“When will she be here?” Harry asked walking into the living room from the kitchen.

“Any minute.” I answered sharply.

“Sage, calm down. Stop cleaning, she doesn’t care how clean the house is or how you look, she’s here to take care of something.” He grabbed my waist and held me so I couldn’t leave. “Nobody expects you to be amazing today.”

“I know but why would my mom ask her here if it weren’t important?” I asked looking into his eyes.

“It is important for her to be here but the house doesn’t need to look perfect and neither do you.” He whispered kissing my forehead.

I wrapped my arms around his as tears burned my eyes. He pulled my body against his and hummed softly. When I leaned back, our teary eyes met. His looked upset and let down but I knew that I couldn’t help him right now because I was dealing with the same feelings so I just held him in my arms. He rested his chin on my shoulder and sighed. I turned my head and kissed his cheek making him smile slightly.

KNOCK-KNOCK

I looked into Harry’s eyes and let go of him. Walking to the door, I could see the small frame of Susana through the semi-glass door. I took a deep breath and gripped the doorknob; turning it slowly I looking into her light blue eyes.

“Hi sweetie.” She smiled.

“Hello, please come in.” I asked stepping to the side.

“This place hasn’t changed at all, it’s exactly like it was 30 years ago.” She said in awe looking around the wooden furnished room.

She took a seat on the couch while Harry got her a cup of tea and sat down on the loveseat across from her. I sat down next to him and looked up at her, she looked a little too calm for me to handle.

“Do you have the letter that my mom sent you?” I asked looking into her eyes again.

“Yes,” She paused looking through her purse and pulling out a letter. “Here” She smiled handing it to me.

I took a minute to read the later and look at her writing; he writing was neat cursive and it had a heart at the end of her signature. I folded it back up and looked at Harry and then at her.

“This says that you are to show me and Taylor the will.” I said quietly.

“Yes, I’m a notary and your mom asked me to be here when you read it.” She nodded.

“Taylor doesn’t know you’re here.” I mumbled grabbing Harry’s hand.

“Well, he doesn’t need to be here as long as he reads it at some point.” She shrugged.

“I think he should be here.” Harry added in.

“He doesn’t need to be though.” Susana said harshly.

“No, Harry’s right, she wanted both of us here for this.” I shook my head and looked at Harry. “Will you go call him please?”

“Sure.” He smiled weakly and stood up.

“So, when was the last time you talked to my mom?” I asked once Harry was gone.

“It’s been close to a year now.” She mumbled.

“But you got the letter a few days ago?” I didn’t believe her story; her sadness wasn’t sincere enough for her to have just lost a friend.

“Yes, we hadn’t talked in a while but she decided to write to me. We hit a rough patch a few years ago and things haven’t been the best between us since.” She answered quietly.

“Did you ever meet my dad?” I asked looking into her eyes.

Her expression changed when I mentioned him, like she did something wrong. She looked away from me and towards the floor.

“Uh, yea a few times.” She stuttered as Harry came back into the room.

“He and Cleo are out at the beach trying to get their minds off of this and will be back tomorrow.” Harry said with eyes on me.

“Okay, well we can do this tomorrow then.” I looked over at the woman sitting uneasily in the chair.

“Oh okay.” She shook her head slowly and stood. “I should get going, I have to take care of some other business today.”

“Alright, thank you for coming down here for this.” I walked to the door and opened it for her. “Drive safe.”

She nodded and descended down the stairs weakly. I closed the door and turned back to Harry who was watching me intently. He grabbed the letter and opened it.

“There’s something off about that letter. Even on her worst days, she never wrote like that.” I mumbled sitting next to him again. “I don’t think my mom wrote this.”

“I didn’t want to say anything but I don’t think she really knew your mom.” He looked at me with anger in his eyes.

“Oh, she knew my mom but I don’t think she grew up with her. She knew the house a little too well for her to not know her.” I took the note and read it. “Wait, my dad…” I mumbled trying to think.

“Didn’t he cheat on your mom?” Harry asked quietly.

“Yea…” I paused. “That’s her! That’s the lady he had an affair with. My mom didn’t live in this house 30 years ago, my dad did.” My anger was growing. “She knows that house because she’d been here with him before. Why would she come back at this time and get into our lives? The letter is totally fake and she lied.”

“Wasn’t your mom rich?”

“That’s it, she’s in it for the money.” I stood. “But why? There are plenty of rich people, why us?”

“Because she knew your dad.” Harry mumbled.

I shook my head and paced the floor. That woman had lied to me about knowing my mom only for money. I looked up at the wall and saw a picture of my mom holding me when I was a baby and Taylor standing by her side.

“Did you really call Taylor?” I asked turning around to him.

“No, I knew something was off so I lied.” He stood up and walked towards me.

I nodded and looked up at him; he was frowning and looking at me with gentle eyes. I shook my head and looked down, my anger was building up to the point where it changed to tears. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into his body as I willingly went. I held my head in my hands while he held me against his body. I was more upset that she was the reason my parents got a divorce than she had lied to me. Every time I thought of her, my mom or my dad the tears got a new rush of power and came harder.

My chest stuttered and legs grew weaker standing in Harry’s arms. My legs finally gave way and I fell towards the floor but he caught me and carried me to the couch. He set me on his lap and pulled my arms away from my face, making me look at him.

“Please don’t let her effect you like this, you're better than this.” He stuttered with a pleading look. “Your dad made mistakes with her and she’s a terrible person for coming back here but you really shouldn’t do this to yourself. Two days ago you didn’t even know who she was, don’t let her actions ruin your day.”

I nodded and looked into his dark green eyes. He looked so calm compared to me. He let go of my arms and grabbed my face gently; he wiped away my tears with his thumbs. I smiled slightly and leaned closer to him. I looked down at his lips and then back up to his eyes. A smile curled onto his lips as he started to rub my back.

I leaned in until my lips were almost touching his, I could feel the heat of his breath on my skin. He moved forward and met my lips in a gentle kiss. Our lips moved in sync as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. When I pulled back, his eyes fluttered open and landed on me. Someone at the door broke our eye contact. I got up and walked over to it seeing Taylor standing there with his hands in his pocket. I opened it and stepped aside for him to come in.

Notes

Hope you like it!