The next morning I woke up earlier than normal

and couldn’t sit still. I cleaned the whole house

before Brayden was even up, and when he finally

got up I was happy to busy myself in making his

breakfast. Brayden sat at the kitchen table and

watched in amusement as I ran around the kitchen

cooking him any and everything he could possibly

ask for. Brayden giggled and I finally stopped and

turned to look at him. “What?”I asked exasperated.

“What are you doing?”Brayden giggled. “I’m

cooking you breakfast silly boy.”I said as I flipped

the pancakes over. “Momma I just wanted some

cereal.”Brayden giggled as I continued to cook. “Oh

you can eat a hot meal every once in a while.”I said

dismissing his comment as I continued to cook. I

set a plate down in front of Brayden with two eggs,

hash browns, toast, a couple pieces of sausage,

some bacon, and some pancakes on it. Brayden

just looked up at me with wide eyes “Am I

supposed to eat ALL that?”Brayden asked as I

finally realized how much food I just gave him.

“No.”I laughed as there was a knock on the door. I

ran to get the door and was relieved to see Justin

standing there but also felt the tension rise to my

shoulders at the thought of what I had to do. “You

want some breakfast? I kinda went a little

overboard this morning.”I said as we walked into

the kitchen. “I’d say you did.”Justin laughed as he

looked at the mound of food on Brayden’s plate

and then looked at the all the food that was still on

the stove. “Sure.”He laughed as he sat down across

from Brayden. I gave Justin a plate that was just as

big as Brayden’s and I sat down between them and

watched them eat. “Momma I’m full.”Brayden said

even though it looked like his food hadn’t even

been touched. I laughed as I took his plate away

and sat back down as Brayden went to get up and

go into the other room. “Brayden will you wait a

second Mommy and Justin want to talk to you.”I

said as I grabbed his arm. “K.”Brayden said looking

up at me with his big baby blue eyes. I smiled as I

pulled him onto my lap. “Okay Brayden do you

remember how you asked me who your daddy was

and I told you not to worry about it because he

wasn’t around?”I asked trying to make this as easy

as possible on Brayden. “Yeah, I wondered who it

was after Jamie, who used to live next door to us,

had a mommy and a daddy, but then I got to

thinking about it and I thought it didn’t matter who

my dad was because I have the bestest mommy in

the world.’’ Brayden said reasoning with himself in

his head. Tears welled up in my eyes as I heard his

explanation and I smiled at him as I pulled him

closer and gave him a kiss. “Thanks baby.”I said

“But what if you did have a daddy?”I asked. “Well I

guess that’d be okay, but he’d have to be pretty

awesome to be as cool as you.”Brayden exclaimed

as Justin and I laughed. “Would you like to meet

you daddy?”I asked as Brayden looked up

confused. “I guess. Where’s he at?”Brayden asked.

I smiled “What if I told you that your daddy was

Justin.”I said as I pointed to Justin. Brayden looked

at Justin then looked at me confused then back to

Justin. “Justin?”Brayden asked. “Mmhmm.”I smiled

down at him. “But I thought you said that you didn’t

know how to get ahold of him when I told you that I

wanted to meet Nsync.”Brayden accused giving me

an agitated look. I couldn’t help but smile at him.

“Honey its complicated Momma knew Justin a long

time ago, but I left him before you were born, and

when we moved down here it was true I didn’t know

how to get ahold of him. I never dreamt in a million

years that he would live next door to us, but since

he does I thought that everyone should know that

he’s your dad.”I said trying to make Brayden

understand. I looked at Justin who had been

surprisingly silent this whole time and he said

“Brayden look here, I know you love your momma

and I can see why, but most kids have a mom and

a dad and I think you’ll really like having both if

you give me a chance.”Justin said.

“Whatever.”Brayden shrugged as Justin and I

exchanged a glance and just kinda laughed. “Can I

go watch TV now?”Brayden asked looking up at me.

I laughed “Yeah. Have fun.”I said as I kissed him

and watched him run into the other room. “Well that

was easy.”Justin said. “He’s four Justin, everything’s

easy with him.”I said as I started to clean up the

kitchen. “I guess.”Justin said. “Why don’t you stick

around today and spend some time with him?”I

suggested as I started doing the dishes. “Uh Yeah…

Actually my mom’s in town so I was wondering if it

was okay if I maybe took him out so my mom could

meet him?”Justin asked almost sheepishly. “Oh

your mom’s here.” I said “Uh…yeah he should get

to know his Grandmother.”I said as I gave Justin a

weak smile. “I won’t have him out to late I’ll bring

him back right after dinner if that’s okay.” Justin

said. “Sure. Brayden come here for a minute.”I

yelled into the other room as I dried my hands on

the dish towel. “What Momma?”Brayden asked

grinning at me. “Do you want to go out with daddy

today and meet your other Grandma?”I asked

kneeling down to meet him at eye level. “Are you

coming to?”Brayden asked hopeful. “No baby,

momma has some stuff she has to do. You and

daddy will have fun though.”I said running my hand

through his hair. “But, I want you to come.”Brayden

whined. “Baby I can’t you’ll have fun I promise.”I

soothed “Now run upstairs and find your shoes and

come back down.”I said as Brayden nodded and ran

up the stairs. “Justin he’s a good kid he’ll listen to

anything you say, but if he’s kinda distance don’t

take it personally. He’s never spent any significant

amount of time away from me, and if he was then

he was with my mom.”I sighed. “I know you’re

 worried about this, but I’m not going

anywhere.”Justin said getting up. “Fine, but don’t

tell me that, convince him of that.”I said turning

away from his as Brayden came back into the room.

“You ready?”Justin asked walking to him. “I

guess.”Brayden said running over to me and

hugging me. I smiled as I picked him up and

hugged him back. “I love you, be good today

okay?” I asked pulling back a little to look at him.

Brayden nodded as he kissed me and said “I love

you too.” I smiled as I set him back on the floor

and watched as he and Justin walked out of the

house together.