Learning To Love Again (Completed)

Learning To Love Again Chapter 5

PAYTON'S POV

“Why did you do that?” Mary Jane asked me when we were in the car. “He was gorgeous. I thought you liked him, you looked like you were enjoying the dance”. I thought back to when we were dancing, he’d pulled me close, and I’d suddenly felt safe. I don’t even know why. I’d never felt like that with a man before.

“I’m just not ready for anything like that yet” I shrugged. I turned round in my seat and looked back at the bar. I saw him looking towards us and I smiled.

Over the next few days, I started to get out the house more. I took Thomas to school, went to work, and when I got back, I’d take him to the park, push him on the swing set and chase him down the slide and we’d get an ice cream, or we’d go for a burger at McDonalds. “So, do you like our new home, then?” I asked Thomas, who was sat eating some fries. I really hoped he liked it here; this would be our new home as I certainly wasn’t going back to Alex.

“Yep” He replied. “Daddy would like it here” he paused for a second, seeming deep in thought “Is Daddy coming soon?” He asked innocently. I just didn’t know what to say to him. My heart broke for him every time he asked when Alex was coming.

“What about your new school? Do you like that?” I asked, changing the subject. I didn’t like to talk about Alex too much, it made me jumpy.

“Yeah, it’s awesome, mummy. Do you know what 5+5 is, mummy? It’s 10!” He stated matter of factly.

“Is that right?” I asked, “Aren’t you clever?” I was so proud of him, he’d come on loads in his school work since we’d been here. He was top of his class and the teachers were stunned at how clever he is. We started walking home and I let him talk the whole way about his friends at school and how he knows his 2x tables. I asked him to show me and he got to 20 before starting to struggle. I smiled, lovingly at him before picking him up to carry him and he fell asleep in my arms, so I carried him home, placed him in his bed, and went to sleep, myself.

The next morning, when I awoke, I looked at the clock. It was 6:30. It was Friday morning, last day at work today before the weekend. I showered, put on my work clothes and headed into Thomas’ bedroom to find him already awake and getting ready for school.

“Morning, mummy” He grumbled.

“Morning, Tommy. Would you like some help with that?” I asked, noticing that he was struggling to pull his school t-shirt over his head.

“I can’t do it” He whined, eventually giving up and flopping himself on his bed.

“Come here” I giggled and helped him dress.

 After breakfast I packed Thomas’ school bag and we headed out the door to school. The 15 minute walk to his school was  always filled with Thomas talking. He'd chatter on and I'd listen to him talking. It was our morning ritual.

“Can I go to Nannie and Granddad’s house tonight?” He asked, with a hopeful look on his face. 

“I’ll see what I can do.” I replied, whilst reaching to get out my phone and sending a text asking my mum if she’d look after him for the weekend. Within minutes, I got a reply. Sure, we’ll take him to the beach.

Now, that was the best thing they could ever say to Thomas. He was so excited. The rest of the walk consisted of him talking about building sand castles, and candy floss. I dropped him off at school and told his teacher that he’d be picked up by my mum, and went to work. When I got there, Mary Jane was waiting for me again. We arranged to go out this evening and then went our separate ways in the hospital.

The morning went quite quickly. I spent it looking for patient records, signing patients in and entering information into the computer system. By the time lunchtime came around, I’d caught up on everything that needed doing and was munching away on a ham salad sandwich at my desk and chatting to Mary Jane. It wasn’t until I looked up that I noticed him. He was stood about 15 metres away from us talking to a doctor. He was so goddamn gorgeous, my heart raced and my breath caught in my throat. I looked him up and down and saw he was wearing scrubs, had a clipboard in his hand and a stethoscope around his neck. Oh, my God, he’s a doctor; I thought as I drooled at the sight of him

“Oh… my Gosh” I stuttered. “It’s him” I wasn’t expecting to ever see him again after I walked out on him like that on Monday night. He was bound to recognise me and come over. Mary Jane was right. He was absolutely gorgeous. I just wasn’t ready for something like that, and he seemed like one of those that if he didn’t get what he wanted, he’d be straight out the door anyway, and so I didn’t even want to give it a chance. I had Thomas to think about. 

“It’s who?” Mary Jane asked, turned around, scanned the room and set her eyes on Jackson. She laughed, almost spitting out her food, making the whole room look towards us. I turned round in my chair and placed my head in my hands in embarrassment. When I looked up, he was standing there right in front of me. 

“Hello, Beautiful” He grinned. “Fancy meeting you here.” Oh my god, he was just too gorgeous. 

“Hi” I replied shyly. Why does he still want to talk to me? I was a complete bitch to him the other night.

“Ready for that dinner now, seeing as you walked out on me the other night?” He asked confidently.

“Um...” I paused and looked over at Mary Jane who was trying her hardest to stop herself from bursting out laughing. She nodded and mouthed Go on, he’s gorgeous. “Ok, yeah, sure” I replied, instantly regretting it. He smiled and walked away before I could change my mind.

I instantly turned around to Mary Jane who was still giggling away. “Did you know he worked here?” I scolded. I had a feeling she did and just didn’t tell me.

“I had an idea he did, but I wasn’t sure. I’ve seen him around a few times. But who cares, you’ve got yourself a date.” She nudged me happily. She must have read my thoughts because before I could speak she added “and if you’re not ready for anything like that yet, then at least you had a nice night out. Go on, have some fun. Now, all we’ve got to do is find you something to wear”

The afternoon dragged. I was nervous for tonight and there wasn’t much to do at work either. Just before I finished for the day, I took some forms up to one of the wards and when I came back there was a note on the desk.

Beautiful Payton. Meet me at Prezzo, London Road, 7:30. See you there.

 Oh, my god, he’s booked a table at an Italian, I thought as I headed outside into the car park to find Mary Jane was already waiting for me. As I passed her the note, I groaned.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, looking at the note. “That’s an Italian, right?”

I nodded, “yeah. And I’ve got nothing to wear.” I hadn’t worn anything remotely nice in 6 years; I didn’t know what I was doing. My wardrobe consisted of jeans, jogging pants, baggy t-shirts, vest tops and the odd VERY slutty dress, which was disgusting. I threw that out a couple of months ago, I couldn’t bear to look at it.

“Come on. My place, now.” She looked at her watch, grabbed my hand and pulled me towards her car. “We’ve got 2 hours to get you ready for a hot date with a hot doctor.”