Emily swallowed the guilt in her throat as she knocked on the door to her son's apartment.
Moments later, when the door swung open, she was face to face with her son for the first time in two years. He was bigger than she remembered him being. John was always taller than her and his father, but he had packed on muscles since he left home. His broad shoulders filled the doorway, and because he was only wearing a pair of thin sweatpants, Emily had an unencumbered view of his tight abs and hard chest.
Silence filled the air between them before a loud squeal broke it.
"John!" Emma, Emily's seven-year-old daughter shot forward wrapping her arms around her big brother's leg.
John laughed and reached down, scooping her up with ease. His biceps bulged, and Emily shuddered. Her ex-husband had been over three hundred pounds for almost two decades. The moment after his parents forced them to wed when she showed up outside their door, sixteen, and homeless and pregnant with their son's child, Rick had started putting on weight. His opinion on the matter of weight gain Why bother trying to look good when he already had a wife?
"Emma! It's been too long!" John tossed his sister into the air and caught her.
Emily shared a look with him that Emma couldn't see. They both knew why it had been so long since the siblings were together. Or at least Emily thought she knew.
"I know," Emma sighed dramatically. "It's been months!"
"Months?" Emily repeated, confused. She had kicked her son out two years ago, and he hadn't come back since? How had he seen Emma just months ago?
Emma slapped her hands over her mouth. John sighed, stepping to the side, opening the doorway for Emily to walk in.
"I dropped by sometimes when you were at work to make sure she had food," John answered. "I asked Emma not to tell you."
Emily bit her lip. She had always been ashamed of how much she had to lean on John after Emma was born. Her ex-husband was a deadbeat who couldn't be bothered to help take care of his kids. She knew it, and John knew it. That was why he had stepped up when Emma was born and filled the role her ex-husband couldn't.
"Thank you," she whispered.
John smiled. "I've told you before; you don't have to thank me."
The guilt in Emily's gut felt like an anvil. John had always been a good boy, and he'd grown up to be a great man. He loved taking care of things. Animals, friends, his sister, and his mother too. How did I repay his kindness? Emily thought sadly. She had kicked him to the curb. Now, two years later, she was back in his life and ready to give him what he wanted.
Her husband lied for months about paying rent and then emptied their bank accounts and hit the road after their landlord informed them that they until the end of the day to move out. Without any other friends or family to turn to, Emily had called her son.
Her son who hadn't hesitated to text her his new address and tell her that he had been waiting two years for her and Emma to choose him.
"Emmy, why don't you go play in your room while me and mom talk?" John said, setting his sister down on her feet.
Emma pouted but ran off. Halfway down the narrow hall that led to the bedrooms, she stopped.
