Love in Heartbreak

**** Sidney’s POV****

I couldn’t get much rest after practice as I was like an excited little kid for dinner tonight. It was a quarter to seven so I started to walk over to Mavis’s place.

I knocked on the door. The door opened and there stood Mavis with a smile that lit up the night.
“Hey, we’re almost ready Sawyer just needs to get his shoes on.”

Just then, the little blonde haired boy with his mom’s big, doe, blue eyes slips past Mavis at the door and outreaches his hand towards me. I squat down to make direct eye contact with him and take his hand for a shake.

“It’s a pleasure to see you again, Mr. Sidney.”
He is such a little gentleman, “It’s nice to see you again too, Sawyer.” His confidence and composure most certainly takes after his mother.

I stood back up, “Where would you like to go to dinner? I didn’t exactly have a place planned out.” I rubbed the back of my neck nervously as I realized how silly that sounds.

“I don’t care, I’m fine with anything. And plus I’m terrible at making dinner decisions.” she laughs. Her laugh is beautiful. As I am lost in a haze by her, it is then broken by Sawyer tugging at the bottom of her blouse.

“What is it baby?” she says endearingly.

“I want unlimited soups!” I look back at Mavis quizzically. She notices my confusion and responds, “He wants Olive Garden.” I am grateful of her decoding and exclaim, “Then Olive Garden it is. I’ll pull the car around.” I didn’t want to have her trench all the way to my house in heels.

“Actually, Sawyer’s car seat is already set up in my car so it’d be easier if we were just to take that. You can drive if you want to though.” I nod in agreement and she hands me over the keys.

We get to dinner and place our orders. We begin talking about work and our hobbies. She bakes and loves to take road trips. I tell her about some interesting books I have read and we discuss some of our favorite recipes.

We go into what made her move up here, she briefly tells me about Maggie’s divorce. And she’s here to support her for a while and how her move here will only be for about a year. That in a way saddens me to know she doesn’t have plans to stay here permanently or even just longer.

I then learn about all her moves, this girl has almost lived everywhere in the country. Not to mention all the places she and Sawyer have traveled too. She is so much different from me, she is a free-spirit where I – I like my routine.

Dinner goes perfectly; the conversation between us flows so naturally. There is no awkwardness between the two of us. I can’t believe how well-behaved Sawyer is too. Usually the younger kids I am around are so rambunctious. But Sawyer is enthralled in the coloring book Mavis brought for him.

The more I am around Mavis the more beautiful she becomes to me. Her personality is glowing and when she is in a room her pure presence demands the attention of everyone. She’s funny and smart and caring and confident and—and, but I still can’t shake the feeling of how I feel about her having Sawyer. I’m so conflicted that she has a young son. Don’t get me wrong, I love kids. I want to have a few of my own someday. But how I was raised, you don’t have kids until you are married. And if she’s divorced, it makes me curious as to why. Not to mention her spontaneous adventures, knowing that she could just up and go at any second.

I pay for dinner and we get back into the car. I’m not ready for this night to end though. On our drive back to the house Sawyer spots a playground and gets excited by the slides. I decide this is a good excuse to pull over and continue this on a little longer.

As soon as Mavis unbuckles Sawyer from his car seat and places him on the ground he shoots off to the playground and goes to the first slide he reaches. Mavis and I take a seat at a nearby bench and watch him joyfully sprint around form one obstacle to the next.

My curiosity gets the best of me in that moment. “So, we’re you ever married?”
She seems really taken back by my blunt, random question. “Umm, no.”

“Oh… Then how did you and Sawyer’s father end up?” Immediately after I asked the next question I wish I didn’t. These are not first date questions. I actually don’t know if this even is a first date! I want to hide under a rock at this point.

The mood got slightly somber. But she graciously answered my question.
“Well, we knew each other in High School, after we graduated he joined the Navy. He went off to training and I went to college. After college I moved back to my hometown and we reconnected for a few years. He then wanted to be stationed overseas, in order for the Navy to grant me permission to go with him, we had to be married. So, we planned on going to the courthouse and eloping. But before we did I found out I was pregnant. I told him, he didn’t seem thrilled but he didn’t seem upset either. Two weeks later he split. Probably ended going overseas somewhere without me. I did love the man, a lot actually. I gave him nearly three years of my life.”

I hung my head, mostly in shame for asking the question. “ I’m – I’m so sorry you went through that. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable at all. I shouldn’t have asked that question. It is none of my business really.”

“Well, it’s a part of my life. And if you want to be a part of my life, or Sawyer’s, in any way you should know. It was my fault really, he wasn’t a good man, I should have known something would happen. Honestly, it all probably played out for the best.” She smiled sweetly at me, trying to give me some sort of reassurance. I smiled back in response. But, I had even more questions run across my mind but I now knew better just to keep quiet.

It was getting later and a bit chillier out so we decided we needed to call it a night. We drove home in almost silence. I was afraid of speaking anymore for the night. I didn’t want to say something stupid again. But I took comfort in knowing that she still expected me to be around in their lives if I was still willing too.

We pulled into the driveway and she took Sawyer out of his car seat and placed him on the ground. He sprinted off towards the house and went inside. I walked Mavis up to the stoop, “I had a really nice evening. It was nice getting to know you a little better. Again I’m Sorry for –“she interrupted. “It’s fine. Really. The foundation to any relationship is honesty and no secrets. So, no secrets?”

She stretched her arm slightly toward me pointing just her pinky finger at me then looked at me for some sort of reaction.

I took in her pinky finger with mine, “I pinky promise. No secrets.”

A smile came across her face, “Good.”

I did it again. This time it wasn’t alcohol induced I just couldn’t help myself. I starred at her plump lips that were covered in bright red lipstick and leaned in for a kiss. This time she seemed a little more accepting, her lips following the rhythm.

“Goodnight, Mavis.”

“Goodnight, Sid.” She smiled back at me as she turned to enter the house.

I turned walking towards home and as I started to think about it more, I never got a clear answer. I quickly turned back towards her before she completely went inside and said, “So, was tonight a date?”

She thought for a quick second before responding with a shrug and a smile.

“If you want it to be.” Then she shut the door.

It was a date.

Notes

Hey Guys!
So, I wanted to do more with this chapter but I am running out of time! I'm heading out of town for about 2 weeks so it'll be a while before I can get another one up.

Please let me know what you think! Happy October everyone.