To Breathe Again

Chapter 5 - Cherished Moments

This chapter includes fishing, guns, and deer hunting. If you're against these activities, you might want to skip it; however, I'd like to educate those who are opposed to hunting. If deer are allowed to breed freely without population control, they can destroy their habitats and those of other animals. Almost every hunter, including myself, is a conservationist. We appreciate and honor the animals we hunt, ensuring they are healthy and only taking what we eat.

Michelle's POV

After leaving the office today, I take my usual trip to the local grocery store and pick up what Tony and I will be eating over the next few days. I always try to cook as often as I can. I love cooking for us, and he loves my cooking—win-win. I think today is a chicken-and-dumplings kind of day. I get to the house, hand my keys over to Tony like most days, and he heads to the gym after a peck on my cheek and an "I love you, Mom."

Just as I'm finishing up dinner, he comes back into the house. "Good time at the gym, bud?" I ask, looking over my shoulder while he grabs a bottle of water from the fridge.

"Yeah. Saw Eddie in there today. He's cool. My arms feel like jello now though." He laughs while grabbing a couple of bowls and spoons. I dish out his food and then my own, and we go to sit at the dining table. "What've you been up to today?"

My boy is such a gym rat. I'm so proud of him though. He's gone from a skinny kid to Mr. Muscles in about a year and is loving it. I'm glad he has some good guys to work out with as well. The only problem I have is constantly buying larger shirts because his chest and arms are too big for the ones he has.

"I'm overseeing a construction project for our new building," I say while blowing on my hot spoonful of dumplings.

"Oh, that's cool. At least it's not our house anymore. All the dust kinda sucked." He laughs.

"Yeah. The builder is pretty nice. Huge guy." His laugh cuts me off. "What?" I glare at him.

"Ha! Huge guy? Is he good looking? I know you fall for the big guys."

"Cute, very cute. I don't know." He looks at me like he doesn't believe a word I'm saying—kind of the "Really?" look.

"Ok, ok. Yeah. He's kinda cute. He actually reminds me of your great-grandfather a bit."

"Eww. Don't tell me that," he replies, acting like he's gagging.

"You are on a roll tonight, smart-ass." He laughs at me and shakes his head. "Not like that, you freak. It's just he reminds me of the things I miss when I was a kid. Some of my favorite memories were with Papaw Baker. This guy's hands are huge and really rough like his were. I think he's an outdoorsman like him as well. I saw some fishing poles in the back of his truck, and I can almost guarantee you that he hunts. Almost all of them do around here," I say while laughing a bit.

"Well, I hope you hit it off with him. You know you deserve to be happy, right, Mom?" he says, turning a serious eye my way.

"Yeah, well, my sweet boy comes first, and then we will see." I smile back.

Taking his bowl to the sink, he walks back my way. "I'm gonna go play Xbox for a while. Love you, Mom. Thanks for dinner. It was good," he says while kissing my cheek again and walking to his room.

"Love you, baby. Enjoy!" I stand and start cleaning up the kitchen, which inevitably looks like a tornado hit it every time I cook. I gave up a long time ago trying to keep it tidy while cooking. Meh. I'll get to it eventually. After cleaning the kitchen and turning out the lights, I head to my room to read for a while. My escape from reality is normally reading. I have an addiction to Wattpad. During the last few months of my marriage to Tony's dad, I escaped the pain and heartache via books and long walks. I miss my walks, but I can still enjoy my books. It just helps me get out of my head for a while.