Speak of the devil, he flew into the room holding a bunch of army men in both hands. “I got some toys to take to Chloe’s.”
“You’re going to have such fun with Chloe,” my mother chimed in.
Andrew’s face fell. “I don’t know, Grammy. She’s a girl and she might not want to play with my soldiers.”
Momma leaned down to his level. “What are you talking about? Girls are super cool, bud, and they play with all sorts of toys.”
Andrew gave her a skeptical look. “I think girls suck.”
My momma’s hand flew to her pearls as she sucked in a dramatic breath. “Sweet boy. You are clearly mistaken. I’m a girl and I’m the coolest.”
Andrew cracked a wide smile and a giggle escaped. “You’re not a girl! You’re my grammy!”
My mother just shook her head and grinned as she stood up. “Well, I guess I can’t argue with that.”
“You ready, Daddy?” Andrew asked, obviously as eager to get to breakfast as me.
“Yep! Let’s ride, my dude,” I said to him, slipping on a pair of boots I kept near the garage door while he made his way to the car in the garage.
When I was done, I looked up to find my mom still standing there with that worried look on her face, only now it was paired with a side of guilt that I’d laid on. I instantly felt bad.
I walked over and leaned down, giving my tiny, little mother with a huge personality a hug. “We’re okay, Momma. Don’t worry so much. Besides,” I started, but pulled back so I could look down into her big green eyes that had the sweetest smile lines around them. “He had an amazing mother figure. You know how I know?” I raised one eyebrow higher for full effect. “Because she was my mother figure, too, and I turned out just fine.”
She pressed her lips together to hide her slight smile, but I saw the way her cheeks pinkened behind her makeup and knew I had her.
She brought her hand up to my waist and pinched me there. “Stop trying to smooth talk me into not wanting what is best for my boys. Flattery won’t get you anywhere with me, Whitaker Jameson Aldrich. Now give your momma some sugar.”
She stuck out her cheek and I placed a small kiss there, feeling beyond thankful for her.
I hadn’t been lying. Andrew did have an awesome mother figure as did I. I wasn’t worried one bit about him not having an actual mother. I was also pretty damn sure that flattery got you everywhere with my mother.
Whit
After my boy and I plied ourselves with stacks of never-ending pancakes at a local diner, we headed over to Graham’s residence so that we could catch up and the kids could play.
“Can I ring the buzzer, Daddy?” Andrew asked, jumping up and down, clearly over his hissy fit about having to play with a girl today.
“Go ahead!” I said, while taking a quick look at my phone to make sure I hadn’t missed any important emails for work. It was the weekend but when you owned your own business, you never really got a day off.
I was in the middle of reading a work email when I heard the door creak open so I promptly shut off my phone and tucked it into my back pocket just in time to see Chloe open the door just barely a crack, her eye pressed there watching us.
“Who is it?” she asked sweetly, her voice full of laughter.
“You know who it is, Chloe. You’re looking at us with your creepy eye,” Andrew answered. I did my best to hold in my laughter.
“Let them in, Chloe.” I heard Soraya, Graham’s wife, say from behind the door.
The door was pulled back to reveal Soraya and Chloe standing there. Soraya looked as beautiful as usual with her pink hair that matched her pink leggings. The woman was gorgeous in a way that I never expected my childhood friend Graham would admire. Graham was so traditional and his ex-fiancé was nothing like the bombshell of a woman who stood in front of me. Yes, Soraya was completely different in every single way that I could think of. But it was good. I was really happy for Graham.
Chloe stood in front of her in what I could only assume was some kind of Disney princess dress. I was a boy dad so I couldn’t be sure. It was yellow and fluffy and when she saw me taking her in, she stuck out one of her feet to show me a yellow plastic high-heeled shoe that covered her foot.
“Well, don’t you look lovely, Miss Chloe,” I said to her.
“Thanks, Mr. Whit,” she said easily while patting her hair a little. She looked over at Andrew, who was looking at her like she’d lost her mind.
The two may have been about the same age, but they had absolutely nothing in common. We’d learned that the last time they’d gotten together and Andrew had wanted to play monster trucks and Chloe had instead convinced him to play barbies. I was hoping the more they played together, the more they would compromise.
Andrew needed friends besides the ones at school and I needed a good beer with Graham from time to time.
“What are those?” Chloe asked, wrinkling her nose at all of the green men in Andrew’s hands.
“Let’s move out of the way so they can come in, baby,” Soraya interrupted, motioning us in and pulling Chloe gently out of the doorway. Chloe wasn’t hers by blood, but you’d never get that impression.
In fact, when she’d first started dating Graham, she thought he didn’t have any children. Graham had thought so also. Turns out four years later when his ex’s husband passed away, he’d found out that the child he thought was his ex-fiancés husbands was actually his. The evil woman had been having sex with the two best friends at the same time. She’d lied and manipulated and I heard some rumors that she was still up to no good.
But it seemed like Soraya had taken everything in stride. She put up with the shitty ex-fiancé and accepted Chloe with open arms. She was better than most women I knew. Graham was a lucky guy.
“They’re soldiers. We can play with them,” Andrew said as we walked down a hallway that led to the living room where Graham was, holding what looked to be his sleeping one-year-old Lorenzo.
“I don’t wanna play soldiers. I wanna play princess and prince,” Chloe whined, poking out her lip.
“How about we compromise?” Soraya said, leaning down to take the sleeping baby from Graham, who was sprawled out on the couch, a pile of papers all around him on the floor and couch like he’d been trying to work and hold the baby. “We will play both and take turns,” she said, giving the kids serious looks. “Come on, let’s go to the playroom and let the guys hang out.”
As soon as she said that, I could have kissed her but I didn’t think Graham would like that at all, so instead I just mouthed, “Thank you,” to her as she walked by.
“How’s things going, Whit?” Graham asked casually while sitting up like his back was stiff.
“Same ole, same ole, old man.” I laughed.
Rubbing his lower back and trying to pick up the papers scattered around the living room, he said, “Don’t give me shit. You know what it’s like. Lorenzo is cutting a damn tooth and won’t let anyone put him down.”
I felt for him. I remembered those sleepless nights. I’d done them alone. I knew how much it sucked. But I also knew how quickly they passed you by. How, eventually, you miss chubby cheeks, sleepless nights, and a warm baby on your chest.