Sweep Me Off My Feet

She kissed him again before leaning on his shoulder. They rode in silence the rest of the way before the car dropped her off at her apartment building.

“I could have taken you to my place,” Michael pointed out and she shook her head.

“No, it’s fine… I need to talk to Brandon about… everything before he suddenly meets his new stepfather…” Her voice trailed off, and she shook her head.

“I guess we didn’t really think this through,” he said, and she nodded. “But don’t worry, we are going to get through this.”

He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly.

“I hate that I have to leave you alone… but I will be thinking about you all day long.” His hand slid down her back and squeezed her well-rounded ass. “All of you.”

She giggled as she pulled away.

“Go on and remember to hydrate while working,” she said before she got out of the car. She waited for the car to drive off before she walked into her building. With every step that brought her closer to her door, she felt her heart beat a little faster. It was true that they had not thought the whole process through because now she had to have what was probably the hardest conversation she had ever had with her son. When she got to her door, she took a long deep breath to compose herself and then finally walked in to find Candy and Brandon on the couch watching Brandon’s favorite show.

“Mama!” he cried excitedly when he saw her. He sprinted from the couch and ran into her arms. Angela wrapped her arms around her son and kissed him over and over again. Until that moment, she had no idea just how much she had missed her son. When she pulled away, she held his small chubby face in her hands. “I missed you!”

“Oh, honey, I missed you too…and I brought you something,” she said before she opened the bag she had dropped to the floor and pulled out the huge box that caused her to stuff most of her clothes in Michael’s bag. “It’s that train set you wanted for Christmas!” she said excitedly.

“Is it Christmas already?” Brandon asked innocently and Angela laughed.

“No, I just wanted to get you something for being such a good boy for Aunt Candy,” she said as Candy walked towards them.

“He was an angel as usual,” she said before Brandon ran off to play with his new toy leaving the two to hug tightly. “But you haven’t been such a good girl, Mrs. O’Brien.” She pulled away and took Angela’s left hand. “I can’t believe you got married. Tell me everything.”

She led Angela to the kitchen and took a bottle of water from the fridge.

“Don’t you dare leave out a single detail.”

Angela laughed.

“I don’t know what to say… I mean, it was just a surprise, but it was beautiful.”

Candy shrugged, smiling.

“I am so happy for you,” she said as she reached for Angela’s hand. “And the man has style too,” she added as she looked at the ring on her finger.

“The problem is the other man in my life,” Angela said as she looked at Brandon. “I don’t know how to say this to him. We have never even talked about his father.”

“I can help you with that. I watched as one of the new girls at work introduced her kids to her new boyfriend… I picked up a thing or two.”

“Candy, this is different… this is not just a boyfriend.”

“Which makes it so much easier.” Candy was rolling her eyes. “Come on.”

Angela barely had enough time to say anything before Candy walked to the couch.

“Candy, wait…” she started, but Candy had already called Brandon.

“There will never be a better time,” Candy said, and Angela exhaled loudly. Candy was right. There was never going to be a better time. She sat down and sat Brandon on the coffee table. Candy started by explaining the concept of marriage as simply as the four-year-old could understand before Angela went on and told him that the ring on her finger meant that Michael loved both of them. It was actually not as hard as she had thought it to be. When she was done, she had told him exactly what he needed to hear: that she was in love, married, and that he was going to have a new daddy. And she did all that without ever having to bring up her deadbeat ex. If she had to give her opinion, it was a good talk.