Always and Forever

Chapter 6

Michael POV

And here I am back in California, standing in front of a house, which I suppose is my mom’s. I have never been to her “new” house, since she left ours when she and dad had finalized their divorce years ago. A lot had changed in this town, too, that I can barely recognize it. I was supposed to arrive in the afternoon, but my flight got delayed and I was caught up in the LA rush hour traffic.

I stood at the porch and reached for the button beside the doorframe to ring the doorbell. I hope my mom is not yet asleep. I leaned at the doorframe and looked around the neighborhood. It was dark already. I am already feeling nervous and at the same time excited to face my mom. We may not have had the best relationship during and after the divorce, but she’s still my mother. I thought to make it up to her before I go to New York.

I accidentally bump the doorbell when I moved my elbow. I immediately stood up in attention and faced the door when I heard footsteps. This is it.

A few moments after, I hear the door being unlocked. It slightly opened and a head popped out on the side. I cannot make anything about her face. f**k! I might be in the wrong house. This surprise might not happen as planned.

“Hi! Is this the house of Rebecca Compton? Or Rebecca Dawson, I mean.”

The girl just stared. I turned to look over my shoulder as she might be looking at something or someone at my back, but I saw nothing. I looked back at her, then I almost slapped my forehead. How could I forget the girl living with Mom! This must be her!

“Uh, I am Michael, her son.”

Then I heard a voice coming from inside and after a moment, the door opened widely revealing my mom. I smiled widely and opened my arms. “Mom!”

Then I could not help myself laughing. The next thing I knew was I was being squeezed to death and was being pushed inside.

“You need a hand on those bags?” I looked at where the voice came from and was surprised that the girl was still there.

“Oh dear! Michael, this is Olivia. You’ve met her on one of our video calls. Olivia, this is my Michael, my one and only baby.” I mentally rolled my eyes at those last few words.

I held my hand out to shake her hand and said, “Hi, Olivia.”

I don’t know what’s wrong with her. I have my hand up for a few seconds already but it looked like she was hesitating to shake it.

When I was about to lower down my hand, she came out behind the door and reached for my hand.

“Nice meeting you in person, Michael.” Wow! That voice. Or was it her touch? I felt goosebumps all over my body. Damn! What’s happening here?

This is not the Olivia I remembered as I look at her face down to her feet. She was introduced to me by mom on one of our video calls some time ago, I cannot remember when. From time to time, mom would send me photos of her together with Olivia, but did not pay much attention to the young girl. She was like a breath of fresh air. I look back up again to her face. She must have stepped out of shower when I got here. I caught the scent of lavender on her. Well, that was why she was hiding behind the door. She was wearing only her pajamas and I can see her n*****s through her satin top. And those legs.  I groaned internally. I should get my mind out of the gutter. She is off-limits!

I bent down to get my bags. “Mom, are there two Olivias here? From what I remember Olivia is fourteen.” I looked at mom, while we stepped inside the house.

“Michael, of course, Olivia has grown up! And into a gorgeous lady at that, don’t you think? She's already eighteen. Well, have you eaten, son? You are just in luck! I have some left-over lasagna, your favorite! I can heat it up. I hope lasagna is still your favorite. It's Olivia's favorite too. Come, let’s talk in the kitchen. I can’t believe you’re here!” I am a little bit hungry, so I just followed mom. I was looking around the house. It looked beautiful.

Mom was still high spirits when we got to the kitchen. This side of the house is familiar to me, because whenever we had our calls, mom always stayed here.

Olivia came in and took charge of getting the food prepared. Mom came and sat in front of me.

“You like my surprise, Mom?” I grinned at her.

“I sure did, baby.” She patted my cheek, then added, “This was a great surprise! How have you been?”

I laughed at her question. “Mom, we just talked a few days ago.” She c****d her brow. Then, I cleared my throat. “Actually, I am no longer in service.”

She gave me a worried look, so I took her hand, which was placed on the counter.

“What would you like to drink?” I heard Olivia said from the other side of the kitchen.

“I will just have coffee please,” I replied.

“There’s nothing to get worried, Mom. I took up dad’s offer to take over the business. But I told him that I get to stay here first with you for a year before I go to New York and he was okay with it. I told my commander of my decision early this year, but I just had the approval last month after I finished the project I was working on.”

“I know it was a hard decision, son. I am so proud of you. I know you would take your father’s business to new heights.”

“Thanks, mom.” She leaned over and kissed me on my forehead. “Uh, can I stay here for a week though?”

“Only a week? I thought you will be staying for a year?” Mom looked confused.

“Janice will be staying with me.” Mom still looked confused. “Janice? My girlfriend?” I added.

“Oooh!” So, mom forgot who Janice is.

“I will be looking around for an apartment to rent for a year.” I told mom, hoping she could give me recommendations.

“Are your two on a serious relationship? Are you already getting married, Michael?” Mom seemed cautious on asking the questions.

“We’ve been together for over six months, Mom. It’s too soon to talk about marriage. Her contract had just finished too and she’s arriving from London this weekend, but will to stay with her family in LA a few days before coming over.” I explained to mom. I told her a few things more about Janice, as she might have forgotten everything I had shared with her about my girlfriend.

Janice worked as a model in London. We met in a pub nine months ago, and I was surprised that she was from LA. We hit it off immediately, but I was cautious as I know I will be going back to US and I would not want to leave her hanging. I am not also into long-distance relationships. I had been honest with her, that I did not want to start anything because I had to go back home. She said it will not be a problem with her, because she can go with me any time. I did not want her to do that, but it was worth a try. We were officially together after three months.

Olivia came over and placed the lasagna in front of me. I muttered my thanks. She then left abruptly, probably to get the coffee. I took a bite of the lasagna.

“This is so good, Mom! I’m glad you are still making my favorite!” I took another bite and another, that mom began to laugh at me.

“I do not know what’s with my lasagna. It was also Olivia’s favorite!”

I was still chewing when I remembered to ask her something. “You have anything planned for your birthday, Mom?” I wanted her birthday to be special. It had been long since I last celebrated anything with her.

“I just thought of celebrating here and have some friends over. I honestly almost forgot about it! Olivia and I had been so busy the past few weeks! She just reminded me during dinner. But she said she will be organizing a party. Perhaps you could help her? I suppose you will not be doing much these days. You could have it grand as you like, as we have so many things to celebrate!”

Just then, Olivia came with the drinks. Two cups of coffee, the other one most likely was for mom.

She turned to mom and said, “I will just be in my room, Aunt Becky. Just let me know if you need anything.”

“Oh, Olivia. I’m so sorry to trouble you, sweetheart, but could you arrange the bedroom for Michael please? He will be staying here for a while.” She smiled apologetically to Olivia.

“No worries. I will take care of it.” I gave Olivia a glance before she turned to walk out of the kitchen. She had those small dimples when she smiled. It was so…attractive.

“Sorry to trouble you, Mom. I was supposed to be here hours ago, but my flight got delayed, then I was caught in the rush hour traffic.”

“Hush, Michael! You do not have to apologize!”

“So what else do we have to celebrate?” I asked.

“Aside from my birthday, we have to celebrate you coming home. I am sure your friends will be happy to see you, too!” I groaned. Me and my big mouth! What I had in mind was take my mom to an out-of-town trip, perhaps to Las Vegas or down to Mexico.

“It will be your party! I do not want to share the limelight!” I reasoned to my mother.

“And I would like also to celebrate Olivia’s winning in the council election at school today.” Did I hear her right? Who makes a big deal about winning council elections?

“Why would we have to celebrate that? Most probably she had already celebrated with her friends and I assume you already went out for lunch or dinner. Isn’t that enough celebration?”

“Oh Michael.” She said grinning. “Are you jealous?”

“What?! What are you saying, mom?” She’s getting crazy.

Mom took a deep breath and let out a sigh. “Son, Olivia is like a daughter to me. She never gave me any problem ever since she lived with me. And in fact, she kept on making me proud. I am sure you will find her amazing when you get to know her well. She had achieved so much on her own! She’s the current head of the cheerleading squad, she ran in the council for vice-president and she was declared the winner today. That was why I also got busier than usual, because I helped her during the campaign period. And to top it all, the school principal informed her that she is in the running for valedictorian!”

I looked at mom skeptically, not showing how impressed I am. “I hope she’s not acting like a princess here. I hope she helps you with the chores.”

Mom smiled then tapped my hand. “She’s doing far more than her share, dear. She was never idle. She works part time at the bakery some days and helps me with special orders at times. I think I already shared this with you. She’s the one who cleans around the house during weekends and does the laundry for me too! She also stepped up with the cooking when she turned sixteen. The most I do is to tend to my garden and cook. She was indeed raised well by my best friend.” Mom mellowed down but still cannot stop herself from talking about the things Olivia does in this house.  

“She sounds boring! No boyfriend I guess?” I snorted. Yeah, I am fishing here.

“Ha! She’s not boring! You forgot that she’s the head of the cheerleader squad! And you have seen the girl, Michael! She’s gorgeous! From what I heard, she has a number of boys crushing on her, but she doesn’t want to get involved with anyone just yet, as she’s too busy with school and work. But I know, she has her eyes on someone already.” She wiggled her brows at the last part, like she has her own little secret. Mom talked about Olivia excitedly. It shows that she is indeed really proud of that girl.

Mom stood up then went around the table to sit beside me. She put her arm around my shoulders, then said, “I was just joking when I asked if you were jealous. I know you were not. But please understand that we found each other when we needed some one in our lives. She lost her parents, and I had no one too. I already had the bakery at that time, but I was getting depressed. Olivia is important, just as you are to me.”

I place my arm around mom’s shoulder too. “I’m sorry, Mom, I was not here.”

“You do not need to apologize, son.”

“I haven’t been keen on following your stories about Olivia. I just wanted to know that she’s not taking advantage of you.”

“She is not taking advantage of me. You will see.” She smiled. “I would like to talk some more, but we have days together ahead of us. You get some sleep, dear.” She took the coffee tray with her to the sink, while I also got up and carried the plate.

“I’ll do that, Mom.” I said when I saw her about to wash the dishes.

“You’re off duty, soldier.” She smiled at me. “I am sure you already miss the base.”

“Yeah, I do. It will be long while to get accustomed to being a civilian.”

“You will get there, son.”

After we left the kitchen, I went back to the front door to get my bags, then mom showed me the room that I will be using. The room was painted white. There was just a queen-sized bed, a bedside table, a big closet, a drawer, and a table and chair at the corner. I was surprised that it did not smell stuffy in here, when no one really uses this room.

“Olivia did clean well.” Mom walked to the door on the left and said, “This one is the bathroom, Michael. If you need anything, we have stocks of toiletries.”

I looked inside the bathroom and was happy to note that it was clean, too. “There are already toiletries in here, Mom.”

“Olivia must have put them there. That child is very thorough.” She muttered. “I will leave you now. If you need anything, you can ask me or Olivia. You are more than welcome to get anything from the pantry if you get hungry, okay? Good night, son.” She patted my cheek.

“Good night, Mom. Thank you.” I leaned down to hug her tightly. She hugged me in return and left the room.

I took a shower then immediately hit the sack. I sent a quick message to Janice, telling her that I was already at my mom’s house and that I could not wait to be with her. I was so damn tired that I feel the sleep taking over.