Something Like Forever

Chapter 1

After

I hear the door open at the back of the sanctuary and turn to look, my heart nearly stopping when I see who's walked through the door. I quickly whip around to face the front of the sanctuary, heart beating wildly. I hear him being quietly welcomed into a seat a few pews back and I close my eyes.

I never imagined that I would see him here. Honestly, this is the last place I thought he would return. He was never very religious, he only came because of me. I take a deep breath and try to focus my attention back on the preacher. All the while thinking about how glad I am that I arranged a sitter for Lilly.

The service seems to drag on forever until finally it's over. The people file out but not before going over to speak with him, that fine young man in his dress blues. They all thank him for his service and tell him how proud they are to have such a fine military man in the community.

I start to slip away, not wanting to linger any longer than necessary. I didn't know what to say to him. How do I convey all of the hurt and anger that I feel towards him into words? I simply don't think that it's possible.

Luck, however, doesn't seem to be on my side. As I try to slip out the side door I hear him call my name. "Maddy wait," He says and I stop, taking a brief moment to compose myself before turning to face him. "Hey," He says coming over to me, taking those long even strides of a soldier.

"How have you been?" He asks, giving me his signature smile, the smile that I fell for, the smile I swore I would never fall for again. I give him a hard stare, not sure how to respond to his question.

"How am I?" I ask sharply, "That's how you're going to start this?" He has the nerve to look taken aback by my tone of voice. "I... I'm sorry Maddy, I didn't..." I cut him off, keeping my voice low, not wanting to draw attention "You have a lot of nerve coming here."

"I don't understand..." He struggles for words and I have to turn away, not wanting to lose it right here in the middle of the sanctuary. "No you don't understand the living hell that the past year-and-a-half has been. You don't know because you haven't been here." He gives me a strange look, "Maddy I thought we talked about this, it wasn't exactly a choice."

"You didn't even call," I hiss at him, "It's as if you don't even care about her." A confused look settles on his face, "Her?" He asks. I stare at him open mouthed, "Don't pretend you don't know, I know your mom told you." He shakes his head, "She didn't... tell me what?"

"Oh my gosh, you don't know?" I put a hand up to my mouth, shocked. How could he not know? He had no idea at all. "If you don't know then I suggest you figure it out pretty quickly." I hiss, I was not going to be the one to tell him. Some might argue that it was my responsibility to let him know but I already tried.

I tried so many times to get him to pick up the phone. I wrote letter after letter and made phone call after phone call but to no avail. He never responded, as far as I knew he could have been dead. It's not like his mother was exactly eager to tell me news about him.

Yet here he stood, obviously not dead and obviously having no clue about the fact that he was halfway responsible for bringing a life into this world. So no, I wasn't going to tell him. He was smart, he could figure it out on his own.

"Goodbye Lieutenant Hall." I said quietly, harshly, refusing to call him by his first name. I then promptly turned on my heel and stormed out of the church. I was going to be late picking up Lilly.

Before

I shook hands with the preacher and then exited the building. I basked in the warm sunshine for a moment before slowly making my way to the car. "I know with a face as pretty as that one that you're not walking out of there all alone." A voice says from somewhere off to my left.

I whip around to see who's speaking to me only to find an old, familiar friend standing on the sidewalk beside me. "Mason Hall," I said in surprise, not expecting to find him here. He gives me a brilliant smile, "Hey Maddison, how's it going?"

I return his smile with one of my own, stepping over to him and out of the way of the rest of the churchgoers exiting the building. "Its good, what about you?" I ask, taking in the military uniform he's wearing.

"Just got in," He replies, "I was surprised to find anyone I knew still here." I shrug, "I'm just in for the summer," I reply. He nods, "Makes sense, I'm sure you have much bigger and better things to do than stick around here."

I laugh, if he only knew, "I do actually." He raises an eyebrow, "Hmm and what might those things be?" I shoot him a smirk, "Oh no, it's going to take more than a conversation on the sidewalk for me to tell you that."

He shakes his head, grinning at me, "Alright, I'll play. What might it take to get you to go out with me Maddison?" I start walking away from him, backwards so that I can still see him, "Well you'll just have to find out for yourself won't you."