just feel like the luckiest mother in the world because of them two."

"That's amazing." Franco motioned for a waiter before looking back at Anisha. "And Andrew?"

Anisha's smile slowly faded and she quickly looked out the window again, hiding behind a fake smile.

"He's fine. We're perfectly fine."

She widened her smiling, a smile she'd faked for years.

"You're married?" She looked at the ring on his finger before she reached to grab a napkin.

Anisha grabbed a napkin from the container just as the waiter walked by to take Franco's order.

"I'll take a regular coffee and a blueberry muffin. Can I also get a small hot chocolate and a slice of coffee cake?" Franco turned back to Anisha as she coughed. "Anisha, what did you want?"

Anisha coughed, a short but harsh cough. She quickly folded the napkin, crumbling it to hide the stains of blood she'd coughed. "I'm fine. I'm not hungry."