The Soulmate System

27. A Theme of Reunion & Letting Go

The shorthaired Mrs. Houghton returned to her chair and stared out towards the living room. "You know...Carole and I have a working theory on that." Inhaling slowly, she turned and eyed her family in the back garden. "Carole wanted our children to have a nostalgic childhood. She really wanted them to have it. But I guess Bryce was the exception."

"Why?"

Mrs. Houghton inhaled again, flopping the oven mitt against her arm. "Good question. His mother and I still don't know what we did. Maybe we sheltered him a little too much, maybe we didn't shelter him enough. But, at some point, Bryce...wasn't fulfilled by what we were giving him." She raised her eyebrows in defeat. "I guess what we wanted backfired."

"...is that really an excuse to not like you?" asked Dylan earnestly, after a pause. "I don't like my dad, but I love my mom and siblings. Does Bryce just– "

"It's really complicated," she explained, still watching her relations intermingle. "I don't know why Bryce...dislikes us to the extent he does, but he does." She looked to Dylan and explained further, "But sometimes people don't need reasons to feel something. And sometimes, their reasoning is all that can justify bad behaviour."

Dylan clenched his jaw and sighed. "He doesn't, really, talk about anything that happened before he came to the City," he admitted quietly.

Mrs. Houghton nodded slowly and returned her thoughtful gaze to the people. "It's really complicated," she repeated. "And it's hard to find redemption in someone else's eyes when we thought we were doing right. It's...hard to find that good middle ground." Her gaze dropped to the tiled floor momentarily before returning. "It's unlikely we'll change his mind about how we raised him, or the choices we made. Impressions are hard to get rid of."

"Still, – "

"But I hope he knows mow much we love him, and how much we want him to have everything he ever wanted." The shorthaired Mrs. Houghton frowned as her green eyes turned glossy. "There's a lot of things I regret, Mr. Matthews. I regret not telling him about the house sooner. I really regret not telling him about Max."

"Why didn't you tell him?" asked Dylan, a tinge of anger blooming inside him.

"We tried," Mrs. Houghton replied, her eyes sad and desperate. "We tried staying in touch with him." The woman withdrew, her jaw clenched. "But we got radio silence for three years before we just...stopped."

Sadness suddenly choked Dylan, which threatening to suffocate him.

"I regret a lot of what I've done in life, but the one thing I do regret, more than anything, is not going to him when he left. Not asking for him to come visit; making sure he was okay. God," she continued, breath shortening, "he must've thought we didn't care about him." Mrs. Houghton looked to Dylan and smiled wearily. "Whoever said parenting is easy?"

Dylan bit his tongue. He couldn't find his words.

But the shorthaired Mrs. Houghton uttered a quiet "Excuse me," before standing up and moving to the outside patio.

"There you are," Bryce exclaimed, exasperated. "I couldn't find you in the living room, and – " He trailed off, studying his Soulmate's posture. "What's wrong?"

Dylan sniffed. "Can we go upstairs, please?"

Bryce nodded, and took his Soulmate's hand despite knowing people would see. Leaving behind the humidity of the festivities, the two entered the dark, cooled bedroom, and shut the door quietly. "What happened? Did my aunt pinch you? She does that." Dylan stayed standing, his eyes studying the faded carpet on the floor. "Dylan, what happened?"