Annabelle Cooper licked at the tissue in her hand, and began to delicately wipe the smeared chocolate from her four year old sons face. She smiled down at him as his tongue repeatedly darted from his mouth, trying to salvage the chocolate which had missed his mouth.
"How was your first day of school?" She asked him and watched as excitement built up in him. "Did you have fun?"
Dylan nodded his head vigorously. "Yes, I played in the sandpit and won lots of games and I drew you a picture." He yanked his head away from her grip and ran to his school bag to pull out a rumpled piece of paper. He skipped back to her and thrust the paper into her hands, the touch immediately making her hand sticky. Folding it out, her heart squeezed as she looked at it. Reaching on tiptoes, he leant over the page as he began to point to each figure he had drawn. "See, this is you and that's daddy and that's me." He told her, pointing to the stick figure of a small boy with brown messy hair. "Mrs Notts said I was the best drawer in the class and she gave me this sticker." He puffed his chest out, displaying the good work sticker that he had proudly been wearing all day.
"And who's this?" She asked, pointing to what appeared to be a little girl with long yellow hair and bright green eyes in the corner. "Is she your new friend?"
Her son snatched the paper from her hands and began it study it, his face twisting in confusion. "Yes. Her name is Ally Wright and she's in my class. She played with me all day. But..." He lowered his gaze as he confessed, "she cried when I threw sand in her face. Mrs Notts said that I was bad." His bottom lip began to quiver.
She pretended to sigh and put on her disappointed face. She was trying desperately hard not to laugh at her son's miserable attempt of looking guilty. "That was bad, Dylan. You have to be nice to girls and always look after them." She ruffled his soft hair between her fingers. "Did you say sorry?"
"Yes, Mummy." He answered and smiled up at her.
She saw him relax at knowing she wasn't cross at him.
"And then Ally hugged me and gave me half her chocolate bar." He squealed. He traced his finger along the drawing of Ally. "I like her, Mummy. She's my bestest friend. I want to marry her. Just like you married Daddy and then we can play games together forever."
She bent at her knee until she was eye level with him and placed his cheek in her palm. "Well, if you love her with all your heart then maybe one day you will."
"If I'm nice and look after her?"
"Yes." She nodded. She gave him a kiss to his mouth, the taste of chocolate still lingered on his lips and smiled. "I love you."
"I love you too, Mummy."
She stood proudly whilst she watched him run from the room. He stopped to lift the drawing to his face and placed a wet kiss to its corner causing her heart to thump strongly in her chest. It was in that moment that Annabelle Cooper knew she would be forever sharing her son's heart with a small girl named Ally Wright.
