Jopper // Light at the End of the Tunnel - A Love Story (Completed)

The Birthday

'Blue or yellow napkins?' Joyce Byers wondered, as she stood in one of the shopping ailes at Walter Falls' General Store.
'Blue. That'll do.' she thought to herself, as she picked a pack of dark blue napkins. She figured Jim Hopper would prefer something a little less flamboyant and dainty than the bright yellow napkins she had considered buying. Buying for his birthday party. Buying for him. The thought made her smile. She didn't know what had gotten into her lately; she felt like a teenager. Ever since Jim had returned and moved to Illinois, they had been spending almost all of their time together. It had been hard in the beginning, terribly hard, but they had managed. They had both managed to find a way through the pain, the bad memories, the hurt, the struggles.. so much had changed. Her oldest son, Jonathan, had even moved out and gone to university, and although Joyce missed him immensely, she was happy for him at the same time. More importantly, he was happy, since him and his girlfriend Nancy went to the same university and lived on campus together. Nancy was a lovely girl, and Joyce was grateful that her son had met someone who could make him happy and treat him with love.
Love... There it was... the cause for all the smiling and blushing and sighing and giddiness which she had been engaging in lately. Was she in love? It seemed silly that she wouldn't be able to tell, after all these years, but she had been through so much, she had been hurt so many times, that at some point she had felt as if she had lost a part of herself.
Joyce sighed, as she carried the blue napkins to the checkout, getting the last things she needed.
As she started her car, she promised  herself that she would tell him about how she felt. Before his birthday. Or maybe after. She wasn't sure yet. All she knew was that too much time had passed. It was time now, though. Time to let her true feelings show, so that this time, she would have no regrets. The universe had granted her a miracle; it had granted her with a second chance- a chance to make it right... one last chance.