Always Something There to Remind Me

As much as I wished time could just stop and spare me, it didn’t happen. Instead, work seemed to fly by the next day, much to my dismay. As soon as my shift was over I headed straight home. Colby had called to give me some “advice” and “support”. He offered to come over and help me pick out an outfit for our “date” (his word, not mine).

“I’m not trying to seduce him,” I told Colby. “I’m just going to tell him that he has a son he’s never met. I don’t need to look sexy for that. Besides. He’s engaged, and I’m not a home wrecker.”

“Well, that’s just too bad, because none of us like Carissa and the team has unanimously decided that you are going to help us get rid of her for good.”

“The team?”

“Well, okay, just me,” he said. “But I’m sure they would all agree.”

“Sorry, I don’t have any connections to hired assassins,” I joked.

“You just wait. You’ll see I’ve been right all along and that he still loves you,” Colby declared. “By the way, please don’t be mad at me, but I told Mel.”

“Why would I be mad? He’s not invisible. She would have found out about him sooner or later anyways. Besides, I’m kind of glad that other people know. But please, don’t tell anyone else until I’ve told him, especially your teammates.”

“Whew, thanks for not getting mad. For future reference, she’ my secret keeper, so you might just want to tell her,” Colby laughed. “Well, I’ll let you go get ready for your non date. You need to call me later and tell me how it goes.”

“Yes sir,” I laughed. I hung up with Colby and then got in the shower. Fifteen minutes later I stood in front of my closet trying to figure out what to wear. I finally settled on a white tank top, blue deep V cardigan, and dark wash skinny jeans. I laid them on my bed and then went to tackle my hair, blow drying and straightening it. When I finished getting dressed, I looked at the clock. Six twenty-seven, three minutes. I grabbed my black knee high boots and ran down the stairs. Sure enough, six thirty on the dot I heard a knock on my door. I grabbed my purse and opened the door to reveal a smiling Sid.

“Hey,” he greeted, giving me a hug. “Ready?”

“Yep, let’s go,” I said, following him to his Range Rover. He ended up taking me to Café Sam, which probably wasn’t the best place. Don’t get me wrong, the food was great. The waitress however was another story. She kept coming back to our table every five minutes to “check on us” just so that she could flirt with Sid. It was all I could do to hold in my laughter, especially with the look on Sid’s face.

“This is ridiculous,” he finally said. “I’m really sorry.”

“That’s okay,” I smiled. “It’s pretty entertaining. How about we just go get some pizza and then just go back to my place,” I suggested, earning me a raised eyebrow. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, I’m not going to jump you. I would just like to eat in peace and talk to you. Besides, you look like you’re about to strangle the waitress and I don’t think Pittsburgh would like it if you were serving twenty-five to life.”

“Sounds good to me,” he laughed, looking relieved. He threw money down on the table to cover our meals. “Let’s go before she gets back.”

After we got the pizza and some pop, we went back to my house. He set the box on the coffee table and went to pick out a movie from my collection while I went to the kitchen to get some paper plates and napkins. I grabbed everything and brought it back into my living room, setting it down on the coffee table while he popped in a movie.

“What are we watching?”

“Like you even have to ask,” he smiled, as Friends popped up on the screen.

“Figures,” I laughed. “I forgot I even had those.” We settled on the couch, eating and watching the show in content silence. When the episode was done, I grabbed our trash and cleaned up. When I sat back down on the couch waiting for Sid to start the next episode, I felt his eyes on me.

“What? Something wrong?” I asked.

“No…you said you wanted to talk though.” We sat there silently staring at each other for what seemed like forever, him waiting for me to say what I had to say, me trying to figure out how to tell him.

“Okay, I don’t know how to tell you, so I’m just going to come right out and say it.” I started. He nodded, patiently waiting for me to continue. As I opened my mouth to speak, there was a knock at my door. “Oh my god,” I groaned. “Some people have impeccable timing. Don’t move,” I told him as I went to answer the door.

“Mommy!” I heard as my son flung himself at me and grabbed my legs.

“Aiden!” I said, pulling him up into my arms. “What are you guys doing here? I thought you weren’t coming for another couple of days?”

“The air line called us and said they had overbooked our original flight, but they could get us on a flight this morning free of charge for the inconvenience. Aiden heard the message and gave me the puppy dog eyes, you know I can’t resist them!” Melinda said. She looked behind me and saw Sid sitting on the couch. “Oh, sorry,” she mumbled. “I’m just going to go upstairs. Aiden, why don’t you come with me? Your mom will be up in a minute to tuck you in,” she continued, taking Aiden from me and going upstairs. I took a deep breath and turned around. Sid was sitting there with this shell-shocked look on his face. I could almost hear the gears turning in his head as I watched him piece things together.

“Sid,” I began.

“Is that what you were trying to tell me?” he cut me off.

I nodded. “I’m sorry,” I said softly, looking down at my feet. I couldn’t even look him in the eyes.

“I have to go,” he said, standing up. He grabbed his keys and opened the door. He turned around to look at me one last time before he left. I could feel the tears building up in my eyes. Not exactly the way I wanted him to find out. I didn’t think he would be jumping for joy, but I hadn’t expected him to just walk out either.

“Oh, Nic,” Melinda said as she came up and hugged her. “I’m really sorry, I didn’t even think that he would be here and that you hadn’t told him yet. I should’ve called first.”

“No, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it,” I sighed. “Is he still up?”

“Yeah,” Melinda answered. “I’m sorry again. I’m gonna go to bed, I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Goodnight,” I said following her up the stairs. “Hey buddy,” I greeted Aiden as I walked into his room.”

“Mommy, will you read me my story?” he asked.

“Sure,” I smiled, sitting next to him in bed. He snuggled into me as I read him Where the Wild Things Are. When I was done, he yawned and stretched, getting comfortable as I stood up.

“Mommy?”

“Yeah sweetie?”

“Were you on a date?” he asked.

“No hunny, I was just having dinner with a friend,” I answered.

“Did he get mad that I came here?”

“No, no. He just understood that I haven’t seen you in a while and he left so that I could hang out with you.”

“Oh.” He looked like he wanted to say more, but he just yawned again.

I leaned down and kissed his forehead. “Goodnight sweetie. Get some sleep so we can have some fun tomorrow,” I said as I got up and walked towards the door.

“Mommy? Will you sleep with me tonight please?”

“I’d love to,” I smiled, turning around and climbing into his bed with him.

“Goodnight mommy, I love you.”

“Goodnight Aiden, I love you too.”