When 20-year-old Kara Bennett moves to Boston to escape her post-high school drama with her daughter, she didn't expect to fall straight into it in the form of Austin Mayer.
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All Kara Bennett...
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KARA DIDN'T SAY A WORD SINCE I ARRIVED.
Sophie on my right leg and her Barbie on my left, the atmosphere wasn't so tense but Kara's silence was an elephant in the room. Ace was upstairs, packing. Daisy was curled beside Kara, staring at me like she knew what was going on.
I felt like I was in a place that I shouldn't have been, an uninvited guest. Maybe I wasn't invited by the right person and it made all the difference. However, after all, I thought I had finally broken the ice between us. Then, why did it feel like we were separated by a giant iceberg?
"Where's Max?" Sophie asked, looking up at me.
"He's home."
"Why didn't he come?"
"He wasn't invited." I could find a better answer but I wanted to provoke Kara to say something. I looked at her in anticipation but her dull gaze didn't waver. When Ace called me, I thought he talked to Kara but she didn't know I would show up.
"Mom," Sophie said. "Daisy is bored. She play with Max."
"Honey, she's tired." Kara stroked Daisy's head.
It was her first time talking. Her voice echoed in the walls of my mind or was it my heart, but she was unaware of the attention. I was in a paradox: I wanted her to notice me so badly but at the same time, I didn't want her to notice that I was aware of every tiny detail of her. I wanted to spark her attention but only if it was positive.
"Maybe next time," She said, standing up. My heart gradually sped up as she drew closer to me. "Sophie, can you play with Daisy in your room?" Sophie looked between us. "You can play with Austin after dinner." Defeated, Sophie hopped off my lap and held her mother's hand. Kara 1 - Austin 0.
She didn't say anything until Sophie went upstairs with her dog. Then, she sighed and headed to their kitchen. I could have just sat there and waited for a hole to swallow me whole but the urge for resolution got me up to follow her.
Kara was chopping mushrooms inside. I could tell she was imagining me like a mushroom and chopping off my head with every cut. I still wanted to play with fire. "What's going on?"
She stopped, raised her head, and huffed at me. "I asked you not to come."
"When Ace invited me, I thought you knew."
"Well, you could ask me."
I could but I knew the answer she would give. I wanted to come here tonight—to see her, to figure out what was going on. What were we, if anything? I wanted to look into her eyes and see the same spark because the idea of being delusional wasn't so pleasing.
I took the knife from her hand, pushed the chopping board aside, and stood closer to her against the counter. "I don't live by your rules." She parted her mouth to say something but closed it again. "I'm not Sophie, Kara—you can't dictate to me."
