Scheduled visits

“Yeah that’s right. In the 6 months that Jack has been born, John stuck around for the first month and then has been going back to work for longer and longer periods after that. It’s actually the longest he’s stayed in town since then as he’s been here for…about a week now” Izzy recalled, matching up with what you knew.

If your father left on Sunday and came here straight afterwards, that was just under a week since you had tracked him and you had no reason to think Izzy was lying to you at this point.

“So, about a week ago is also the last time I saw him as well. Not counting this trip. He came to our place and stayed for a day, got a hurried phone call and left us on the Sunday” you relayed, looking over to Izzy at the side of you to see her reaction.

“Hmm, that sounds about right. I did ring him to see what his plans were. I would usually just leave him to his own devices so I could just have some peace and quiet but he had mentioned coming back so I wanted to make sure there was enough food for two instead of just for myself.” Izzy agreed, collaborating your story before asking you a question back.

“So he was there just to visit you or was there anything else he did? He told me it was just some business but it’s not like he’d actually tell me the truth of where he was going” Izzy asked.

You would have just said it was a visit but a memory did resurface of your father asking Mom about selling the house once you and Sarah went off to college. He had seemed pretty insistent about it but he left on the Sunday after Izzy had called him. There might have been more to his plan to persuade Mom if not for the call so you counted yourself lucky that he had been interrupted.

“He wanted my Mom to sell the house after we go off to college but I guess I should thank you for distracting him from that” you told Izzy with a smile, getting a little shrug and a smile back in return.

“That's the first I’m hearing of that” Grace said with a frustrated look.

“Other stuff seemed to get in the way after I learned about the whole cheating thing and Mom didn’t just roll over on the idea either for once. I’m sorry though, for not mentioning it” you replied, knowing that Grace deserved to know but also that it wasn’t likely to improve her mood at this moment.

Grace seemed to think on your words as if trying to figure out your father’s motives for doing so, staying quiet when you expected her to be a lot more vocal in this conversation.

“Well, you’ve all said you want to help me and while I’m happy for the offer, what can I help you with?” Izzy asked, wanting to return the favour.

“We haven’t actually done anything yet though. Just some promises and you don’t even know if we will…” you started to say, not expecting anything out of Izzy when you had only just met her.

“I know you would if I asked. You’ve basically done everything you can so far to make sure you're not imposing on me and it hasn’t gone unnoticed so please, there must be something” Izzy replied, snapping Grace out of her thoughts.

“Max might not be comfortable asking but I will. We were looking for some actual physical evidence that John isn’t being faithful and we aren’t gonna ask you to do anything yourself, taking some quick photos of what you’ve got around around the house would probably be enough to convince Mary” Grace explained, getting to the main reason for your visit before you had actually met Izzy in person.

“But there is a chance that us asking for this could somehow have consequences for you. If my Mom does kick my father out for good then he might wonder what she found out and from where. Of course if anything did happen I’ll do everything to help you but I don’t want to put you in that position in the first place” you added, not wanting to fix one problem by creating another.

Izzy went to reply but turned to Jack as if she sensed he needed her, giving him some attention which caused her to think a bit more carefully about the offer in front of her before she turned back to face the three of you.

“As much as I like the current situation I’m in, I’ve always known it wasn’t gonna last forever. I was just sorta waiting for the other shoe to drop and hoping I would be prepared whenever it actually did. And now that you have given me another option, I think I need to actually think it over instead of going with the flow. For both me and Jack. I hope that’s okay?” Izzy replied, Jack briefly looking up at his mother when he heard his name.

“Yeah!” “Of course” “Absolutely” You, Emma and Grace all said over each other to answer Izzy, giving each other a smile when all three of you were in agreement.

There was a moment of silence while you all waited for the other to talk but Emma backed down and Grace waved her hand for you to talk pretty quickly after that.

“That’s fine. We all get that. If it’s okay with you, we could come back tomorrow to talk about it again? That doesn’t mean we will expect an answer but just another opportunity for us both to talk face to face, as much as I do love talking over the phone” you said, your brain throwing that last bit on the end for Izzy’s benefit but it just got you a strange look from Grace.

“Totally. There is something about talking to someone and getting to listen to their voice without having to think about how to react. There’s also… ummm, yeah we can do either” Izzy excitedly replied, your comment getting her to react before she calmed herself down.

Grace looked between the two of you and suspicion came over her eyes. She wasn’t going to say anything in front of Izzy but you could tell she wanted to talk about it later.

You were happy to talk about other topics as well and with Grace now here, she was able to tell Izzy about her life and vice versa, the two of them getting to know each other a bit better which broke down a barrier or two that was there from being practically strangers.

The conversation would have carried on for a lot longer before you heard a sound at the door of keys rattling, followed by a pause and then a sharp knocking rang out, halting the talking as a much more uncomfortable silence filled the room.

“I left the key in the door when I let my mom in” Emma said, just as another set of knocks rang out and the noise was loud enough to startle Jack.

Author's note: As mentioned a few chapters ago, I will be having a week break starting this weekend so there will be a 4 chapter break starting Sunday. Thought to give a reminder as a warning for the break :)