A frown appeared on the agent's forehead that lifted quickly while a huge smile crept onto her face, "Really? That's your question?". Giselle shrugged and laughed, "Ah, y'know". The driver held up her ring finger and wiggled a rather thick piece of jewellery with a sparkly stone set into it. "Gay people can marry…", the brunette commented with a serious face and tried to hold in her amused grin. Carry rolled her eyes and pressed the acceleration, "You got me. I didn't know that one". Giselle shook her head and leaned against the door, letting her head rest against the window. Her eyes followed the buildings absentmindedly as the sorrow reappeared. Both stayed quiet and serious, though it was a little sad that the small banter earlier only lightened the mood briefly.

Eventually Carry spoke up, her voice soft, "It's none of my business. Yet standing right next to you when it happened, it wasn't like I could ignore it. I'm sorry". Giselle let it sink in before she spoke up, "Nothing you could do. Ian played me. And that's that". Her insides tore apart when she said it. It hurt worse than anything she could remember. The betrayal. The audacity. Her teeth gritted together again, a weak attempt to dull the pain, to push it back down into her stomach. She took a deep, relaxing breath and some of the pressure vanished, but the pain lingered. "I'm not sure that you're up for coffee. I could as well drop you off at your new place", Carry offered as the car rolled downtown. The brunette sighed, "It was really kind of you to offer, and even kinder to drop me off. Thank you, Carry. I really needed some kindness". She turned and looked at the driver at the next traffic light. Despite her teary eyes, she offered the kindest smile that she could muster. A soft hand clasped hers and pressed it. The gesture finally let her pain and sadness drift into the far distance, barely noticeable after a moment.

The last visit to her mom's place had been months ago. It was a semi-detached house on the outskirts of a suburb on the outskirts of Blackwater. Too far off the beaten track to ever stumble over it by accident. Carry and Giselle hugged tightly and by repeating a thousand thanks, the brunette got out of the car, took her two suitcases and walked through the drizzle to the leftern unit of the house. The place looked like as if a house from Alice in Wonderland and an urban British brick house had a baby. A tiny garden with a small basin for birds and a couple of glass spheres in various colours framed the small, stony track to the entrance door. She pulled the squeaky gate shut behind her and walked up to a door that was definitely stolen from a fairy tale. Its wood was old and the shape playful with a pointy top. Her finger pressed down on the button next to the door and she could make out a faint ding-dong inside the house.

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A woman, slightly shorter than her with unkempt, curly hair and an apron tied around her neck and waist opened the door and smiled brightly. "Come in, come in!", said the woman and motioned for her to enter. Memories flooded her brain. That painting with an abstract, blue boat on the beach had been in the hallway since forever. A grey vase with dried twigs still existed. And so did the hooks for her jacket. A lower hook had a small unicorn at its base. Her old hook from when she was little. Giselle quickly slipped out of her shoes and hung up the jacket, then rolled the suitcases into the kitchen through the door on the left. The place smelled like scones. A recipe from her great gran from Ireland. The smell had her mouth watered in seconds and she was about to steal some dough, but received a light slap on her hand instead, "No stealing! You'll wait until they're done!". Giselle burst out into laughter. A large portion of insignificant nonsense was exactly what she needed now. Here, nothing had changed. She still was little Giselle and her mother was still that, her mother.

"I'm glad you're here, daughter", the older woman told her and wrapped her arms around the girl tightly. Giselle embraced her mom and they lingered for a long moment. "Thanks for letting me stay. If I'm lucky I'll get a new place soon. Mr Dean told me that he has found something", she explained brightly and sat onto a chair at the small kitchen table. A glass of water found itself in front of her hands together with her mother sitting down opposite. "Mr Dean is your boss, right?", the woman asked and took a sip from her own glass. "Yeah he is. He offered to look and some friend of his is renting out their own place. It sounded like they didn't want to rent to strangers", Giselle explained and pushed her expression to look optimistic. Considering her previous experiences, maybe she shouldn't keep her hopes up. "And what about the move and the sale? Did all go well?". "The move went great. It's all in that storage unit. The sale…", Giselle's eyes teared up as she remembered the moment of revelation for the two hundredth time, "Yeah well".