Chapter 47 - Since When Do We Give Up?

Chapter 47: Since when do we give up?

"Yes, she did. Jason what the hell happened?" Elena saw a box of crackers by her bed and she reached for it. She stuffed her mouth with it as she waited patiently for Jason.

"I don't know. I really don't know" 

Elena swallowed. Crap! She stared at the box of crackers, she was stress eating again and it never ends well.

"Well, you have to know something... anything!" 

There was a pause on Jason's end.

"Well...I know the woman that made me believe in love again just gave up on me" 

The line went dead.

Great! Elena refused to leave her room not until she was done with her box of crackers. She looked at her reflection on the mirror one more time. "Oh, don't judge! I mean the last time her life with Jason blew up she cost me my job...twice"

Elena knew she was being selfish but she couldn't help it. After forty five minutes, She picked herself up and went into the sitting room. Mckenna was already asleep. Elena didn't know whether it was good news or bad but it bought her time to figure out what she would say to her friend before morning.

She made sure Mckenna was comfortable on the sofa and properly covered with a blanket.

Elena went to bed but that day, her dream was blank...just pitch black.

Next morning, Elena woke up from sleep. First, she decided to brush her teeth before tackling with the mess called Mckenna. If she knew Mckenna well enough then she was probably up and about in the kitchen dancing to music that had lyrics such as sunshine and daisies making pancakes or anything laced with sugar.

Pretending everything was okay was her go to mechanism for coping after s trauma. Elena never understood it and it wasn't healthy.

After brushing her teeth, Elena walked out. She didn't bother looking for her best friend on the sofa, just went straight to the kitchen to see what ray of sunshine was hiding her true feelings behind a happy face.

Kitchen was empty. Wait what?

Elena turned and raced into the living room. Where was Mckenna? What was happening? Did the moon suddenly turn red on her without informing her?

She found Mckenna on the sofa with the blanket over her head. She was shaking. Elena thought she was having a bad dream when she pulled the blanket off of her but she wasn't. She was awake and in tears.

"Oh sweetie...I am so sorry" Elena hugged her. Just gathered her in her arms and consoled her.

Mckenna pulled away for a moment.

"What have I done, Elena? Do you know how long it took for him to stop running away from his feelings for me?" 

Elena could see how sad Mckenna was. "Mk?"

"It took four freaking years. And I...I just threw it away because I couldn't handle the fact he has a daughter?"

Elena held her hand.

"What happened?" She really wanted to know.

"When did I stop overlooking things like a six year old throwing tantrums or wanting to sit in the back of a car with her father or doing a million little annoying things without him even noticing. What did I do to us?" Mckenna started looking for her phone inside her bag. Elena took the bag from her.

"What are you doing?" Elena asked her.

"Just give me the bag, I will call Jason and ask for his forgiveness for walking out. Then go back home" Mckenna wiped the snort on her face and then followed by her tears. Elena place the facial tissue she took from the table in front of her.

"Just give me my phone, Elena!"

"I can't let you do that. There was a reason you walked out and until that reason is addressed, you can't go back, honey. Because if I let you go home, you are going to wake up one morning and find out that you resent the man you love. You are going to find out you hate him a little bit and you are going to feel trapped in a marriage were you resent the man you love and it will eat you up until there was nothing left" Elena let out a breathe. Maybe she was projecting but maybe not. If it could happen to her parents then it could happen to anyone.

Now, she didn't want Mckenna and Jason to end up like her parents, resenting each other even in death. Her father was dead and her mother was crippled yet she could still see it in her mother's face whenever she brought up her father. David Obimmuadu might have being the best father in the whole wide world but he was a crappy husband.

"Why did you leave Jason? Until you figure out that question and a way to deal with it, I can't let you go back and blow up your marriage forever. So think about it while I make tea for you" Elena stood up with McKenna's bag. She searched inside and confiscated her phone before heading inside the kitchen.

Mckenna relaxed further into the sofa. Elena was right. There was an underlying problem she had to deal with before getting her marriage back on track. Part of it was Kara but the other part was all her. There was something broken in her that she needed to fix. Then her mind wandered to Jason, he must be falling apart right about now.

******

Jason tried to deal with Kara's hair. He never knew how difficult it was with combing a black hair.

"Aww! Daddy you hurting me!" Kara screamed as he drove a comb through the tangles.

"Sorry" Jason knew he needed help. He was grateful for YouTube. Thirty seconds later, he was applying all the hair products he found in Mckenna's part of the closet on Kara's hair and combing it properly.

"Do you like your new school?"

"It's fancy!"

It was fancy. The best in the state.

"Where is Umma?" Kara inquired from him.

"Umma is on a vacation. It's just me and you, Kid. Come on, let's get you to school"

Soon they were driving to school singing along to the song playing on the stereo. Jason was surprised.. Turns out he was totally fine without Mckenna.