The usual ride back home, as always, quiet.. My son at the back seat somehow refused to talk to me, bought him all I could think that he would like, tried every trick in the book but nothing seemed to work and somehow it felt like I knew what was on his mind. Yet I chose to ask "What's wrong?"

"Nothing" it was merely a mumble from his part.

That was it! I had to put an end to this behavior!

I parked the car on the side of the road and looked straight at him, he was bewildered by my actions but he tried to hide it

"I need to know, I'm worried about you Louis "

"I said, it was nothing"

"I'm your father, I can feel that it's not 'nothing', okay? so tell me"

"Nothing means I don't want to talk about it!!" This wasn't his first outburst, and so I did what Amanda does when he breaks this way; keep quiet and wait for a couple of minutes it always worked, just like now. When his intakes of breath started to regulate again and sound normal, I chose to speak again "Are you thinking about mommy?"

My assumption was right, he turned to look at me with furious eyes like I caught him red-handed.

"Louis, I miss your mom too, but you don't see me doing this, do you?"

"I don't have a mom"

"You do have one, everyone has a mom, there is no-"

"I don't!! She's not my mom but she always acts like one!"

Was he talking about Amanda?

"Of course she's not your mom, your mom is ivy, Louis. She loved you and always will love you, you already know that and you should always believe in it"

I was met with silence from his part, his facial expressions telling me not to press his buttons anymore, so I turned to face the road again before I made the car roar back to life and drove back home... Not expecting any sort of behavior from him for a while, but I was wrong...

And now it all changed; she chose to leave and I, the idiot I was, I let my emotions lead me at that moment and granted her, her only request.