Three Weeks

1

"Only three weeks old? Wow, you really are a new mother!"

That wasn't true, though the lady at the grocery store had no idea. Every time someone made a comment about her newly acquired motherhood, whether it be a stranger or not, a pang of guilt ripped through her entire body.

In actuality, she had become a mother roughly six years ago, when a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, baby boy entered the world. She thought about him every day. She wondered what he liked to do for fun, and if he was nervous about his first day of Kindergarten. She wondered if his adoptive parents had told him the truth yet. If he knew his birth mother was out there somewhere, moving on with her life.

Alice was brought back to reality when little Polly began to fuss from the carseat that was attached to her shopping cart. "I better get going," was all she managed to mutter before hurrying away from the lady in the produce section.

She put the pacifier back in the infant's mouth, which seemed to quiet her down. Truth be told, Polly had been a fussy baby from day one, and Alice already found herself becoming burnt out, which she'd admit to absolutely no one.

In three mere weeks, Harold Cooper had proven to be a terrible partner to have a child with. He thought Alice's entire and only job should be taking care of the baby, while he got to continue working at The Register without even a thought about how his wife may be feeling, basically being the sole caretaker of their new daughter.

Household chores and other domestic things like grocery shopping also fell into the category that Hal thought should be reasonable tasks for the frazzled new mother to accomplish during the day. Little did he know, she barely had time to make herself a proper meal, let alone accomplish tasks he could easily be doing for her.

So that was precisely why the twenty-four-year-old blonde woman could be found near tears in the dairy section of the Riverdale Grocery Store. As she placed a carton of eggs into the cart, she heard an all too familiar voice echo behind her, "Alice?"

She spins around quickly and feels her breath catch in her throat as she lays eyes on him. His dark hair was a bit shorter than she remembered and he also had grown a bit of scruff, which she couldn't help but find very attractive on him.

"FP? Hi--uh, wow--I didn't really expect to see you here..." she stammers.

He chuckles, running a hand through his hair, "Why? Are Southsiders not supposed to buy groceries now?" She can tell he's joking because he's slightly biting his lip. An action that she zeroed in on immediately.

"You know that's not what I meant," she says with a slight laugh, "I just wasn't planning on seeing anyone I knew today."

He can tell something's going on with her, but he hasn't seen the woman in years, so he doesn't want to pry. Instead he notices the baby in the carseat, "This the new addition?"

She nods, "This is Miss Polly."

He smiles, leaning down a bit to coo at the infant, "Hey, kid. You're sure lucky you got your mommy's looks--"

Alice's eyes dart up at him quickly, surprised that he said that. FP is equally as surprised and he shoves his hands into his jean pockets nervously. "Uh--yeah, Fred told me you were expecting and I meant to congratulate you before this, but, uh--I've been busy so..."

His face is bright red and Alice has to hold in the smile threatening to creep across her face. "It's fine, I know we've all been quite busy since we left high school."

They stand in silence for a while, FP unable to take his eyes off of her. He is certain by the completely worn out look on her face that something is really wrong, and what he wants to do is wrap her up in his arms and tell her everything is going to be okay. But he can't do that.

"Well, I better let you go. It was nice seeing you, Al. Congrats on the little one."

She clutches her purse tightly, the use of her old nickname, the one that he was only allowed to use, hitting her ears differently.

"Yeah, yeah--great to see you, FP. Thanks," she says before hurrying away. She didn't want him to see the tears that were now running down her cheeks.

He remains in the dairy section, watching her walk away and round the corner to the next aisle. His heart ached for her. He thought about her every day. He wondered what it was like to wake up next to her every morning; her beautiful face illuminated by the morning sunlight. FP finally takes a deep breath and grabs a gallon of milk off the shelf. He needed to let the past remain in the past. 

They lost their chance of being together long ago.