Chapter 18

We went for a walk. After a while of silence, Shawn took out the lollipop I left in his room from his pocket and said “Here” I looked at him “No it’s for you.” He placed the candy back in his pocket. We found a bench and sat there. Once again, silence took over. But then Shawn pulls out a mug from his jacket and gave it to me. 
As he was handing it to me, he said “I was going to give it to you last Monday but my grandma got really sick and I got occupied.” 
I took the mug in my hands and read what he had written. On the side, it said “Worlds best butterfly hunter!” When I turned it over, it said “From Shawn Davis” 
I can tell that Shawn and I have walked one more step closer in our relationship. Because: he has gone from ‘ignorant jerk’ to ‘Shawn Davis’. I smiled and thanked him. 
“Shawn, I really like these mugs but you don’t have to give me a mug every day. Maybe: on special occasions.”  
He nodded his head. As I was looking at the mug he asked “You said you lost your brother when you were ten, what happened?” 
I turned back to him “Are you sure that is an appropriate story for today?” 
He just looked at me. I realized he wanted to hear the story so I told him. 
“It was about 14 years ago, I was ten and my brother was 18. Kevin was a muscle guy. He always wanted to be in a profession, where you have to use your muscle more than your brain. Like boxing, fire fighter or the army. But my father wanted him to get in to business. Kevin didn’t cave in like I did to dads’ vision. And one day, Kevin got in to a huge fight with mom and dad. I remembered them yelling for hours. Kev ran out of their room and jumped in to his. That night my brother ran away and he never came back. Few days later, we heard from his friends that he joined the army. And about five years later, we heard that his base was attacked and that there were no survivors.” 
“Maybe he got out, maybe he is alive.” said Shawn. 
“His base was attacked nine years ago. I don’t think my brother has been out there for nine years all by himself.” 
“I am so sorry.” Shawn showed his condolence, he continued “You said you blame yourself for what had happened. But how was that your fault?” 
I sigh “That night he ran away, I heard him going out of his room and I followed him. I asked him where he was going and he told me that he would be back soon. I knew he was lying. I knew that if he walked out of that door, he would never come back. I could have called mom and dad to stop him, but I didn’t. Instead I blew him a kiss and went back to bed. If I had stopped him that day, Kevin would have still been here.” 
Shawn said again “I am sorry.” I asked “You said your grandmothers passing was your fault. How is that?” 
He rubbed his hands together while he answered my question “I told you that she was getting sick, I could have paid more attention to her but I didn’t. She was always there for me and I couldn’t be there for her.” he wiped his tears from his face. 
“What was she like?” I asked. 
He smiled while thinking about her. “She was the kindest person I have ever met. Like I told you, she was the only one there for me after my father divorced my mother. Whenever I tried to see my mom afterwards, my father, forbid me.” 
“Your father forbade you from seeing your mother?” I repeated what he said. 
“Yes, but in his defense, it was because his new wife told him to stop me from seeing my mom. After my relation with my mom was limited, my grandma would always take me to my mom in secret on my birthday. Once a year, I was able to see my mom and feel her love.” 
“You only go to her on your birthday.” 
“Yes, it is the one day in the year, where my father doesn’t ask me where I was or where I am going. So it makes it easier to visit her without giving her any troubles.” 
“Where does she live?” I asked. 
“Just, outside of town. It’s not that far.” he answered. 
“I can tell that your grandma has left you a good memory.” 
“Yes, more than I could ever imagine.” 
His eyes watered up again, but this time he didn’t wipe it from his eyes, he let his tears run down his cheeks. He cried for a very long time. Then he slowly placed his head on my shoulder as he cry. But after a while, he stopped. We sat there for hours without saying a word. He had his head leaned on my shoulder for a while, I realized that he was asleep. From how he looked like, I can tell he hasn’t slept for few days, so I just let him sleep. 
Around four in the morning, my phone buzzed. I answered it, it was my mom. I picked it up and whispered “Hello” 
My mom in a worried tone said “Where are you?” Still whispering I said “went out for a walk, I will be back soon.” I hung up. 
No matter how low I whispered, my voice woke Shawn up. He looked at his watch and saw that it was too late. He walked me home. After we arrived he said “Thank you for listening tonight.” 
“It’s ok, my pleasure.” 
We stood there saying nothing. I broke the silence and said “Good night” he wished me a good night as well and I walked in. 
The next few days, I heard nothing from Shawn and I wasn’t shocked. He has been through a lot. It is only normal for him to take few days off. I have been feeling better after that night with Shawn but the one thing that is not going great is my problem with Lucy Chaw. She is being mean to me more than ever. She somehow found out that I eat my lunch in the stair way, so when I went to eat she locked me in. She ran to every floor and locked the exit to the stair way. I couldn’t call anyone because there was no service in there. I stayed there for hours and lost a very important meeting. Oliver and I were supposed to present a big presentation we had for Ron King. After they finally found me, I heard that Ron King had left angry and that Melisa Brown was looking for me. 
When she found me, she rained the terror on me. She yelled for more than 30 minutes in front of everyone but for some reason I felt nothing. I wasn’t even listening to her; I was drifted in my thoughts while she screamed. When she was done, everybody went back to work. 
I went to my office and asked Oliver to give me Ron Kings’ phone number. After Oliver gave it to me, I called and talked to him. When he realized that it was me who was supposed to give him the presentation, he lightened up. I told him why I didn’t come today and he totally understood. We made another schedule for another time and we hung up. 
That night, Shawn called me. We talked for a while. I told him what Lucy Chaw had done and he told me how he has been dealing with stuff the past few days. 
“I have something to ask you” said Shawn. 
“Sure, what is it?” 
“I was going to go on a field trip tomorrow. It’s a one day trip and it is for work. I was wondering if you would like to come with me?” he asked. 
“What work is it?” I asked again. 
“It is like an investor hunt; we will go there and meet the person. It is not that hard.” 
“Is anyone else coming?” I asked. 
“No, no, it is just going to the two of us.” 
“Ok, sure. I would love too.” 
We made plans and the next day he came to pick me up. I got in to the car and we made our way. We talked about this and that and after a few hours of ride, we arrived. He pulled over the car in front of a house. I wasn’t sure where we were so I asked him. “Shawn, where exactly are we?” he didn’t answer my question. He just said “Come on” he took out a flower and basket of fruits and walked to wards the house. 
“Seriously, where are we?” I asked him while we made our way to the door. He rang the door bell. He looked so excited. The door opened and a woman came out and hugged Shawn like they haven’t seen each other in a long time. She had red hair and a long floppy dress that was way too big for her. She had beautiful blue eyes and a sharp nose.  I was confused, but when Shawn said “mom” my confused flew away. I realized that he had brought me to his mothers’ house. 
After she was done hugging Shawn, she looked to me. “You must be Princi.” then she hugged me too. She is a big hugger. After she hugged me, she took the flower and fruit from Shawn and she went back inside. 
Shawn in a big smiled said “Come on” when he tried to walk in, I grabbed him by his collar and pulled him back. 
“What the hell?” I whispered. He just looked at me with a big smile. I continued “Why did you bring me here?” I asked him in a terrified tone. Still smiling he said “Come on” he walked in but I stayed at the door. He looked back at me and realized that I wasn’t moving so he walked back to me, grabbed my hand and pulled me into the house. 
I walked in slowly after he let go of my hand. When I stood like a pole, Shawn’s mom came and told me to sit in a cheerful tone. I sat at the couch. After a while, she asked me to the dining table for lunch. We all sat around the table. 
“Mrs. Davis, I would have brought you something but he didn’t tell me where we were going. I am so sorry.” I said after I took a seat. 
“Oh dear please” she said “call me Mary. And I am really happy that you came with Shawn today. Come on, dig in.” 
We started to eat. “Mary, this is very delicious.” I complimented her. 
“Oh this is nothing” said Shawn “You should taste her macaroni and cheese.” 
I with a cold tone said “I wasn’t talking with you, I am still mad.” 
“What did I do?” he complains. 
“You tricked me by using work as a weapon to bring me here. You could have just said let’s play hooky.” I answered with a very angry voice. I continued “Do you know how much work I am missing right now? Do you even know how many times that vampire Melisa Brown has yelled at me in front of everyone? Do you?” 
They both looked at me with no words. I looked at Mary and apologized for my behavior “I am really sorry, I didn’t mean to scream.” 
“No he wasn’t right, bringing you here without taking your consent first.” she took my side. 
“Thank you” I said. 
“Are the women already taking each other’s sides?” Shawn asked sarcastically. 
“Still, it wasn’t right of you to bring her without telling her.” his mom commented. 
“You are right” Shawn said “I am sorry I brought you here without telling you.” he apologized. 
“Apology accepted” I said and went back to eating. 
“Why is Melisa Brown yelling at you?” Mary asked me. 
I cleared my voice “You know Melisa Brown?” I answered with a question. 
“Yes of course” she said “Shawn has told me a lot about the old lady of the office.” 
“Well in that case” I said “The first time was because, your son kept giving me unnecessary work to keep me close to him. And because of that, I haven’t been able to do my actual job; it was my partner who was doing all the work. Apparently, Melisa Brown found out that I wasn’t doing the job I got hired to do, so she gave me my first ever live yelling session.” 
When Mary looked at Shawn, he said “I apologized for that too.” 
“Any way” I continued “Your son then hired an assistant and that assistant turned out to be no more that my mortal enemy and my childhood bully, Lucy Chaw. Now she is the meanest person to probably walk the earth. And she has been going out of her way to deliberately mess up my life. She is messing with my meeting, with my papers and the reports that we work really hard for. And at the end of the day, when my work goes missing, Melisa Brown flies out of her coffin to suck my blood dry.” 
“I am really sorry.” said Mary feeling sorry for me. 
“Its fine” I said “I have gotten so used to her yelling, I think I will be sad if she doesn’t yell at me at least once a day.” Shawn and Mary laughed. 
Talking about this and that, we finished lunch around four o’clock. While I was helping Mary put away the dishes, Shawn went into the living room and lay on the couch. When we were done, I walked into the living room first and saw Shawn totally passed out on the couch. He was sleeping so soundly, I don’t think he will even feel a thing if someone carried him out in a bag. I went closer to him and saw him as he slept. But then again, he was sleeping so soundly so just to be safe, I placed my finger under his nose to check if he was breathing. He was breathing. 
While I was checking if he was alive or dead, Mary came with a plate full of fruits and said “I know right, sometimes even I wonder if he is sleeping or if he is dead.” 
She sat next to me and offered me to eat. While we were enjoying the fruit, we had time to chat. 
“Wow, he is sleeping like a dead person.” I said to Mary. 
“Ya, he always comes here once a year and half the day he sleeps. He always tells me that this is the only place he feels safe, that is why he sleeps like a dead person.” she explained to me. 
“Wait” I said “he told me he only comes here once a year on his birthday. Is today his birthday?” 
“Yes, I thought you knew.” said Mary. 
“Unbelievable: why wouldn’t he tell me?” I asked again. 
“Maybe he didn’t want to burden you.” she answered. 
“So, why is there no cake and candles?” I asked her. 
“It was right after Shawns’ birthday that his father and I got divorced, so he hated celebrating.” she answered my question. 
“He told me that he is not allowed to see you. Why did you agree to these terms?” I asked another question. 
“To be honest with you, when Shawn’s father asked me for a divorce, I didn’t hesitate to sign the papers. I knew that for a long time we haven’t been happy and that we had been lying to both Shawn and ourselves. But when he told me never to see my son, I refused. But at the end of the day, I knew that I had nothing and no one to back me up as much as his father had, so I gave in to his conditions.” 
“I am really sorry!” I said. 
Mary continued “It’s alright, at least I get one day of the year to give my son the love I should have given him a very long time ago.” 
“I really am sorry.” I said again. 
Mary looked at me for a while and she said “You know: you are the only girl Shawn has ever brought home to me.” 
When Mary said that, I realized that Shawn and I have walked one more step closer to each other in our relationship. I can honestly see my future with him. 
When it started to get dark, we woke Shawn up from his sleep, said good bye to his mother and set our way to home. While driving there, I picked a conversation. 
“Happy birth day” I wished him. 
“My mom told you, didn’t she?” he asked. 
“I can’t believe all the things you pulled today. First you told me we were going to work but then you took me to your mom and then you hide the fact that today is your birth day.” 
“I didn’t want to burden you, that Is all.” he said. 
“Still it would have been nice to know.” I complained.