Mini pulled her phone out of her bag, looking out over the lake as Grace rolled around on the picnic blanket at her feet. A few quick swipes and she was typing out a message almost subconsciously.
Uh.. hey Alo. You still in this shithole? Meet me down by the lake?
Her thumb hovered over the send button and she sighed. This could be the biggest mistake or the best decision… There were only so many ways this could turn out, and half of them were problematic. She closed her eyes and breathed out heavily before letting her thumb fall on the send button.
When the bubble appeared on his lock screen he was shocked to see Mini actually engaging him. They hadn’t talked in a while and when they traded off weeks with Grace a word was barely said. He almost ignored the message but he knew if he did he wouldn’t hear the end of it. He knew what lake she was at and he wasn’t too far from it. He turned the van on market street and made his way to the lake.
Part of him was doing this just for his daughter, he hated that he couldn’t see her every day. But he knew she would bring up some old shite he had done and go on about how much of a failure he was. He parked the van and sat in it, stewing because he didn’t really want to go and be yelled at. He didn’t want to feel insignificant because his mom did a good enough job doing that. He turned off the van and hopped out.
Alo fixed his sleeveless button up, brushed down his mauve pants and kicked the mud from his shite kicker boots. He looked at his face in his mirror and fixed his ginger hair. He didn’t know why he even cared, he used to not give any fucks about his looks but he liked when she smiled. That made this meet up even harder. He walked over to her and when he saw his daughter he bent down as she ran over and he embraced her.
“Hi,” he said to Mini and kissed his daughter.
Mini couldn’t hide her smile as she watched Grace run after her dad. Grace alone never failed to make her heart melt, but the effect was increased tenfold when she was with Alo.
She pushed herself up off the bench and walked closer to the two of them wearily. Mini wanted to fix whatever was wrong between them, and she knew it could take a while. Well, baby steps - and with that being said, Gracie was doing better than her on the Alo front.
“Hey there farmboy,” she smiled, watching the two of them together. “How’s life treating you then?” The blonde absently picked at her fingernails and looked down shyly.
Just being with his little girl was enough to make a smile on his face. She was growing up so quickly that he could hardly keep up. He remembered when she could barely eat without vomming all over the place. He felt her little lips press against his cheeks. His smile was bigger and brighter than ever. He looked over to Mini as she was picking her fingernails. It was one of those habits that he cringed at.
“Good, but you would know if you actually visited the cottage and not just dropped her off and ran,” he said coldly.
If she was going to be a bitch he would be cold hearted as well. There was a time when he heard farmboy and smiled but now it felt like an insult like it did when she had first used it. Their time before the birth felt like it was a million years in the past. His daughter was touching his face, feeling his contours like she wanted to know everything about him. Grace’s smile was infectious and her giggle was contagious.
“Why did you text me? I thought you hated me?” he asked.
Mini visibly was taken aback. The last thing she wanted from all of this was for them to be so distant. “Alo… You don’t… I didn’t mean to just leave,” she sighed, not looking up from her hand. “I wanted to be there. Through everything. You know I did.” The girl felt tears well in her eyes and she quickly turned away from them. “I thought you hated me?” Alo’s voice hit hard. God fucking damnit this isn’t how it was supposed to happen.
If that’s how he was going to play, then so fucking be it. Mini bent down and quickly retrieved Grace’s toys, putting them in her bag and brushing off the picnic blanket before she started to fold it. “You always have to assume the worst, don’t you Aloysius,” she growled, not daring to look back at him as she felt a tear roll down her face. “Maybe I missed you? Maybe I wanted to see you. Why do you always have to jump to conclusions. I’m taking Gracie and I’m going home.” She stuffed the picnic blanket into her bag and took a deep breath before turning to face them, her distress evident.
“You left me! You took Grace! How else was I supposed to react,” he said in angry whispers so Grace wouldn’t cry.
He watched as Mini was gathering everything and when she came for his daughter he moved back. By doing so he probably just started world war three. But he wasn’t going to lose his baby again. It was getting close to his week and he wanted to enjoy his time with her before he had to give her back for a few days.
“How about instead of you getting angry and leaving again we handle this, you know with words,” he said.
He was dropping bombs left and right and had a feeling she would retaliate. This was going to be a blood bath and he just wished it could go better. He held Grace and she continued to hit his face playfully, she must be ignoring the words betwixt the jilted lovers.
“You could’ve fucking called?” Mini snarled, standing her ground. “All you had to do was try and talk to me, Alo! You did nothing!”
Her mood was slipping rapidly and she was losing whatever hope she’d previously had. What the fuck was she thinking, that they could be okay. Tears rolled freely down her face now, and she threw her bag down at Alo’s feet. “Goddamnit it, farmboy,” this time it was meant to be an insult. “Sorry I can’t do anything right for you. You know where the flat is. She better be home tonight.” The blonde turned quickly and began to walk off, cussing under breath. Fucking idiot fucking… fuck! She kicked the dirt path under her, trying not to listen to her daughter’s laugh getting further away. This was her fault and she knew it.
“Oh good, just run away! I’m the one who does the running not you Minerva!” he said.
He started to hear a little blubber from his daughter, she could feel the anger and he held her. But Alo didn’t just stand there. He picked up the nappy bag and followed Mini. He had to make this right and he had thought she would dig up his past. Throw stuff in his face but she didn’t and he felt bad. He didn’t want to be at odds with her. But he was still hurt and he regretted this anger.
“Mini, I don’t hate you okay? But… right now, I’m too afraid to commit because I know you’re still afraid to commit.”
Alo caught up with her, luckily he took long strides and he took her by the shoulder and turned her back to him. He looked her in the eyes, she was so beautiful but she was also poison disguised as wine. He felt his throat get tight like he was about to cry but he stayed neutral.
“Let’s just take it slow, rebuild everything or else we won’t have anything.”
Mini sniffed and avoided Alo’s gaze. “I just wanted to see you again.” She felt so bad for leaving before, and all she wanted was to fix things between them - as friends. She wasn’t expecting everything to be perfect and lovely in an hour. “We have to figure something out. For her, if nothing else.” Mini nodded down at her daughter, who was playing with the buttons of Alo’s shirt.
The sight alone brought a fresh round of tears to her eyes and she reached out to run her fingers through Gracie’s hair. Raising her daughter in this kind of fucked up relationship was the last thing she wanted, and she had a feeling Alo felt the same.
“Look, let’s go do something. Now. Ice cream?”
“Yeah,” he said.
What a sight the ice cream vendor would be hold, two single parents trying to get along, one had that fresh cry face with the other just looked confused. He gathered her things to help, they walked quietly through the park and the awkwardness became pregnant as the silence grew longer. He knew for certain that he loved his daughter and he knew that he still loved Mini but they needed to fix some shit before they even try getting back together.
“I live in a cottage on my farm now,” he said. “When I left awhile back to Whales it was because a great aunt died on me mum’s side. We got some money and my parents bought a cottage. So Grace can have a room there and not just sleep in her crib in my old room like before.”
He wanted to show he had grown and changed. Maybe she would change and they could be happy. But the hurt was still too intense for him to forgive her. But they could work it out in time. A small cart was being pushed and a picture of an ice cream painted on it.
Mini didn’t waste a second pulling out her purse and handing over the cash to the vendor. She didn’t want to put up with some strangers awkward small talk right now. “Thanks,” she mumbled as she turned and walked back to Alo and her daughter, handing one of the treats over to him and opening her own before holding it out for Gracie.
“Cool,” Mini responded absently, “cramped or not, she’s lucky she wont’t have to spend too much time in that barn.” She remembered the mornings she’d woken with straw in her hair, or reeking of.. well, farm. Sure it was well worth it but damn it hurt like a bitch in the morning.
“So are you expected to pay rent or board or what?” As far as she knew he didn’t have a job, and last she checked his income was all from growing and selling… “And I’m not letting you raise our daughter with drug money,” she added.
All she wanted was for everything to work out, but some people just clashed. It was like Alo and her were back to square one and she didn’t know what she could do to help it. At some point she can vaguely remember wanting to have a family with him but it was something that never could’ve happened. They’d always been fucked up, and they probably always would be. But if they could be civilly fucked up then maybe there was some kind of chance for them.
