(Complete) Joe Walch was in love with the girl of his dreams. Everything was perfect until it all changed...
Ella Burke had a wonderful family, a job she loved and a man she was completely in love with until her dreams were shattered.
Can Ella lear...
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Joe Walch sat down and took his mother's hand. He rubbed his thumb over her raw red knuckles. Her pained expression was like a stab in his heart.
Shit! That was a sick simile, he cursed internally.
Taking a deep breath, he quietly pleaded. "Ma, I want you to be happy for me. I'm happy for me. This is what I've been working towards."
"But why so far away? I need you... We need you..."
"I'll be four hours away not on the other side of the world. I need to get outta this town."
"But the kids..." She pleaded. She knew he felt the need to protect his younger sister and brother. They were really his half-siblings, but he always felt responsible for them. They never asked to be born into the dysfunctional mess.
"Ma, I didn't go away to school. I missed out on so much. All I've done for four years is study and work. I hate waiting tables and sucking up to jerks for a decent tip. I need a change. I need a life."
"Whitney's home now. You can have a life together."
"Ma, I don't love Whit."
Gayle Walch looked at her son with a shocked expression. "Of course you do. You've loved each other since you were fourteen."
"Exactly, we thought we did. We were younger than Leah is now." Joe's sister had just turned fifteen. "We might have thought it was love, but it wasn't."
What he and Whitney had was never love, but it was a need. They needed each other to navigate the crap which was their life. Hell, they used to debate whose family was more screwed up for really sick bragging rights. Having each other made it easier to deal with the shit. Everything Whitney represented was what he was moving away from.
Gayle frowned, "How do you know?"
"You mean besides the fact she dumped me? I still remember, even after those years you were with Garrett."
His mother eyes shut and her mouth sagged. He had done it. He had reminded her of life with his father. His own father had been gone for over sixteen years, but his mother had never stopped mourning. Joe's memories of him were just flashes like still photos or feelings. His mother smiling at his father, and his father kissing her goodbye were included in the slide show of his early life. He had always felt safe and secure in his parent's love before everything changed.
"You and Whitney can have a good life here. Maybe even give me some grandchildren someday."
"Ma, I'll never marry Whitney." He stood up. "I'm gonna be late for work."
When Joe walked onto the back porch toward his beat up Corolla his mother was dragging on her Virginia Slims and refused to return his goodbye.
Joe had a six-hour dinner shift ahead of him. He was a college graduate and hoped he'd never have to wait tables again. He had been working at the restaurant for seven years when he started as a dishwasher, then busboy and eventually waiter. At the end of the week, he would give his notice.
