Three's a crowd

60

The next day I decided not to focus on Riley leaving or the possibility of being pregnant. I wanted to make the most of what little time I had left with Riley, and the only way to do that was to ignore my problems and push them as far back in my mind as they would go.

I mean that's the healthy way to do it right? Ignore it until it goes away?

We spent the day walking around the local park, feeding the ducks and enjoying each others company. It was perfect and so far he hadn't asked about my breakdown yesterday, something I was thankful for.

We sat down on one of the benches as my phone buzzed in my pocket. I took out and saw that it was Riley's mom that had texted me, carefully I opened it, shielding the screen from Riley's view.

"I'll pick you up at 9am on Thursday, your appointment is at 9:45."

"Thank you!" I sent back before slipping my phone back in my pocket as Riley jumped off the bench and ran towards the small dock where people would often sit to feed the ducks.

It only took a split second before I noticed what he was doing. A small child, probably only three of four was crouched down leaning over the edge of the dock trying to grab his bright yellow ball that was floating in the water- his parents nowhere to be seen.

I instantly got up and followed as Riley sprang onto the dock and grabbed the child under the arms, right as the boy was about to fall into the water. Thankfully only his shoes got wet, although he was crying for his ball, completely unaware that he had just knocked on fates door.

My hands instantly went to my stomach subconsciously as I suddenly realized that the child was still crying with no adult in sight. Riley was trying to soothe him as I crouched down in front of the little boy.

"Hey buddy." I smiled pulling him into my arms. "You want your ball back?" I asked softly as he nodded through his tiny little eyes.

Riley didn't hesitate, turning around to reach over the small dock and retrieve the ball with his long arms. It was a simple gesture, but the happiness it brought to the kid was worth it all.

We walked the boy back to the bench where we were sitting.

"What do we do?" I asked Riley as the boy sat content with his ball in his lap.

"Where's your mommy and daddy?" Riley asked him as the kid shrugged.

"Maybe we should walk ..." I was cut off.

"Excuse me have you seen —- Brandon he's here!" The woman's voice called out.
I turned at the same time as Riley to see a small blonde lady with a worried but relieved look on her face. Her boyfriend or husband? I wasn't sure which was running towards us as well.

"Mama!" The boy got up excitedly and ran to the woman.

"Hey, baby! Don't ever run away again, you scared us to death!" She scolded him as she scooped him up and held him tightly.

"He almost fell in the pond, and he couldn't tell us who his parents were?" I said.

"Thank you so much, both of you! Lee has autism so he goes to water easily. I swear we turned for a second and he was gone. We were walking around the pond looking for him."

"It's okay." I reassured her, "he's okay, I'm sorry about his shoes though." I said noticing how his shoes were now caked in mud from being wet and walking in the dirt.

"I don't care about his shoes!" She smiled "I can replace the shoes, I could never replace him!" She smiled "thanks again." And then she quickly walked to the guy who was still making his way over to us.