Mistakes We Made (Wattys2016)

Chapter Five

Emma's POV

Sunday afternoons were lazy days at my house. Rae would normally come over after church and we would spend the afternoon with John. Since the weather was so nice, we let John play outside. My father had built a swing set for him as well as a sandbox. They sat under the shade of a large oak tree in the front yard. I had a table and a few chairs for my yard. So Rae and I sat there, talking while John played in his sandbox.

"I went to the cemetery yesterday." I mentioned as I took a sip of lemonade.

"Is the stone up?" She asked.

"Yeah it is." I studied her for a moment. She was intently watching John play. She hadn't even looked up when she spoke. "Are you okay?"

Rae broke out of her trance and looked at me. She gave me a sad smile, "It's just one of those days, you know? I can't believe he is gone."

"Yeah I know... I've been thinking... do you think I should tell John the truth, you know, when he asks about his dad?"

"Em, you're his mother, that's your decision."

"But I wanna hear your opinion.." I argued. She held up her hand to tell me to hush.

"Emma, stop. You're his parent. You need to do what you think is best. It's not my place." Rae turned back to John.

"But.."

"No buts." She interrupted me. "You do what you think is best. I'll support you either way. But I am not going to tell you what I think, no matter how much you ask."

"I just want to know what you think." I crossed my arms over my chest. Geez, I justed wanted her opinion. Making all of the decisions when it came to John was tough. What if I made a wrong one?

"It doesn't matter what I think. You're his mother. It's up to you." She stated firmly. I let out a sigh and let the conversation go. She obviously was not going to cave in. Stubborn girl.

I stood up, "Do you need anything? I'm gonna grab a snack."

"Just bring me a snack too." Rae grinned.

I dug around inside for a few minutes, trying to decide what I wanted as a snack. I finally opened up the freezer and grabbed out three Dream Bar ice creams. Those would be prefect. I was walking back out the screen door when I heard a car pulling into my drive way. I used my hands to shade my eyes. It was a black Chevrolet pick up truck.

Rae noticed it too. I made my way back over to my son and best friend and handed them their ice creams, as the driver parked their truck behind my car. John sat down in his tiny law chair that he had gotten for Christmas, so that he could eat his ice cream.

The engine cut off and out stepped Kade. Rae and I shared a puzzled look. Neither of us knew why he was there, but he made his way over to us. He was dressed casually in a pair of shorts and a red Guy Harvey T-shirt.

"I hope I'm not intruding." He apologized once he was standing in front of us.

"Not at all." I assured him. "Wanna sit down?" I offered him the vacant chair that was placed in between mine and Rae's.

"Thank you." He sat down. "I didn't mean to interrupt anything."

"It's fine, really. We're not doing anything. We're just letting John spend the day playing since its so nice."

John was still to absorbed in eating his ice cream to even care that Kade had arrived. "Would you like an ice cream?" I offered.

"No thank you." He smiled at my offer. "I know this is strange ... But I just really needed some company that isn't going to ask me if I'm doing okay every five minutes."

"Well we can certainly do that." Rae assured him, with a smile. "As long as you don't ask me either."

"You've got yourself a deal."

"So hows the wedding planning?" I asked him, "Rumor has it that y'all are gonna get married in July."

"That's the plan." He sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"You don't sound very excited." Rae remarked.

"If I tell y'all this, you can't repeat it." He glanced between us.

"We promise." We said in unison.

"I'm not so sure I wanna go through with it anymore.." He confessed. Rae and I were speechless.

Kade and Ella had been together since they were seniors in high school. Everyone expected them to get married. We were all surprised that they had waited this long. Now he was saying that it may not happen at all. We were completely and utterly shocked.

"Don't look at me like that." He told us.

"I'm sorry.. It's just that were surprised." I stumbled over my words.

"Extremely shocked... And intrigued," Rae added, "But mostly shocked."

"It's just, her and Jace didn't get along." Kade started telling us.

"And you're surprised by this?" Rae raised an eyebrow. "Jace couldn't get a long with anyone."

"I realize that."  Kade rolled his eyes. "I know my brother was an insufferable asshole. Believe me, I know that better than anyone."

"So why are you upset that she couldn't get a long with him? I mean Kade, Rae and I haven't spoken to him in years." I pointed out.

"But that's the thing. Y'all couldn't stand him, but you were upset about his death. Y'all cared that he was no longer here... But Ella... She doesn't even care. She didn't tear up, it's like she is almost glad he is gone and I can't marry someone who doesn't care about the fact that I lost my brother."

"I'm sure she cares." I told him.

"So dump her." Rae shrugged her shoulders, as if it was that simple. Kade and I turned to look at her. "Oh no, don't look at me like I'm crazy. The way I see it is, either A) she really doesn't care. Which means Kade doesn't want to be with her because he wants someone who knows Jace was an ass and still cared about him. Or B) Kade is imagining it, which means he is just looking for an excuse to cancel the wedding. So if that's the case he still needs to dump her."

I didn't want to admit it. But Rae's logic did make a lot of sense. I could tell that Kade was baffled, but he was taking her words to heart. So I tried to offer up a piece of advice too.

"I think you should try talking to her.." I stood up and picked up John who was alm sticky from his ice cream. "I'm gonna give him a bath and put him down for his nap. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Fifteen minutes later, I found them in the same place. "He is knocked out. Playing outside wears him out." I informed them as I sat back down.

"He's a good baby." Kade remarked.

"He does pretty good for the most part. He can be a hellion some days too though. Don't let him fool you."

"He's just figured out how to climb." Rae told him. "Emma keeps candy on the top shelf of the pantry. He figured last night that he could climb on the shelves to get to the top."

"He's gonna be in that "terrible two" stage in a few months. I don't know what I will do." I confessed. Having a toddler was not an easy job. You had to constantly watch them or else they would find something to get  into.

"Doesn't his dad help you out?" Kade raised an eyebrow.

"Uh.. No he doesn't. He's not around." Rae and I shared a quick glance.

"I'm sorry." Kade told me sincerely.

"Don't be. It's your fault." I have him a smile. "John and I are doing just fine."

"It's a shame though." Kade sighed as he sadly shook his head. 

A/N Let me know what y'all think! Comment and vote please. Also if y'all see grammar and spelling errors please don't them out so I can fix them. Thank you for reading!