Stepdad

FIFTEEN

"I really don't think this is such a good idea, Allie." Her mom had been nothing but skeptical about her relationship with Colson ever since she told her everything that has happened. All because she just had to know all of the details. It had been a while since she had anything close to a boyfriend.

"Why not mom? He's not that bad of a guy and Ryker seems to really like him." She messed up when she told her that she introduced him to her son. Her eyes got wider and she gave that typical mom look that meant Allie was about to be thrown through her kitchen wall.

"You allowed him to meet Ryker? Don't you think that's a little soon. I mean, you just met the man a couple weeks ago." Allie could tell she wasn't going to let this go anytime soon so she might as well give in and defend herself.

"I wouldn't let him meet my son if I didn't think it was a good idea. What kind of mother do you think I am?" Allie didn't like where this conversation was going. Her mom and her had always been close and they usually got along pretty well. She wasn't sure where all this judgement came from.

"One that clearly doesn't make the right decision when it comes to what's best for not only her but her child as well." Allie couldn't believe what she was hearing. It was clear she meant what she was saying. "I don't like the idea of you dating him and Ryker being around him."

Allie was baffled by the fact that she thought any of this was her business. The last time she checked she was a grown woman living on her own. She didn't depend on her mother for anything. She was the one who offered to babysit. "Well its a good thing it's none of your concern and I don't need your approval."

"You deserve better than to date someone who looks like a felon, Allison." There it was. She was judging a man she has never met before all because of the way he looks. What happened to judging people after you met them personally?

"So that's why you don't like him? Because he has tattoos?" Allie was so shocked she almost laughed. How could her own mother be so cruel?

"You need someone presentable and with a solid career path. You and Ryker need stability and I'm not sure if he can provide that for you both." Allie stood there and stared at her mother like a deer caught in headlights. She didn't know what to really say.

"I'm sure he's doing just fine, mom. You shouldn't be so quick to judge someone you don't even know yet." Her mother looked as if she didn't understand what Allie said. To her, it was no big deal and what she was doing was completely normal.

"If you do this, you will regret it. Something will happen and you will come to me about it and all I will be able to say is I told you so." How could she possibly know what will happen in the future? Allie didn't even know what lied ahead for her and her son.

If it went well, then great. If not, then Allie made this choice and she will have to deal with the consequences on her own. "If he breaks my heart, then that's on me. Not you. But if he makes me the happiest woman on this earth and treats my son as if he were his own child, then I can't wait to be the one who says I told you so."

Allie turned and walked out of her own kitchen at that point. She was exhausted from all the arguing and needed to get out of there before one of them said something they wouldn't be able to take back.

Allie found Ryker in the living room floor, watching the paw patrol DVD set that Colson gave him, actually being quiet and still for once. "You ready for bed, baby?" She asked him as she stepped around him to grab the remote off the coffee table.

Ryker was rubbing his eyes and holding onto his sippy cup tightly. It was clear that he was very tired. She bent down to pick him up after turning off the television and carried him up the stairs.

She never got the chance to actually ask Ryker how he felt about Colson but now felt like the right time to with all the assumptions going on. As soon as she laid him down in his bed and covered him up, she took a seat next to him and attempted to figure out how to have this conversation with a two year old.

"Hey, bubs. Did you like mommy's friend Colson?" As soon as Ryker lowered his sippy cup and his smile grew bigger, she knew she had the answer she was looking for.

Colson may not have had her mother's approval, but he had her sons. Now she just needed to let go of her trust and abandonment issues long enough for him to have hers, And that was going to be the hardest thing she had to face so far.