what remains

Ravi found Olivia laying on her side in their room. He'd just gotten off work and wished he could crash. He didn't know what the big thing was at work, but everyone there wanted pictures off flash drives or thinking about Christmas cards with their pets.

"Are you all right?" Ravi  sat on the bed with her back turned from him. He reached for her.

"Yes." She barely croaked. He knew she wasn't.

"What happened?" He kicked off his shoes and got in bed with her. He wrapped his arms around her, but she still didn't turn to him.

"It was never about me." She sniffed. "Here I was thinking I was the one. You know. I've never been perfect."

"I think you are." He understood everything she said from the first moment he met her. He loved her sassy smile, and Olivia had a way of making everything happy around her.

"She had a nervous breakdown when-when I was born." She cried more. "I guess she's been in and out of rehab, ever since."

"Do you think you'll see her again?" Ravi asked.

"I dunno." She sounded as if she might make herself sick with so  many tears. "I dunno if I should. Its just, its not as black and white as I thought it would be. I dunno what I should say to the Mom that raised me. She's not like my real mother, at all. She makes things so hard to talk about."

"You should get to know your real Mom. You don't want to miss that." Ravi told her. Olivia just nodded. Finally she turned and hugged him close.