TONI POV:
I look at Cheryl as she closes the door to my truck. "Jason has a soccer game on Thursday at 5! His gear is in his suitcase. I will be there." She tells me. "Thursday?" I ask. She shrugs. "I didn't make the schedule!" She tells me. "Also, can you keep him an extra night this week? I have a... d-date." She tells me. I look at her for a moment. "We-we're doing the dating thing?" I ask her. "Do you not me want me to?" She asks me. "No! It's ok! It's just I didn't think we were doing that yet!" I tell her. "We've been apart of over a year, Toni. What do you mean 'yet'?" She asks me. "We have a son together! I don't- I don't know!" I tell her. "How long have you been going on dates?" I ask her. "Ah! Dating, not just a date here and there. It's been something somewhat consistent." She tells me. I nod. "I won't introduce Jason to her until I know it's something serious! If it's something serious." She adds. "I know what you went through! I don't want to do that to our son." We hear a knock on the inside of the window. We look over at Jason. "Can we go? I'm bored." He tells me. I smile. "In a minute mama and I are talking." I tell him. "Boo!" He says. I look at Cheryl. "He's booing now?" She shrugs. "I don't know anymore." She tells me. I smile. "I will call you if anything comes up! Have fun on your date. I will drop him off at school and you are gonna pick him up from school Per usual, except today apparently." She nods. "Bye JJ." Cheryl says quietly. "Bye mommy."
I look at Jason as he eats his food. "Why don't you and Mommy live together?" He asks me. "What?" I ask quietly. "Why don't you and Mommy live together if you're both my parents? Polly and Freddie's parents live together." He asks me. Cheryl and I got divorced before he could remember and it's always been like this, I guess Cheryl and I forgot to explain the whole divorce thing to him. "Um... so there's this thing called Marriage, and it's when you and the other, parent, I guess, get together and sign a paper and live together and are in a relationship! Like Uncle Archie and Aunt Betty are! But Mommy and I signed that paper and then we later decided we didn't like that we sighed it, so we took our names off the paper." I explain in a way that he can understand. "It's called a divorce! Mommy and I got a divorce and that makes us no longer married." He nods. "Why did you get one?" He asks me. "Mommy and I weren't meant to be married. We had a lot of fights and it was better for all of us to not be married, so we got unmarried." I tell him. "When did this happen?" He asks me. "You're 8 now, so about 6 years ago." So when you were 2 we got divorced." I tell him. "Will you ever get married to someone else again?" He asks me. "I don't know." I tell him honestly. "What about mommy?" He asks me. "That's a question for her." I tell him. "Do you want to?" He asks quietly. "I don't know yet." I tell him. He nods. "Can I ask you something?" I ask him. He nods. "Um... how do you feel about living with Mommy more often?" I ask him. "Why?" He asks. "I might be moving out of town and I don't want you to have to restart your life, so I'm gonna talk to Mommy and see if you can live with her more."
I look at Cheryl as she walks over to me. We're at Jason's soccer game so we both have to be here for him. She sits on the bench next to me. "How's he doing?" She asks good.
I look at Cheryl as I sit at the booth. "I have to tell you something." I tell her. She looks at me. "Hi Toni." She says quietly. "I'm moving to Seattle." I say quietly. "What?" She asks me. "I'm moving across the country to Seattle." I tell her. "Why?" She asks me. "I got a really good job offer." I tell her. "You just took the job without telling me?" She asks me. "I did. I'm sorry." I whisper. "Are you gonna have to have a long custody battle?" She asks. "No! I don't want to uproot his life." I tell her. "What?" She asks confused. "Summer's and breaks." I tell her. "You can have him school years so his education isn't messed up, but I want summers and vacation. And of course with your permission, I want to be able to come here and visit when I can." I explain. "Can we get this in writing?" She asks me. "Of course! He's happy in Riverdale, I have had my life uprooted to many times, I'm not doing this." I tell her. "But he won't have you." She tells me. "Cheryl, I'm trying to make this easier for you so we don't have to have a long complicated battle in court, I want to keep our relationship civil." I tell her honestly. "I'm processing! You just told me you were going instead of asking me. I know we aren't married anymore, and I know you have a job that entails you going from place to place! But this is more than a 2 hour drive away! This is an almost 7 hour flight!" She says quietly. "That's why I want Jason here! Because it's not his fault, it's not your fault! It's mine! I want him to be here! I don't want him getting on a plane to hall ass to Seattle every weekend!" I tell her. "So summer's and breaks." She says. I nod. "You'll come here when you can to see him?" I nod again. "With your permission! I'm not gonna pop up unexpectedly!" I tell her. She nods.
