Round 2: Brennan

Liam Brennan and his wife Dawn Brennan are Adults. Their daughter Autumn Brennan is a Young Adult.

* * *

Autumn knew she should think about moving out eventually. But she was trying to put it off for as long as possible. Their new house was a lot less crowded with Silas gone, and she had a place to practice her painting with a great view of the riverfront. She didn’t have to cook for herself, and she didn’t have to worry about bills.

Even if her parents’ enthusiastic reconciliation did get a bit awkward to be around sometimes.

Dawn and Liam’s relationship was better than it had been in years, and with her new job – even though she was still doing entry-level work – Dawn thought she might be happier than she had ever been. But Liam couldn’t say the same for himself. With Dawn gone all day and often needing to get extra paperwork done even after she got home, all the day-to-day cleaning tasks fell to Liam, as well as the cooking. He was getting better at cooking now, but he couldn’t say he enjoyed it. It was no substitute for the job he still missed.

Even raising Autumn didn’t give him the pleasure it once had, now that she seemed determined to waste her life. She had always been bright and motivated in school, but now she spent too much of her time on paintings she didn’t even know if she was going to be able to sell. The art gallery hadn’t even promoted her yet, which Liam was sure had everything to do with the fact that she just wasn’t motivated. She had even started talking about quitting her job to paint full-time.

One of the teen girls from down the street stopped by one day when Autumn was out painting. She was an aspiring artist herself, and wanted to see if Autumn had any tips for her. Autumn, who had been working on what looked to her like the worst painting she had done in years, was flattered. They stood on the porch for hours just talking, and discovered that they actually had a lot in common. Not only did they both love to paint, but they both enjoyed geeking out about different techniques and art styles.

Until she met Liss, Autumn hadn’t realized quite how lonely she  had been. Ever since the move, she had spent most of her time hiding from her parents’ arguments – and then from their reconciliation – and trying to improve her art. Aside from a lot of evenings chatting with Knox, her old friend from high school, she hadn’t had a real social life in… she wasn’t even sure how long. And even her time with Knox didn’t really count, because that was more about giving him a sounding board than anything else. He had somehow ended up married to a woman her parents’ age, who had just given birth to triplets. Autumn couldn’t even imagine. She knew her parents couldn’t wait for her to get married and start popping out grandkids, but just the thought of getting into a serious relationship at her age made her shudder.

After that afternoon, Liss often stopped by after school to chat. Of course, eventually that led to Maxwell, one of Liss’s dads, coming by, demanding to know why his daughter was spending so much time over there. Samuel and Liam had never gotten along. Liam wasn’t even sure why. Something about the other man – his slobby clothes, his lazy attitude, the way he didn’t even bother putting in a little extra effort to get promoted out of his nothing job – just rubbed him the wrong way.

One day while Autumn was still working on the same terrible painting, Dzika Fish stopped by, in awe at actually meeting a real artist. Autumn was beginning to feel like a mentor to the aspiring artists of Wanderer’s Cove.

She had to admit, she was actually starting to do well as an artist lately. She was even able to sell some of her paintings to the gallery where she worked. Her dream of making a living at this was beginning to look not so impossible after all.

One day Dawn came back with good news – she had finally been promoted out of the mailroom. But although the promotion made her happy at first, soon it caused a resurgence of the depression she thought she had put behind her. She unloaded her feelings on Liam one day – she loved her job and the mental stimulation it gave her, but somewhere in the back of her mind, it had always felt temporary before. This made it feel permanent. And that meant giving up the idea that any day now she would be getting ready to stay home with the new baby.

They had talked about giving up on the idea of another baby before, but they had still kept trying. They had both wanted a larger family for so long that neither of them wanted to let go of that dream. Dawn dreamed of a house full of children, and especially after seeing how little Autumn cared about making something of her life, Liam wanted a second chance to see if he could do better this time. But right now this dream was doing nothing but sucking the life out of their house.

They decided together. There would be no second baby. The family they had now was all they needed.

Autumn finally made the decision to quit her job, and once she did, she felt happier than she had in a long time. Now she had the freedom to paint all day in her pajamas if she wanted to, with no one to tell her not to. Liam, on the other hand, was horrified – but even if he could have convinced her to change her mind, it was too late. She had already made the phone call.

Her decision wasn’t without consequences, however. She quickly found out that the gallery she used to work for was not only no longer interested in purchasing her paintings, but they had blacklisted her among many of their buyers. She couldn’t find anyone willing to pay as much for her paintings now. But she still considered her decision more than worth it.

Liam still saw Silas from time to time, although they didn’t talk very often. Liam and Dawn still hadn’t met their new niece Phoebe, even though she had started school by now. Liam was privately surprised that Silas was still living with Lacey Li, but Silas seemed happy with his life, even though he scowled whenever he mentioned Lacey’s older daughter. Liam knew he should be happy for his brother, but he couldn’t help the unsettling thought that Autumn’s problem was that she took after her uncle.