2 months since the last chapter Lily is now 8 months old
So, here I am. He called, I came.
Curiousity killed the cat...
Thank god I'm not a cat.
I knock again, and suddenly there is a series of clicks before the door opens to reveal Alison.
"Mark." Simple, polite.
"Alison, how are you?" What exactly are you supposed to say?
"I'm fine, thank you. Let me go get Benny for you."
She smiles before she walks away. I don't think it was ever her that we hated, more her father, more the attention Benny gave her, the way he treated us in front of her.
Benny emerges from a hallway, "Mark! You came!"
Trust me, your not the only one whose surprised, but I keep my thoughts to myself.
He greets me as he would when we were still roommates, friends.
"Benny? How are you?"
"I'm good. Um..." he sobers...this could be bad.
"Lets go in here...I wanted to...talk to you."
He guides me to the living room, "So how's every one?"
"We're all good, fine. We're all working...except Lily."
He laughs like I cracked a joke.
"Look, Benny...what are you doing?"
We get up again and he guides me into a little room across form his...there's a crib.
"This is Thomas Andrew Coffin...Thomas for Collins, Andrew for, um...Roger, his middle name and all. He was born two months...after Lily."
We spend some moments in silence looking over the little boy who was laying asleep.
"Mark, I love Alison, and I love my son. But I loved all you guys too, you were my family. When I got married, I guess I figured things had to change. Tried to go back, but it was too late. But when Mimi called...it was Alison who answered. Meems apologized for whatever Alison might have thought about her and I. Maybe it was because they were both pregnant, maybe it was because neither one of them liked the situation they were in...but Alison was helping before I even knew...and well, here we are now."
"So, what is this, now? A peace offering? Reconcilliation?"
"More or less..."
"Why me? Benny, I'm not the one you need to convince."
"But you're the one who listens. Believe or not, Marky, you've been the family's core since we met. You're calm. You're steady. You don't judge until you have too. Besides, look at it...nobody gets a hold of Collins without him contacting you first, Roger, well...the world would have exploded if I had tried to talk to either him or Mimi first. And I wasn't going to the one who would sue my ass...and Maureen needs no explanation."
"You have a point...but, you're really going to try? No gimmicks, your word?"
"Absolutely, Mark."
"Your word's a bitt shaky with Roger..."
"Not this time."
He leads me to the front door, "I have a meeting I have to get to, but Mark, next week is Halloween...I want to have dinner, here...with everyone."
I nod and walk out of the apartment on to the and back home.
So its been a while,...too long...sorry about that...
Well here's some answers...
Reviews are gratefully appriciated
Until next time, this is me...signing out...