Lynn walked back outside after she finished her

phone call and looked around confused. Justin and

Abby were nowhere to be seen and J.C. was holding

a crying Brayden trying to comfort him.  “What’s

going on? Where’s Justin and Abby?”Lynn

questioned the guys who all stood around looking a

little dumbfounded. “Well Justin kissed Abby and

then he ran off and then she yelled something at

J.C. about watching Brayden and ran home in

tears.”Chris said. “What? Oh I’m going to kill that

boy.”Lynn grumbled as she made her way back

inside to find Justin.             Lynn walked into

Justin’s room to find him lying on his bed a pained

and confused look in his face. “Justin what’d you

do?”Lynn asked as she sat down on the bed beside

him. “I don’t know she bumped into me and she

just look so cute all flustered like that I couldn’t

help myself I wanted to kiss her and so I did, and

then I realized that I’m supposed to be mad at her

so I had to get out of the kitchen before anything

else happened.”Justin sighed looking up at his

mom. “Honey, you don’t have to be mad at her. I

mean if you are that’s okay, but if you aren’t then

you’re not and you shouldn’t try to act like you

because you think you should be.”Lynn said. “I

mean I think I am. I just can’t believe that she

would just leave like she did, but every time I’m

with her I can’t seem to stay mad at her and that

makes me pissed at myself.”Justin groaned as he

pulled a pillow over his face. Lynn smiled

“Sweetheart don’t be upset with yourself because

you can’t stay mad at her, there’s a reason for that.

Why don’t you try talking to her and working

through everything. I think you’ll feel a lot better

about the situation.”Lynn said as Justin peeked at

her from under the pillow. “I don’t know.”Justin

sighed. “I think you will both feel better about the

whole situation if you just put everything aside for a

minute and talk about it.”Lynn said and then got up

and walked out of the room leaving Justin to his

thoughts.             Justin knew his mom was right,

but that didn’t mean he wanted to listen to her.

 Finally Justin sighed and got up to go back

downstairs. Justin walked back outside and saw

Chris playing football with Brayden and Abby was

nowhere to be seen. “Hey guys where’d Abby

go?”Justin asked sheepishly. “She went home.”J.C.

said dryly giving Justin a disapproving look that he

ignored. “Hey Brayden let’s go see momma.”Justin

said calling Brayden over. “Okay but I don’t think

she’s in a good mood.”Brayden said running over to

Justin. “Yeah I know.”Justin sighed as he and

Brayden started to walk across the yard. Brayden

led Justin into the house and into the living room to

find it empty. “Will you take me up to her

room?”Justin asked feeling stupid asking his four

year old son for help, but Brayden just shrugged

and started up the stairs with Justin following closely

 behind him. Brayden just pointed to the door and

then said “I’m gonna go play in my room if that’s

okay?” “Yeah, that’s fine.”Justin smiled at him as

he trotted back down the hall then knocked lightly

on the door in front of him.             “Mom I don’t

want to talk about it for the last time.”I yelled and

buried my face deeper into the covers. “It’s not your

mom, it’s me.”Justin timidly said as he cracked the

door and peeked in. “What do you want?”I

mumbled refusing to look at him and let him know

how much him walking away from me after that kiss

affected me. “Can we talk?”Justin asked slowly

making his way into the room. “You’re going to stick

around long enough to talk?”I mumbled

sarcastically still not looking up at him. I suddenly

felt the bed shift under Justin’s weight as he sat

down beside me. “I deserved that” Justin sighed

 “but seriously can we talk for a minute.”Justin

asked placing his hand on my back. “Fine.”I sighed

as I sat up to look at him. Justin brought his thumb

up and wiped the few remaining tears off my face

and pulled me into him chest hugging me. I sighed

as I breathed in his scent and finally relented and

let him hold me as I clung to him. “I’m sorry. I’m

so sorry.”Justin mumbled into my hair as he rocked

me back and forth. “I just don’t understand why.”I

said looking up at him fighting back tears. “I’ve just

been really confused and I think I thought I should

be mad about you for leaving but I couldn’t actually

bring myself to be mad at you and so every time I

was around you all I wanted to do was be with you

and I scolded myself for it.”Justin sighed as I just

looked at him willing him to continue. “I wanted to

kiss you. Every time we get close I want to kiss you,

but I felt like you owed me something and I didn’t

want to give in to you, but the fact is I can’t stay

away from you and I’m not mad at you.”Justin

sighed wiping the tears off my cheeks that spilled

out of my eyes. “So you don’t hate me?”I asked

looking down not able to meet his eyes. Justin

chuckled and put his finger under my chin to lift my

head until I was looking up at him. “I could never

hate you Abigail.”Justin smiled as he leaned down

and placed a soft simple kiss on my lips. He pulled

away and grinned at me and I slowly let a smile

spread across my face. “So what’s this mean?”I

shyly asked. Justin just grinned at me and said

“Well every time I see you I want to do this.”Justin

said as he leaned in and kissed me again this time

a little longer and slower. Finally he slowly pulled

away and finished “So I think that we should try this

out and see how things go.”Justin said searching

my eyes for an inclination of my thoughts. “Are you

sure?”I asked my voice raspy. This is what I had

wanted for the past five years since I left and now

he was sitting here telling me he wanted it too. It

was all too good to be true. “I’m positive.”Justin

whispered capturing my lips with his again. I

wrapped my arms up around Justin’s neck allowing

myself to get lost in the kiss and savor every

second of it. Justin started to pull away and I

reluctantly followed staring up into his eyes. Justin

smiled “Why don’t we put Brayden to bed and then

continue this?”Justin suggested as he stood up and

offered me his hand to help me up. I smiled at him

and nodded as we walked out of the room hand in

hand.