the progress project [3]

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aidan

"he's gone," he sobs, and his mother holds him. holds him like all the times when he was younger; when he scraped his knee from tripping on the sidewalk, when his grandmother passed away, when he got his rejection letter from one of the ivy league schools, when... "ma, he's gone."

she rests his head in her lap, and strokes his soaking wet cheeks. "it's okay. it's okay, my love."

"i didn't want to lose him," he whispers, finding himself unable to take a deep breath. "i didn— i didn't want to lose him. n-not... not like this. i thought we were g-going to be forever."

"sh," his mother wipes his eyes, holding his hand. "you'll always have him to remember. he will always be with you."

"like dad was with you?" aidan's father filed for a divorce during the summer before his freshman year. his mother refused to talk about it.

she tenses, yet keeps massaging his head. "your father made his decision. he has done many things that are great, and also some terrible. it has shaped me into the woman i am today, and i like that woman. don't you?"

"but he broke your heart, mama," aidan says, sitting up to look at her.

"and i healed it. with time, and with other people that i cared about. i didn't need another lover to come and fix me; to help me move on. i did things on my terms."

"i..."

"there isn't a proper way to heal a broken heart, baby," his mother says, kissing his temple. "you decide who and what and when. it's up to you."