Since You've Been Gone. (boyxboy)

Chapter 26: History repeating

"You were never a Jaconelli. You're a Jones, like me."
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"Fuck sake…" Jasper rolls onto his back on the bed. His lay-in, with the bed to his self had been rudely disturbed by a vacuum cleaner, with Beth already at work at the department store. He pulls the duvet over his head, snuggling in as he tries to block out the constant drone, but the noise just gets louder as his bedroom door swings open and the vacuum enters. Jasper sits bolt upright, flipping over the duvet and making the user of the vacuum jump. 

"Jesus!" His mother holds a hand to her chest as she fumbles for the off switch. "I thought you were at the farm today, helping with that house." 

"Not today." Jasper groans as he runs his hands down his tired face. 

"Why not?" She sighs a little annoyed with herself at her own blunder. 

"Tom and I…" Jasper stops himself,  trying to give his mind enough time to think of a reason without too much detail.  "We've decided to not spend so much time together." 

"What now?" She places her hands on her hips. "Have you been up to your old tricks?" 

"Leave it Mum. You know nothing." Jasper huffs as he gets out of bed. 

"Then would you care to enlighten me?" She says, waiting for a response. 

"Not especially." He grumbles under his breath, knowing full well that she would hit the roof if she learned that he had slept with Thomas. He didn't need to be told what a scoundrel he was. He knew that already.

She sees the unease on his face. Knowing not to push him too far, not yet. "Let me put the kettle on." She says in a calmer tone as she reverses out of the room, pulling the vacuum cleaner out with her and heads into the kitchen to get two mugs ready for use. Soon Jasper emerges from his bedroom, wearing some gym shorts and a plain black t-shirt. He continues to yawn as he sits at the table, with his mother placing a mug of tea in front of him. He takes it and drinks from it, whilst she begins to run a cloth over the kitchen countertops, commenting, "has one of you cleaned up already? It usually looks a lot worse than this."

"Me actually." Jasper turns to look at his mother. "We had Tom and Ellen over for dinner last night." 

"Dinner parties. Get you being all grown up." She chuckles. "And helping with the cleaning. It's only taken until you're 26 to pick up a tea towel. Maybe I don't need to come over anymore." 

"Don't be hasty mum." Jasper raises a hand to calm her words. "I still need you." 

"Well you will need to step up Jasper, eventually. When Beth gets a little further along, she will probably be too tired to run around after you." 

Jasper sighs. He knew his mother was right. She probably knew better than most about having to do things alone. At least from when his father got up and left. "Mum… can I ask you something?" Jasper sits up in his seat, his fingers grasp tightly against his ceramic mug of tea. 

"Of course." She smiles, taking a seat opposite him, grabbing her drink. "What is it?" 

"You never told me why Dad actually left us. Was it for another woman?" He says, visibly swallowing at the words leaving his mouth.

"Why do you want to talk about your Dad all of a sudden?" She furrows her brow. "Are you worried you are like him? I promise you, you are not. You were never a Jaconelli. You're a Jones, like me. That's why I changed your last name when we divorced." 

"No, it's not that." Jasper answers almost straight away, but maybe it was, a little. Maybe it had crossed his mind. Leaving Beth for Tom. Only a passing thought which filled his head every so often, a fantasy, but the thought of the baby tipped the balance, bringing him back down to earth.  "I'm just curious. That's all." He concludes. 

"Well to answer your question, Gianni, your father left because he and I just didn't work anymore. We fell out of love." Rosie looks at Jasper, she seemed at ease with her response. "Sometimes things run a natural course."  But what Jasper remembers of it at the tender age of 5 was her being more than bitter about him whenever he was mentioned."

"I thought you hated him." Jasper questions. 

"Well, it's complicated. You see Jasper, we were barely in our twenties when I got pregnant with you. That's not to say we weren't head over heels in love, I worshiped the man. His accent was a dream. But we were naive, at least I was. I thought getting married and having a baby would be a fairytale, but a baby adds a huge amount of pressure to a relationship and if it isn't strong to begin with, it's like building a house without solid foundations. It will never stand strong."  She reaches forwards taking Jasper by the hand. "I wasn't angry with him because he left me. I was angry because he left you. You don't stop being someone's parent just because a relationship breaks down. He rarely showed when it was his weekends to have you. He missed so much of you growing up. He let you down."

"I'm ok mum. I had you and grandma. I'm fine."

"And also Molly and Jim and now Thomas... So tell me, why are you not helping him out this morning." 

Jasper looks at his mother a little annoyed. She was clever. He'd give her that. "I…" He gazes into the tea in his mug. The words she had spoken hit home. Were their foundations strong enough? He knew that his feelings for Thomas were stronger than before, yet he still felt something for Beth. "Mum, is it possible to love two people at once?"