Chapter 3

"Maurice, honey, do you want bread with your spaghetti?" Ma was at my place again, cooking dinner for the two of us. She had made it a point to come by almost every night, and it had started to become routine for us to sit down together and have a home-cooked meal. Something I rarely had when I was a kid.

"Yeah Ma, that'll be fine." She smiled and turned back around to continue cooking. "You know you don't have to do this, right? I mean, it's real nice, and I love havin' dinner with you, but you don't have to cook. I mean, we could order some-"

"Don't be silly, Maurice. You deserve some good meals after having been fed all that hospital food… Besides… I like to cook."

I laughed at the statement, knowing full well that it was far from the truth. "Ma, you hate cooking."

Ma smiled, knowing that I wouldn't believe her, "Well, I can learn." She soon turned off the oven and took the warm, toasted bread and sat it on the counter. "Okay, all ready." She put the spaghetti and a couple pieces of bread on two plates and brought them to the table where I was already seated.

We sat quiet for a few minutes, just plainly enjoying the good food when Ma spoke up.

"You look well, Maurice."

"I'm glad to be home." I quickly replied. It was the truth; just simply being back home had made me feel a whole lot better.

I turned back to my food and continued to eat. It was so good; so full of substance and gratifying immense flavor. Definitely more than I could say about the "food" that I had been given for the past six months. It's crazy how much you notice after having been deprived of the regular joys of life for so long.

"How is Faith?" Ma asked. Why she asked, I don't know… but she seemed interested.

"Uh, she's okay. Handling things pretty well, you know." I answered uneasily.

"It's really nice of her to stop by as much as she does." Ma looked up at me as I nodded in agreement. "I like her." She finished.

"Yeah." I laughed. "Me too, Ma."

"Really?" Ma gave me "the eyebrow" and set down her fork, now seeming quite interested in what I had to say.

'Here we go,' I thought to myself. "You know what I mean. She's… She's my partner. It's been like that for almost thirteen years… She's there for me, ya know?" I stopped, realizing that I was mumbling as I tried to make sense of my thoughts. I didn't need to explain my friendship with Faith to my mom. I didn't. "She's Faith, Ma. You know how it is."

Ma stifled a chuckle and just shook her head at me. "Mmm Hmm. Sure, honey."

I decided to drop the subject.

I heard a knock on the door about five minutes later, right about when we were finishing up with dinner. Ma insisted on me not getting up, so she went ahead and answered the door as I moved over to the couch.

"Faith! How are you, honey?" I heard my enthusiastic mother call out to Faith as they hugged, doing their typical girl greeting. "Come on in, Maurice and I just finished with dinner."

"Thanks Rose." I saw Faith emerge from behind the door, smiling. I love when she smiles. "Hey Bos." She said, making her way over to the couch.

"Hey." I responded, not knowing what else to say. After that conversation with Ma, I wasn't all that… comfortable. I just kept smiling and acting like I wasn't bothered. I'm good at that.

All three of us sort of just looked around at nothing, trying to think of something to say for the next minute or so… It was awkward to say the least.

"I'm just going to leave you two to talk." Ma decided to speak up after what had seemed like an eternity of awkward silence.

"You don't have to go, Ma." I mock-protested.

She just smiled and approached me and gave me a hug and kiss. "I should really be going anyway. You two have fun, and it was nice seeing you again, Faith."

"You too, Rose. Take care."

After Ma had gathered her things and left, Faith turned and looked at me with a confused expression drawn on her face. "What was that about?" She asked.

I looked back over to the door where Ma had just previously exited through, myself a bit confused. "I'm not quite sure."


We talked about who knows what for about an hour. My Ma… How I was feeling physically… my want to get back on the job… just basic stuff.

"How are the kids?" I asked, having had enough conversation about myself.

"They're doing better I think. Things are starting to settle down more."

"That's good."

"Yeah… yeah, it is. I just wish I could get to see Charlie more often. I miss him so much, you know?" I could see a slight glistening of tears starting to brim her eyes, but being Faith, she quickly composed herself. I reached out my hand in efforts to comfort her, putting it gently on her shoulder. I knew how much she hated how Fred had gotten custody. It wasn't fair; it wasn't right…

"Whenever I see him, he always has these great stories of how Caroline has gotten him a new phone, or Caroline took him to a movie, or how Fred and her like to have "family nights"… Faith's voice had a slight falter in it, and her eyes were starting to well up again, but this time she didn't bother to try and hold them back.

"He really likes her, Bosco. I mean… I'm glad that he likes her because it makes him happy, but… but I mean… It's like…" Faith stopped herself mid-sentence, knowing that she didn't have the composure to finish her thought because of the emotion behind it.

"Faith," I gently rubbed her shoulder, trying to keep her attention on me, "She's not his mother. You are. Charlie knows that." I watched as a single tear rolled down her face as she looked at me, taking in what I was saying. "No one's gunna replace you, Faith. No one could ever replace you… Okay?" I reached up and gently brushed the tear from her face, and I suddenly came to realization how true my words were.

No one could ever replace Faith.

She managed a small smile on her part, placing her hand on my leg. "Thanks." She barely whispered. Every now and then, I guess I say the right thing...

"I don't know how I could get through this without you, Bos. I mean… the only thing that kept me from fallin' apart through the divorce was hoping… waiting for you to come out of that coma." She slightly faltered at her words, not seeming sure if she wanted to continue, but took a deep breath and finished, "You… you're the only one I can talk to about these things, ya know? You're the only person who has constantly, no matter what, been there for me; protected me… If you… If you had died that night Bos - "

I reached for Faith's trembling hand, taking it in my own, and eased her to stop and just take a deep breath. "I'm here." I said, gently squeezing her hand. "I'm right here, Faith." I gazed into her red, teary eyes, telling her that she could stop worrying. I was telling her with my eyes that I wasn't going anywhere.

Faith let go of my hand and leaned forward to embrace me in her arms. This whole hugging business… I could get used to it.

"Faith, I…" I wanted to tell her. More than anything, I wanted to tell her how much she meant to me. Even though I wasn't sure what was really going on with us, I knew that there was something. No matter how much I tried to find it in myself how I truly felt, the one thing I did knew was that it was something different. Something special.

Faith ended our embrace when I didn't say anything and leaned back to look at me. "What?" She asked, wanting me to finish. I still didn't speak, too scared of my own emotions. Faith continued sitting there next to me, with pleading eyes edging me to finish what I was saying. What was I saying?

"…I just…uh…" I didn't know what to do; what to say; how to say it… I was panicked. "I want you to know… you can come to me anytime you need anything."

There. I covered it. I covered by telling her that I would be there for her anytime she needed me there… she already knew that.

Faith looked down at her hands, playing at her newly bare ring finger. She seemed almost… disappointed. "I know Bos."

…And every now and then, the right thing to say just simply can't be said.