One night, Luca came at me, looking extra tall with his chest puffed up, going on and on about how he’s about to be a man soon and should have more freedom. This joker had the nerve to put more bass in his voice and everything. If I can be honest, he kinda hurt me a little. Despite everything I’ve done to provide an open, relaxed environment where he and his sister can talk to me about literally everything, he still felt the need to bully me. That was so unlike my son, and I wondered if one of his friends put the idea in his head. Regardless, how did I treat him like a child?
I had a similar outburst with Mommy, but she deserved it. She had me on a really short leash and I never went anywhere without her. How could Luca feel that way? I’d never denied him anything, and until that night, he’d never expressed a desire to do anything. That little show was so unwarranted. I told him all he had to do was ask.
“Oh… Okay,” he said.
The next night, he and Alessia went to their friends’ homes, leaving me alone with my thoughts. My chat with Alessia came to mind. I’d shared so much with her and wondered if it was too much. The moral of my story was to be honest with herself, which was something I was still learning to do; I’m still a work in progress. Just thinking about this honesty thing, over the past few weeks, I’d been honest with a lot of people. Everyone except…Ali. I’d apologized to my children and received apologies, but the one person who deserved the sincerest of apologies was still in the dark.
I sprang to my feet as if someone had lit the couch on fire and headed to Evergreen Harbor. Knowing Ali would have wanted me to call first, it still compelled me to speak to him right away. Naturally, he answered the door with an annoyed yet alarmed expression.
“I know I should have called first,” I said before he had a chance to say anything. “The kids are fine and visiting friends.”
He exhaled a small breath and invited me in.
We sat, and his new gray hairs caught my attention. Hopefully, they came from age and not from the stress I’d caused. It looked good on him, though. How gray would my hair be if I didn’t keep coloring it?
Though I knew what I came for, I got nervous and stalled.
“So… The kids have crushes.”
His eyes flicked open.
“Both of them?”
I smiled and nodded.
“Wow,” he said. “I guess they are at that age.”
“Alessia told me about Luca.”
He snorted.
“Of course she did.”
“I asked if she had a crush too, and she told me all about him. We, uhh…we had a little chat. I was wondering if you could talk to Luca while he’s here?”
“Of course. Thanks for letting me know.”
Though I knew he wasn’t smiling at me, I still found myself a little flustered. Those eyes! Even after all this time, they still caught me off guard. He was the most handsome sim in the world to me.
“Anything else?” he asked.
Of course, he knew I didn’t show up unannounced just to report on our children’s love lives. But I still wasn’t ready to say what I needed to say. Not that I didn’t want to apologize. Every time we spoke, it seemed I brought up the past and hurt him all over again. I didn’t enjoy hurting him, and I didn’t want him gritting his teeth every time he saw me. Hopefully, this would be the last time I brought any of this mess up.
