Until We Met

< 10 >

I think I underestimated the amount of money Jason parents had. My mouth was left gaping at the eyesight of the land that was marked under the residence of Jason's family. Every inch of it was owned by them and it was marvelious. Not to mention the lake with the sun glistening from off of the surface as if flirting with me, hoping to reel me in.

"Mama I wanna picnic."

"I know baby so do I,"

"Did you bing the salami?"

"Occurs baby."

"And the beignets?"

I chuckled. "I always do."

The conference ended earlier than expected. All of his teachers tend to have the same mutual reaction towards Milo. He was a complete utter sweetheart. Occurs I knew this but it felt surprisingly wonderful to hear it from his teachers. His homeroom teachers specifically noted that he always helped people. Rather help people put their backpacks on or sitting with kids who were alone. He was a friend to everyone, the literal definition of no men left behind. For a moment, I saw Vanessa in him. I was always sitting alone reading or doing homework at the last minute because I'd spent the night before staring at the paper but not having the energy to actually do it. There's always the stereotype that the quiet loner kid is smart and has great grades. I was definitely smart, but my grades were far from extraordinary. Having Milo really brought the responsibility out of me.

I turned down the driveway, ripping my eyes away from the mesmerizing lake, and searched for the parking lot when I spotted several people standing around having a drink. I drove their way, biting back the familiar feeling of nerves weighing in on me. Once I reached a spot, I parked the car and took several short breaths before turning to an excited Milo who was practically beaming in his seat.

"Now Milo, I know you're excited but we're away from home. I want you to have fun, your teachers said you deserve it."

He puts up two thumbs up. "But, we're going to be around a lake and this place is a little bit. I want you to be careful and you cannot be anywhere alone, am I understood."

"Yes mama."

"Alright, just be good. And we'll go on the picnic when Natalie gets here." His eyes widened. "Natalie's coming?"

I nodded my head in excitement which causes him to toss his red transformer toy up into the air in a cheer.

I get out of the car, coming around to his side to let Milo out. Once next to me, he goes to shut the door but stops abruptly. He takes his transformer, puts him where he was just sitting, and fastens him in. Honestly, the most responsible thing I've ever seen Milo do.

"Don't move mama come nighttime."

Reminder, come and get the transformer toy out of the car. Thinking about all the time Milo has lost a toy, I wouldn't mind the late-night run. He reaches for my hand again, and we take off in the direction of the few men we saw standing around.

They halt their conversation and drinking, turning to stare at us.

"Um excuse me. Hi, I'm Ivory Cassinova a friend of Jason do might know -

"Ivory, Ivory, yeah Jason mentioned you. He just went around to the backyard."

"Oh thank you."

I was kind of hesitant. I didn't know anyone here and a part of me was nervous to walk past these people without Jason. That's also the beauty about having kids, you couldn't focus all of your attention on them.

"Ivy." That sweet voice caused me to sigh in delight. I turned from looking at Milo to see Jason in all of his handsome glory. He'd settled on casual clothes that were especially appealing since he rarely did so.

"Jasonnn!" Milo squealed, rushing over to Jason who swoops him up high into his arms. "Hey kid, how was the conference?"

"They said I was really really good and mama said I rewarded."

"Rewarded baby." I corrected, chuckling to myself at his attempt to pronounce it. "Alright up top!" Jason sticks out his hand which Milo slaps back and giggles. "I'm proud of you, just for that, I'll take you out for ice cream."

"Yes!"

That's when I jumped in tsking Jason for making such a bold gesture to my crazy son. "Uh no because are you going to be the one staying up late at night with a hyperactive child who can't handle sweets."

Jason rolled his eyes. "For someone whose son can't handle sweets, you do know you work at a bakery."

"Yeah, mommy."

I put my hands on my hips looking at the two who were suddenly about to gang up on me. "Well if you check the ingredients on the menu, you would know that there's not a lot of sugar. And you."

I direct my pointed finger at Milo who's eyes widen in surprise. "You are a handful little boy when you eat too much sugar. So the answer is no, the both of you."

They look at me and grumbled until Jason leaned over and whispered into his ear, "We'll go get some when she's not around."

I chuckled to myself, ignore their conversation even though they were standing right in front of me. Suddenly feeling like people are staring, I turned to the four men who stood beside each other looking at us openly. I started to blush. Being with Jason and Milo like a family was always an intimate moment for me, something I didn't really like to share with others.

"Nice little family you got there Jase," the guy with the glass beer bottle in his right hand said, pointing at us. I go to correct him or expecting Jason to correct him when he suddenly snagged his hand around my waist, reeling me into his side while he still held on to Milo.

"I know. And she can cook." They made noises that I would assume would complement and clinked their beer bottles together. "I'm going to show them around,"

I raised my hand to wave at them. "It was nice to meet you all."

"Same to you, by little men." They all echoed their goodbyes and we made our way over to a huge beautiful house with a large outstretched backyard that could hold several more houses.