In Love, Never Say Never

I quickly knelt down next to Gregory and pacified him, saying, “Silly boy, Mommy only left for a while. How could I have left you behind? Didn’t we agree that we’d stick together?”

However, Gregory could not be so easily appeased. He frowned in deep thought. After a moment, his eyes lit up. Extending his tiny pinky towards me he claimed, “We didn’t make a pinky promise last time, so it didn’t count. Now we have to!”

I put on an unsmiling face and hooked my pinky with Gregory’s. He cheered up considerably afterward.

Looking down at Gregory clad smartly in a tuxedo, I guessed that the three of them were heading out to dinner. In a friendly manner, I asked, “Are you going out to dinner tonight, Gregory?”

Before Gregory could reply, Ashton cut in with a low voice, “We’re going to meet my parents. You have to come too.”

We’re going to meet the Hall family? I thought, amused. I guess today isn’t a wasted trip after all.

I smiled cheerfully at Ashton, then replied, “Sure! Let me go back and change. Wait here for me.”

“It’s alright,” Ashton commanded, halting me in my tracks. “You can come as you are. There’s no need to be so formal.”

into the van parked

 At

They must be a callous bunch who attempted to

with Gregory while Ashton sat in the front. We seemed to have come to a mutual understanding that the earlier matter with John

and naturally chattered on endlessly, filling me in with all the news from school that I’d missed in

a traffic light, I suddenly thought of Audrey. Experimentally, I asked, “Gregory, you don’t really like to mix with the younger children at school, do you? Do you find them dull? If you have a younger sister who’s very childish, would

stay with my sister always and protect

which Gregory spoke made an amusing contrast with his still-babyish voice. A picture of Gregory and Audrey holding onto each other suddenly surfaced in

then ruffled Gregory’s hair. I looked at him fondly, commending, “You’ve really

saw Ashton sneakily watching us through the rearview mirror. However, Ashton looked away from the mirror the

with another look of utter contempt that doubled up as a

Audrey. It felt like he had full assurance that he would be able to acquire custody of both

thought. It seemed as if we’d arrived

forward while holding onto Gregory’s