Together Again

Chapter 9

Christine was less than thrilled when Mike went back to work less than a week after the surgery, but at least they were working together, so she could an eye on him. She enjoyed working with him and it gave her time with them. It was like they were making up for lost time. She just wished Katie was as thrilled with her father's reappearance. Once they knew the cancer had all been removed, and Mike was on his way to full recovery; Katie completely ignored Mike most of the time.

Fortunately, Hannah was beyond thrilled to have her dad back and recovering. She understood Mike's energy level wasn't great and initiated movie nights at home and quiet evenings. It was a sacrifice for the very social fifteen year old, but she didn't seem to mind and Mike loved the time with her. Christine was proud of Hannah for foregoing time with her friends to spend time with her old parents.

Christine knew she was going to have to get to the root of the problem with Katie. Mike regretted hitting her. He knew he had done wrong and he wanted to fix his relationship with his oldest daughter, but Katie was resistant for whatever reason. It had been six years, and as bad as it was, in Christine's opinion; it was time to let it go. Late one night, Christine heard Katie come into the house. Mike was sound asleep next to her, so she slipped out of bed, put her robe on and walked out in the living room. Katie was looking through the fridge and Christine flipped on the light.

"Do you want me to make you some scrambled eggs?" Christine asked.

"I can manage. You should go back to bed. You've got work." Katie said.

"Your dad and I are off tomorrow. Its Saturday. I have some of those mini frozen pizzas too." Christine told her.

"That'll work." Katie answered. She found one of the mini pizzas and began heating it up in the microwave.

"Your dad is wanting to do a mini vacation over spring break. I checked your class schedule and you'll be off. Would leave asking at work to be off. He doesn't want to go far, but wants to do something as a family." Christine said. She sat down at the kitchen island, figuring Katie would argue.

"I will probably have to work. One of the other girls is taking off that weekend." Katie said. Christine knew her daughters, and she knew when they were lying. Katie didn't have to work.

"Can you at least ask? Its important to your dad. He wants to spend time with you girls." Christine asked, choosing not to address the lie.

"I will try, but I really don't care much about spending time with him. You do remember what he did, don't you?" Katie asked.

"Yes, I was there. Your dad is the first to admit he messed up, but its also been six years. There comes a point, you have to forgive, because if you don't; it won't just hurt your dad. It'll hurt you. And Hannah and I don't deserve to be caught in the middle. You need to do some soul searching. I will agree that your dad was wrong in what he did, but by not forgiving; you are doing something far worse." Christine said before she got up and walked to her bedroom, leaving Katie to eat and think alone.

As soon as Christine laid down, Mike pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. He was still just as physically strong as he had always been, but he wasn't as emotionally strong. Of course; post-pandemic; who could be? Christine was sure that that last argument with Katie had chipped away at Mike, especially once he couldn't find his family for many years. Christine knew she had to figure out how to put her family back together again, before one bad fight years before destroyed them all.