"Had enough?" Jayden asked him as he stopped allowing both of them to catch their breath. A.J. was still laughing and couldn't speak yet. He nodded his head and Jayden let him down.
"Now go play and quit following me." He ordered. Mia and Jayden laughed and smiled as they watched him running off with his cousins.
"He loves you so much." She commented as they resumed their walk.
"Yup and that's about as close to fatherhood that I ever want to get - godfather."
"What you don't ever want to have any children? I think you would make a great father. I see the way you are with Avery's son and even your own father. You've got a lot of love to give Jayden." She told him. Jayden didn't respond right way. They walked a ways as he gave her words some thought.
"You know I'm always worried about how much of my father's ways has rubbed off on me. I don't know if I can trust myself. I'm not sure if I wouldn't punk out like he did." He said honestly to another person who wasn't his best friend Avery.
"Is that why you were like that before, you know always going out with a different woman never having a relationship?"
"Yup… My father's wife had him like a whipped pup… What kind of man abandons his own child? Why couldn't he be a father to all of us?"
Mia listened quietly. She didn't have any answers for him, but she knew that sometimes the best thing that you could do for a person was to listen; and that's just what she did.
"You know I look at A.J. and I'm always wondering…"
"About what?"
"I'm always wondering… I wonder how does it feel to have your father holding your hand or to call you son… you know? It's the small things like playing basketball with your dad, watching sports together… Do you know how embarrassing it was for me to have my mom give me the birds and the bees talk? Geez…" He shuddered and Mia took her free hand covering her mouth to hide her giggles.
"That was scary and I swear I never wanted her to repeat it… Maybe that's why I always used condoms… I can't imagine what kind of conversation that would have been had some girl came over and said I got her pregnant."
"Sounds like you've got a great mom… I'm sure she must have felt the same way but thought you were important enough to tell you the things you needed to know." Mia said. For the first time someone made Jayden realized that even if he hadn't been important to his father, he was important and worthwhile to his mom. It never occurred to him that just like he found that conversation awkward so did his mom, but she was willing to risk the embarrassment if it meant helping him.