Always Us (Always and Forever 2)

“What reason is that?” Dr. Moore turns her attention on me.

“I don’t know, she doesn’t know either, she just doesn’t trust her.”

“That’s not fair, I’ve been nothing but kind to her and she chooses to treat me like garbage. I’m your mother, Trey.” My hand is now clenched in a tight fist against my thigh.

“Yeah, and I may be wanting to try and

work this out, but she’s my woman and I put her above everyone, even you. So you can learn to accept it and give her time to accept you or you can forget this whole thing.” I cut an imaginary thin line in the air, signaling the end of this conversation. I won’t budge on this, it may hurt me that the two women in my life can’t get along, but my little woman is my world and I side with her, when it’s rational. Right now, she’s just protecting me. Just like I did with Evan, so I owe it to her to be patient and understanding.

“I want her to like me, Trey, I couldn’t ask for a better woman for my son, and I want to be a part of her life, too.” She looks conflicted, looking from Dr. Moore to me. I stay mute, not sure what to say. I can’t budge on this, and I would love for Gwen and Shayla to get along. But I can’t and won’t force it on Shayla, she’ll come around when she’s ready.

“My dad”—I swallow thickly, reining myself in, I don’t want to cry—”told me to forgive you if I ever had the chance, and I do. So, be patient and worry only about our relationship. Leave Shayla out of this.” I thought that all the years that I hated my mother, that her coming back into my life would have needed a little more fight, but I did this all for my father. Now that he’s gone, I want to, now more than ever, do all the things he asked me to do, follow through on all the promises I made. Little by little I’m doing just that and it starts with Gwen.

“I agree, right now you two should focus on your relationship and let everyone else come when you two are ready. Also, I think this is a good place to end for the day, we can meet next week and start from there.” Dr. Moore stands and we follow suit, walking out the door and making our way to the open elevator.

“I do love you, Trey, you’re my son, my only child, and I want to make this work.” The confinements of this elevator feel insanely small with the both of us, Gwen is looking at me intently, and I’m just ready to get home and have a fucking drink. I’m done discussing my feelings for the fucking day. Shit, the entire decade.

“Yeah, I know you do. Just give me time, okay?” I ask, turning my body to her. My hands are in my pockets and I dig for my keys, pulling them out when the ding of the elevator goes off and it opens to the parking garage.

“I’ll see you on Friday for lunch. Your pick,” she says.

“Yeah, sounds good, I’ll text you with whatever I decide.” I walk her to her car and notice she stops abruptly.

I go to keep walking but her soft voice stops me. “Can I give you a hug?” I look around the parking garage, debating what to do, my back still to her. Turning, I see the sadness on her face, guilt floods me.

“Yeah.” Walking back to her, I give her a quick embrace; just enough to satisfy her but not enough to convince her that everything between us is one hundred percent. Pulling away, I pat her shoulder.

“I’ll see you Friday.” She nods and I watch her get into her car before heading back to my truck.

Getting into my truck, I start the engine and turn down the radio, giving myself a minute to breathe. I lay my head back on the headrest and take a few deep breaths before putting my truck in reverse and leaving. Once I hit the freeway, I use Bluetooth and call Shayla. I haven’t heard from her all day. On the fifth ring, she finally answers.

“Hey.” Her voice is soft and feminine, making me feel all kinds of possessive. I’m the hard to her soft, the loud to her quiet, and the dark to her light.

“Baby?”

“Yeah, how did the session go?” I can hear the sound of utensils and music in the background, telling me she’s at home, cooking. My stomach is starving for her home-cooked meal.

“It was all right, nothing new really,” I reply.

“Oh.” The line goes quiet for a minute.

“Come on, Shay, talk to me. You’ve been ignoring me,” I plead for her to give me an inch. Slowing my truck down as I roll into some traffic, I look around and take in the sunset and all the other people around me rushing to get home. I see a couple around my age, laughing and holding hands in the car next to me and my chest tightens at the image. I’m jealous, I want to be with Shayla right now and she’s giving me nothing but the cold shoulder. What did I do? Does she hate my mother this much?

“I’m not ignoring you, I just don’t have much to say. I’ve been swamped with work, that’s all.” I know she’s lying; she’s not the best at hiding things from me.

“Can I come see you tonight?” I take a different exit, leaving traffic and deciding to take back roads so I can get home to her sooner.

“I don’t know, I’m just going to eat real quick then head to bed.”

Fuck, I can take a damn hint. She’s so far gone and it’s crushing me. Deciding now that this shit needs to stop, because I’m not letting her avoid me anymore.

“I’m coming over to see you.” It’s not a question it’s a fact.

“Trey, no. I want to sleep tonight.” She huffs and I hear her slam a cupboard shut.

“Bull-fucking-shit, you don’t want to see me because you’re mad about something. What! What did I do to make you so angry, that you don’t want to spend time with me?”

“Nothing, I’m just tired, Trey! I’ve been going through things, too!” she yells and I grip the wheel tighter, pushing my foot down a little harder, accelerating.