Until You

Mindy

I received another letter a few days later. I read it and felt for him. I had spoken to this therapist, Ann. She seemed pretty nice. I told her what I could tell and I had hoped that he was opening up those old wounds. Wounds that was not for me to talk about. I had planned to see him, I just needed to talk to the therapist to see if he was making any progress yet.

One day while I was at work, she phoned in. I asked Sandy to take my place and I stepped into the lunch room.

"Hello, Ms. Simms?" Ann said.

"Hi, I'm glad I caught you, I wanted to know if he was making any progress?" I hope she was calling me to tell me some good news.

"He is, actually. He is in the process of understanding the consequences of his actions, and healing the broken child within." She said into the receiver.

"That's good to know." I said, "I need him to understand that I will be there as a friend. But I'm not looking to be with anyone right now." And I meant it.

"No problem, I can schedule you to come in tomorrow if you can? He is asking for you a lot." She was making me feel horrible.

"Fine, I can get someone to cover for me here." And so I did. On the drive to the correctional center I was hesitant. What if I see him and fall head over heels again? It had been 10 months since I seen him. A part of me still loved him and I was afraid of that. I really wanted him to grow from everything, and I had to stop because that was what I was here to do, be a support so he can grow.

I parked and walked into the building. I met with a guard and he guided me to a room. When the door opened I saw him, sitting on the opposite side from the therapist, Ann, and there was a chair next to him. He was wearing all orange. And of course, he looked drop dead gorgeously handsome. He had picked up a few pounds and I saw what it looked like bulkiness in his arms. Like he had been working out. He looked delicious. I could see it in his eyes too. We both wanted to kick Ann out immediately and have at it. But I walked over and sat down.

"Hello Tony." I looked at him. And he started to tear up. I reached over and wiped the tear from his face. "You're going to be okay Tony; you just have to open up so you can get well." I reached for his cuffed hand, "So you can let go of the past."

He nodded and turned towards Ann, "Can I hug her?" 

Ann shook her head, "We won't go there right now. Right now I just want to talk to the both of you." And he nodded.

"Tell me about your previous relationship." Ann asked.

I looked at Tony, I could tell he wanted to talk but he didn't and so I did. "I fell absolutely head over heels with him." I said that as I looked at him. "He has such a big heart, and he did everything he could to make me happy." I teared up.

"I love you so much." Tony interrupted. 

"He has this magnificent smirk and smile. His smile could light up the room." I said then. "We were really happy together and I'll never forget it."

"We can still be happy together." Tony said.  I looked down.

"I think Mindy wants to be on her own for a while." Tony looked disappointed. "She wants to be here for support for you, Tony." Ann added.

"I know, I just want her to know that not anything will change the way I feel for her." And I felt that a million times over.

"He's not telling you everything." I blurted out to Ann.

"Mindy!" Tony yelled.

"Tell me what?" Ann asked.

"He needs to tell you what really happened to his mother." I wanted him to work through this, if that meant me being the push, then so be it. I wanted him well. He needed to work through the hard stuff to get well. No more covering up.