Too Late for Sorry, Mr. Billionaire (Chasing my Wife Back) novel Chapter 151

IT was Gaddiel’s idea, which meant it didn't come as a subtle suggestion they had agreed on. He announced it at breakfast on a Saturday, three weeks after the hospital.

“We should go somewhere,” he spoke up immediately. “All of us. Like a trip?"

Amelia looked up from her food and stared at her son. “Where did you have in mind?”

“The nature park.” He said it like it was obvious. “With the birds and the walking trails and the place where we had the picnic that one time.”

“The one where you dropped your sandwich and blamed Gabriel?” Amelia asked with a small smile tugging at her lips.

“I didn’t blame him,” Gaddiel said. “I just said he was nearby.”

“I was in the car,” Gabriel corrected his twin.

“You were near... by the car.” Gaddiel didn’t even pause.

Amelia looked between them, her suspicious heckles rising. “Who else is coming on this trip?”

“You,” Gaddiel said. “Me. Gabriel. Hazel.” He paused and lowered his voice. “And Dad.”

She put her cup down. This was the fifth time this month. Two months had already gone from Ifeanyi's death where he was laid to rest in peace, and her children had constantly suggested that she needed more time outdoors than indoors. And every outdoor trip or fun they had always included Adrian. Amelia knew the third time wasn't a coincidence.

"Gaddiel.” she placed her hands on the table and called his name firmly.

“What? He likes birds too.” He didn't even bat an eye.

“You have never once heard your father mention birds.”

“He mentioned that one time—”

“You are making that up.”

“Mom.” Gabriel’s voice was calmer than his brother. The way he got when he’d practiced what he was going to say. “We just want to go somewhere together. All of us. It doesn’t have to mean anything. It’s just a trip.”

Amelia stared at him. This was exactly how they had been able to manipulate her into saying yes. Even when she wanted to say no, they would tell her that it didn't really mean much.

“Did Hazel tell you to say it like that?” Amelia asked as her eyes darted to her daughter.

Gabriel said nothing. She looked at Hazel, who was looking at her phone with the kind of focus that meant she was absolutely listening.

“Hazel.”

“Hm?” Hazel didn’t look up.

“Did you plan this?”

“I suggested a family outing.” She was still on the phone. “Where, when and how were entirely theirs.”

“Did you call your father?”

There was a pause at the table before she finally answered. “I may have mentioned it to him in passing.”

“Mentioned it how?”

Hazel put the phone down and finally looked up. “I said we were thinking of going to the nature park and he might enjoy coming. He said he would only come if you invited him. I told him I couldn’t control what you did.” She shrugged. “And then I told these two to bring it up at breakfast.”

Amelia didn’t say anything.

“You needed something good, Mom.” Hazel’s voice was steady. “We all needed something good. It’s a trip to a park. It’s not a declaration of anything. Let’s just go.”

Well, haven't they all in the past four outings?

***

The park was fine. That was the thing about the park— it just was. Trees, paths, the kind of light that made everything look softer but didn’t ask anything of you.

They walked in a loose group. Gabriel ended up next to Adrian, asking about the trees. Gaddiel ran ahead, then back, then ahead again, reporting on sticks and birds and one time a bug that he said was “very interesting, Mom, you should see it.” Hazel floated between them, sometimes with the boys, sometimes falling back to walk next to Amelia, sometimes up ahead taking pictures of things with her phone.

Amelia walked next to Adrian for a while and neither of them said much. At lunch they sat at the wooden tables near the water. The boys shared a sandwich. Hazel took pictures of them without asking. Later, the boys were down at the water’s edge. Hazel was sitting on a rock nearby, watching them. Amelia and Adrian sat on the hill above, in the grass.

“Thanks for coming,” she said after a while, as both of them sat shoulder to shoulder while keeping an eye on the twins.

“Thanks for the invitation.” Adrian replied in a genuinely thankful tone.

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