A Friendly Meeting [Ellen]

[EVELYN HEATHER RAYNARD]

Evelyn was meeting her dear good friend Ellen whom she became friends with when she helped her with her and her ex husband's divorce. The pair had a lot in common and shortly after the divorce was finalized, they exchanged numbers and met up for coffee and lunch on a personal level, no longer business. It was nice to have a friend who she could talk to and tell about her daughters treatments. Lawson was easy to talk to but sometimes she just needed a friend rather than her own husband who was going through issues of his own. 

Lily was always the main topic of things going on in her head. She managed to get Lawson to watch her for an hour or two while she went out to lunch. Lily just had a treatment so things were a bit rough; throwing up every two hours, the chills, the aches. It pained Evelyn to see her daughter like that. Evelyn arrived at the local cafe where she was going to be meeting Ellen. Evelyn went in and grabbed a seat for the two of them. She waited and ordered a water while she waited for her friend to show up. She put her phone on the table in case Lawson needed to get a hold of her for whatever reason.

[ELLEN ELIZABETH WATSON]

Ellen held her cup of Starbucks with both hands. The New York City air was growing more and more frigid with the changing seasons. Surprisingly, Ellen preferred winter to summer. She loved curling up in a thick wool sweater and blanket with a cup of coffee and a good book. The school year had taken off and was off to a good start. She was thankful for that. Hopefully this year would save her unnecessary headaches, but she knew that was unlikely. New York University wasn't the safest university in the world. After all, New York City was New York City. 

Today she was meeting with her good friend, Evelyn. Ellen couldn't think of a better way to spend her Saturday. Her friend had handled the divorce between Teddy and she over two years ago. Despite the fact it had been a relatively clean break between the two of them, it still hurt. She was slowly beginning to heal, but she had a feeling the pain would never fully go away.

She walked along the streets, admiring the city. Her eyes brightened when she saw the restaurant. She entered and looked for her friend. When she saw her, she waved enthusiastically before taking a seat across from her. "Hi!" she said, removing her jacket. "It's getting cold out!" she set the Starbucks cup on the table. "How are you?"

[EVELYN HEATHER RAYNARD]

New York, the city that never sleeps, the city that Evelyn now calls her home. The changing seasons and changing air was nice for Evelyn. She loved being able to open the windows to let the changing air in to change out the air in the house. Especially with Lily being sick and going through Chemo, anything to get germs out of the house was perfect for her. Plus Lily loved the crisp air of fall. It was nice every once in a while, especially when she couldn't get out of the house to go outside.

Evelyn became really good friends with Ellen over the course of the divorce. She knew that divorce was never easy, she herself went through one but she slowly healed and married Lawson, the father of her child. Although the pain never truly went away because honestly it never does. Evelyn smiled and waved at Ellen when she saw her friend enter the cafe. She smiled. "Hey! I know I absolutely love it," Evelyn said smiling at her. She heard her ask how she was. "Exhausted. Lily had a really bad night last night. Threw up everywhere, achy, feverish. It wasn't pretty. I can't wait until tomorrow when the treatment ends for the week." Evelyn looked at her friend. "How are you?"

[ELLEN ELIZABETH WATSON]

Most of Ellen's life had been spent in New York City. She was a New York girl, born and raised. The only time she had left the city was for college. And even then, she didn't go very far. Then, for graduate school, she came running back to the city she loved. The thought of being somewhere other than New York was laughable to her, especially now. But there had been a time in her life when she seriously considered relocating to Taiwan for work. While she still wondered what her life would have been life, she was happy with her decision to stay. After all, she was in a good job, making more than enough money, and the mother of three perfect children. 

She smiled when Evelyn expressed her love of colder weather. "Gotta love sweater weather," she said, grasping at the sleeves of the thick wool sweater she had on. Ellen frowned when Evelyn told he what was up with Lily. No child deserved to suffer like that. "That's awful," she said, taking a sip of her coffee. "Let me know if you need a break. I can look after her for an evening here or there," she said, gently patting her friend's hand. "Oh, I'm alright," she said, sitting back in her seat. "The children are all growing up. I don't know what I'm going to do once they're all off to college," she said. "And life is sort of lonely, ya'know? It's been over two years since the divorce," she said softly.