Author's note
Thank you very much for your comments
I love how all of you liked that the date with Jason went badly.
Here is more… (Just don't hate me at the end of this!)
Erdi
Bass's POV
My phone rings and I draw my eyes away from Alex who is playing a video game with his friends. 'Connor' is flashing on the screen and I pick up immediately. I haven't seen my brother in four months and we only talked once since Charlie moved out.
"Hey pain in my ass, how are you? You state side?" I ask as soon as I pick up.
"Good to hear your voice too, big bro. Yeah I am. I was just checking if you want to grab dinner tonight?" My brother replies.
"I have Alex for the weekend, so we gotta go somewhere kid friendly" I answer.
"Yeah I know, Miles told me" Conner answers and I shoot Miles a glare, who just shoots me an 'I am innocent' look.
"So you call Miles, before me? Good to see how much you love me!" I answer with a grin.
"Didn't call him, brother. I texted him a few days back if I could crash on his couch. He told me that you would be occupying it this weekend. What is up with that by the way? You have a great house and bed, which I am sure, is more comfortable than Miles's couch." Connor probes.
"It's complicated" I don't want to get into it while Miles and Alex are just standing a few meters away from me.
"Maybe you should get your head out of the sand, fight for your woman and move back into the house." My little brother tells me.
"Drop it Connor" I growl.
"Okay…okay..." He says defeated. "I will come over to Miles's house at 6 pm. Now let me talk to my favorite nephew!" Connor orders.
"He is your only nephew" I mutter and walk over to my Son. "Alex… Uncle Connor is on the phone. He wants to talk to you!"
Alex snatches my phone and immediately starts talking a mile a minute, before he stops and listens to Connor. "Okay… But can Mom come too? Okay…" He says and then hands me the phone back "Uncle Connor wants to talk to you again!"
"He wants Charlie to come to dinner, doesn't he?" I question as soon as I bring the phone back to my ear.
"Yes. Is that okay with you?" My brother questions with concern.
"It's fine. Bring her." I tell him and hang up. A whole dinner with Charlie is going to be interesting. We haven't spent more than 5 minutes in each other's company since we split.
"Alex? Are you ready?" I shout up the stairs and only get a faint "Coming" as answer.
There is a knock on the door and before I even get a chance to open it, Alex runs down the stairs and opens the door himself. "MOM" He shouts and launches himself at Charlie.
"Hey" She says and hugs him tight to her chest. My heart aches seeing this play out in front of me.
"Hey bro" Connor says as he steps into the house and around Charlie and Alex. I pull my brother into a tight hug. I miss spending time with him.
"It is good to see you" I reply and let go of him.
"Where is Uncle Miles?" My son questions and looks at me.
"Why don't we go and look for him?" Conner says and pushes Alex further down the hall way, which leaves only me and Charlie standing awkwardly in the doorway.
Charlie is the first to break the deafening silence between us. "Hey Bass, how are you?" I can feel her eyes on me, but I can't bring myself to look at her.
"Good" I reply shortly and then turn around to follow Alex and Conner.
Charlie's POV
I watch Bass retreat towards the back of the house and sigh. I get that he is angry and mad at me, but we have a son together and we need to learn how to deal with being in the same room. Lunch will be interesting.
As Conner first mentioned me coming to Lunch I told him flat out 'No', but he told me Alex wants me to come, so I agreed. I mean what could go wrong in a restaurant full of people?
I walk after Bass and find them in the kitchen. As Miles spots me his frown turns into a huge grin. "Charlie, thank god. I am going stir crazy having my house invaded by your rug rat!"
"Now you know, why I wanted to get rid of him for the weekend" I reply and draw Miles into a hug.
"I am not a rug rat" Alex chips in with a pout and we all laugh.
"You sure about that?" I reply with a teasing smile and tickle him.
"Mom…No…no….no" Alex screams in between laughs. Suddenly there is a big growl and I stop.
"Sound like the beast is hungry, again!" Miles laughs and ushers us all out of the house. Bass, Alex and Miles pile into Bass's truck and Conner and I take my car.
"Will you two ever speak to each other again?" Conner questions as we stop at a traffic light. He insisted on driving and after five minutes of arguing back at my house, I reluctantly handed over the keys.
"Conner…" I sigh and turn my head to look at him. "I don't know. He is mad at me and I don't blame him. I left him; he has every right to be angry."
"If you two just talked, maybe you could patch things up." He replies and I roll my eyes.
"You sound like Alex" I mutter. Thankfully we pull up into the parking lot of the Steakhouse at that moment and the conversation is dropped.
Once we are seated and ordered our dinner, Alex launches into a full explanation of how cool the comic and games convention was. I try to concentrate on what Alex is saying, but I can feel Bass staring at me. But every time I look over, his eyes are directed at Alex.
Suddenly my phone rings and everybody's eyes fixate on me. I retrieve the offending device out of my bag and pick up without looking at the caller ID. "Hello?"
"Hey…uhm Charlie?" Jason questions warily.
"Hi Jason" I cringe slightly as I say his name. I look up and Bass is definitely staring at me this time. I feel a small blush creeping up my cheeks and look away.
"Hi…so I am sorry how I left things. For some reason… the fact that you are married, threw me off guard, since I thought it was a date." He replies and I throw an apologetic glance around the table, get up and walk outside.
"I am sorry I didn't tell. I just didn't know how to bring it up and I wasn't sure if it was a date or not." I reply honestly.
"Well…then how about a do over?" He questions "You and me, a proper date. Next Friday?"
"Sounds good" I answer and can't help the smile that spreads on my lips.
"I will call you" Jason assures me, before saying 'goodbye' and hanging up.
"Work?" Conner questions as I join them again. While I was talking on the phone our dinner arrived and I immediately dig into my steak and mash potatoes in a peppercorn sauce.
I only reply "No, not work" and continue eating.
"Who is Jason?" Bass suddenly questions and fixates his gaze onto me. His face doesn't give anything away. He doesn't show any emotion anymore. I know that he was in the army for a couple of years as he and Miles turned 18, but he only picked that blank face up, after he started to work for them again.
"I went to high school with him" I simply reply.
"Is that Jason Neville?" Miles asks and looks around Conner at me. I barely suppress a groan. Miles knows Jason Neville, since he used to coach the baseball team Jason played in. And Miles knows that I had a crush on Jason, because Danny read my diary and blurted it out one night at the dinner table.
"Your high school-crush?" Bass growls out and as I don't bother to answer, he adds "You already got yourself a new boyfriend? …That is just perfect."
"Bass" Miles and Conner groan out at the same time, but Bass ignores them. I cast a worried glance over to Alex, who seems to be totally oblivious to what is going on around him and just concentrates on his fish and chips.
"No, I haven't gotten myself another boyfriend" I hiss.
"Well you are definitely sleeping with him, judging by that smile you have on your face" Bass retorts angrily.
"I am not sleeping with him and it is none of your business" I can feel my anger level rising.
"Of course it is my business, since Alex is living in your house. I don't know what kind of weirdoes you sleep with, but I know that I don't want them around my son." He says in a raised voice and the people from other tables are looking at us to see what is going on.
"You think I am sleeping around?" I question in disbelieve and then turn around to Conner. "Give me the keys."
"Charlie…." Conner sighs, but hands the keys over nevertheless.
"Eat my foods so it doesn't go to waste" I tell him and then move around the table to Alex. "I have to go pumpkin. I will see you tomorrow afternoon after school, okay?"
"Why do you have to go? You haven't finished your food and you know that it will rain tomorrow if you don't finish it" Alex replies and makes me smile; erasing a bit of the anger I am feeling towards his father at the moment.
"Uncle Conner has agreed to finish it and I think you should help him, just in case!" I reply, kiss his cheek and then throw one last glance towards Miles and Conner, before I leave.
Once I am home, I pick up the pen next to the divorce papers and sign them. Then drive back around to Miles's house and drop them through the slit in the door, all the while tears are running down my face.
It is truly over. There is no hope of reconciliation. I am done. I fought for the last two years for our marriage and maybe I thought me leaving him will give him a wake-up call, but that truly back fired on me.
Nora is right, I need to move on. Maybe I can find someone else. Maybe I can fall out of love with Bass and fall in love with someone new.
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