We're never ever getting back together

 "I just want to be like everybody else," Alec told Nora as she was going through the cabinets to look for any outdated cans of food.

"Everybody else?" She looked back at him, thinking he should still be doing math instead of chatting. "What do you mean?"

"I want you to be my mom," he told her.

She couldn't help but smile. It was a funny proposal. "Are you sure? I don't look anything like you. I'm not blond, my eyes aren't blue." Deep down, she knew Gage could see this too. Maybe they were just too different.

"I don't care." Alec's little shoulders shrugged. He was in a pout as if he couldn't work on another math problem. A lot was on his mind.

"Just like you shouldn't care about being like everybody else, either." She told him. "You've got your dad."

"But I don't want to ever see my mom again," he said. "Never."

"She does call occasionally."

"Only when she feels like it," the way he said Nora knew he was saying someone else's words. She didn't think it could be Gage's. Maybe it was his grandmother. 

Nora sighed and went over to check his homework. She patted his head and told him he was doing a good job, yet deep inside she felt sad for him and thought she might have to fight back tears, but they came anyway.

"Try not to worry so much about it," she told him. "When the time is right, I'll be the best mom I can be for you. Even so, it might not happen. Your father and I... We are just friends. And that's the best thing we can be for each other. Besides, you might not always feel this way about your mother. She's figuring things out too."

Alec shook his head no. He hugged her then as if she would be all he ever needed.