Episode 1163: Christmas Don't Be Late

Lila had taken her successful Halloween Harvest and in a hurry transitioned into this holiday extravaganza as she liked to refer to it.

“What do you think?” Bowie asked. “It’s pretty close to your sketch, right?”

Lila looked up from her phone. “It’s fine.”

“Wow. I need to steady myself before I’m blown away by your compliments.”

“You did your job, thank you. I just don’t have time for a ticker tape parade right now, sorry.”

“I don’t need a parade, that isn’t…” Bowie shook his head. “It just seems like we have a very business-like relationship lately. A warm conversation with my wife might be enjoyable.”

“It also might be enjoyable if my husband didn’t feel so scarred by our relationship.”

“Lila-”

“Look, I get it, I really do, I don’t blame you. I have a spotty history at best, it’s understandable that you’ll never forget the many ways I hurt you. I realize I don’t have much right to feel hurt over it, but that’s how I feel. I feel like by now I should have proven myself to you in a way that erased all that. It just, it sucks to realize that it’s on my permanent record with you. So yeah, with that on my mind, right this minute, I’m not in the mood to be fun or playful or whatever it is that you want from me. I guess that’s another strike against me in your book but that’s just how it is, you’ll have to live with it just like I do.”

“You’ve blown this all out of proportion,” Bowie countered. “All I said was that I’d rather not see our son all about a relationship that may never be in the cards for him and get his heart broken. That was not a veiled reference to what we’ve been through. I didn’t end up heartbroken with you, we’re together, we-”

“We both have a lot on our plates right now so could we just drop this, please?” Lila asked. “You put your truth out there whether you truly meant to or not, it happened and both of us need to move on.”

“Lila-”

“You have a couple of your regular customers to go meet up with, right?” she asked him. “I promised these events of mine wouldn’t get in the way of your landscaping business, so don’t let me hold you up. We’re in good shape here to open tonight and in the meantime I have some Christmas parties that I need to work on. So I’ll see you later, okay?”

Lila kissed his cheek and stalked away to her car. Bowie shook his head as she drove off. He had to do something besides just focusing on work until this all blew over for her. Bowie wanted to make her feel better, feel convinced that he didn’t regret their rocky road. And what better time of year than now to show someone how special they were to you.

Episode 1164: Family Affair