by Laney Smith
He and Nathan looked at each other and then to the stair railing. Ryan pressed his lips together and shook his head. “I’m not worried.”
“Yeah. Me neither,” Nathan agreed.
“You two can make fun of me all you want. I’m going to do it. Just watch! I can’t believe it. But, I’m going to do it. Ryan, I can’t! I don’t know what to say to you, right now. Why would you do this? Are you sure about this?”
“Yes, Corlay. I need deductions. It helps both of us. So, don’t worry about it. Just do your thing. I know guys that want all that landscaping fanciness. So, we’re going to have to hurry so you can get this stuff ready for them.”
“Where in the hell have you been?” she asked with wonder in her face as she stared at him.
He smiled and winked at her. “Playing baseball.”
“I know I’m going to wake up any second and this is all going to be over. I’m so terrified of that. I can’t live my normal life after you. I don’t want to wake up. Please don’t let me wake up.”
His eyes locked on hers. “Nathan, go get your shoes on.”
The boy turned and started to run toward his room before he froze. “Hey! I already have my shoes on.”
“Go put on the other ones,” Ryan chuckled.
“Are we riding the boats, today?”
Ryan sighed and rolled his eyes. “Oh . . . yes. Yes, we are.”
“What other shoes?” he asked.
“Buddy, I don’t care. I just want to kiss your mom. Go away,” he joked.
“Oh! Gross!” Nathan laughed as he scampered to the door, hiding and peeking around the doorframe.
“He’s watching you,” Corlay whispered.
Ryan slowly blinked. “I know. Nothing X-rated.”
He hugged his arms tighter around her waist, pressing his lips to hers. He gently slipped his tongue past her lips. His lips gently kissed her a couple more times. He smiled sweetly.
“You’re beautiful, but you taste like morning.” He gently smacked her butt.
Corlay laughed as she covered her mouth. “Ryan!”
He laughed. “What? I’m honest.” He kissed her lips again. “But, I still love you.”
“No! I love you. I really do. And, not just because of . . .”
“I know,” he interrupted. “Don’t let it be a thing. It’s just a thing,” he smiled.
“I’m going to call Hubert and tell him I quit. Are you sure . . . like really sure?’
Ryan scrunched his face. “Hubert? That hot, little, red number was for a guy named Hubert?”
“That was hot?” Corlay asked with a flirty smile.
“Oh, baby . . .” Ryan breathed. “You had me ready. That’s all I’m going to say. I’m taking a seven-year old to breakfast and for a day of riding boats. I can’t think about you in that dress, again, all day today.”
“Really?” Corlay asked.
Ryan stared into her eyes. “Really.” He arched his eyebrows and nodded his head. “We’re going so you can sleep. Will you call me when you wake up?”
Corlay sighed discontentedly as she squinted at him. “I’ll just be wishing you were here.”
“Me, too. But, my little buddy wasn’t up all night. He’s revved up and ready to go. I gotta get in step.”
“Thank you, Ryan. Thank you for being more than you have to be for him and for me. Thank you for happening, however it is that you’ve happened to us.”
“I’m going to remind you that you said that,” he teased before he smiled and kissed her forehead. “We’ll be a phone call away. Sleep good.”
“Nathan, come give me a hug,” Corlay said to her son.
He ran and threw himself onto the bed, beside her. Ryan gripped the back of Nathan’s clothes and heisted him closer his mother. Naturally, the child found it amusing, giggling and wiggling.
“Ryan, lift me up so I can touch the ceiling.”
“No, we’ve got stuff to do. Let’s save that for another time. Tell your mom bye. We’ve gotta beat feet, remember? Let’s go!”
Corlay and Nathan hugged. Ryan already saw the difference in her and it made him happy. He saw the mother he thought Nathan deserved. Maybe Frannie was right. Maybe Corlay had been a slave to a job she hated to do the best she could for her son. Whatever it was, he was thankful for the change he saw in her.
As the guys set out for a day of fun, Nathan put his hand in Ryan’s, as he looked up at him from under the bill of his baseball cap.
“Ryan, did you really kiss my mom?”
Ryan bent down, grabbing Nathan by the waist and flipped the boy over his shoulder. “Yes, I did,” he proudly announced.
“That’s ba-scusting.”
Ryan laughed. “Ba-scusting, huh? Well, it’s not ba-scusting when you’re an old guy like me. But, you can hold off on that for a long time. I used to think it was ba-scusting, too.”
“Now you don’t?” Nathan asked, his body draped over Ryan’s shoulder.
Ryan shook his head. “No. Only because your mom is kinda special. I like her a lot. When you get old, like me and you find a girl you like a lot, it’s not ba-scusting, anymore.”
“I don’t want to find any girls that are special, though, OK?”
Ryan chuckled. “OK! Take your time. It took me a long time.”
“Scottie was ba-scusting, huh, Ryan?”
Ryan shook his head. “No, buddy. Scottie was a nice lady. Your mom is just the best.”
“Mom is better than Scottie.”
“You could’ve told me that, instead of telling me I couldn’t be your mom’s friend,” Ryan teased.
Nathan hugged Ryan’s neck as he opened the passenger side of the car. “I’m a monkey.”
“Yeah! I know,” Ryan said as he flipped the boy, again, this time setting him on the ground. “Get in and get buckled up.”
“Yes! We are so gonna beat feet, huh, Ryan?”
“Oh, yes!” Ryan sarcastically answered and closed the door. “I’m half dead and you’re amped up. Great!” he muttered, amusing himself.
~TWENTY-NINE~
Just as Ryan and Nathan finished their breakfast and headed for the River Walk, Corlay called. With the thrilling evolution of their relationship and Ryan’s exciting offer, she found she was too anxious to sleep. She preferred to be out and about with her two favorite guys. Just as they got to their destination, Ryan found himself turning the car around to go get Corlay.
“We’ve gotta take a short detour. We’ll come back after we go get your mom.”
“Is she always going to hang out with us, now?”
“No. So, we should be happy when she has the chance, right?”
“I guess so,” Nathan begrudgingly agreed. “Can she sit in the backseat, though?”
“Are you nuts? We can’t make your mother ride in the backseat. That’s not nice. I wouldn’t dream of putting my mother in the backseat . . . ever! She’d slap the hair off my head if I even thought about it.”
Nathan laughed, amused by Ryan’s response. “You would look funny without hair. Do you still love your mom?”
“Of course, I do. We always love our moms.”
“I think it’s funny that you have a mom. You’re a grown up.”
“So, I can’t have a mom anymore if I’m a grown up? Want to know something even funnier? I have a dad, too.”
“I don’t. Not anymore,” Nathan said as he dropped his head.
Ryan instantly regretted what he had said. He hadn’t thought about how that statement could be received by the boy. He looked over at the sad little boy in the seat beside him and wished he could pull the words back into his mouth.
“Ryan, do you think dads are mean? I kinda do. My dad was mean because he made my mom sad. He made me sad, too. If he let my mom eat too much and then I turned into a baby, he should have been my for real dad.”
Ryan took a deep breath and exhaled. “So . . . Nate, if a woman eats too much, and the food turns into a baby, how does she decide which guy gets to be the dad?�
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“Well, first she has to know him. Then, she talks to him and asks him if he wants to be a dad when her food turns into a baby. If he says yes, he gets to be the dad.”
“OK. So, what if he says no?”
“Then, she says OK and she asks another boy until there is one that says yes.”
“So, it’s just the girl’s idea? The boy doesn’t get to decide?”
“Guys can have big tummies, but they don’t get to have babies. Just girls.”
“So, what do us guys do if we decide we want to have a baby?”
“You have to wait until a girl asks you. Then, you get to be a dad every time she eats too much.”
“Can I tell you something? This all works a little differently than you think.”
Nathan squirmed in his seat, turning his body toward Ryan with wonder on his face. “How does it work, then?”
“A guy finds a girl that he likes. He spends time with her and gets to know her. The more he likes her, the more time he spends with her. Then, maybe one day, he decides he really likes her a lot and he realizes he loves her.”
“Yuck! I don’t want to love any girls,” Nathan interrupted.
“You will. One day. Anyway, when a guy realizes he loves a girl, he starts thinking that maybe he wants to be with that one girl for the rest of his life. So, he asks her to marry him. If she says yes, they get married. Then, because they love each other a lot, they . . . share a house . . . and a bedroom . . . and they live their lives together. Because they love each other, maybe they decide they want to have a family. So, they decide to have a baby.”
“So, then she eats too much?”
“This isn’t working the way I saw it going. I’m not sure I’m . . . Maybe we’ll talk about this some other time.”
Nathan looked confused as he thought about what Ryan had said. He shook his head. “Ryan, just trust me. If my mom eats too much, then she will ask you if you want to be a dad.”
“Babies come from love, buddy.”
“Too much food and love? So, my mom and dad had to love each other so I could get born?”
Ryan nodded his head. “Yes.”
“Do they still love each other?”
“They both love you, huh? That’s what really matters.”
“You say good stuff, Ryan. I want to say good stuff like you,” Nathan smiled. “You think my dad loves me, even if he went away?”
“I don’t know your dad, but I know you. I know you’re one of the most loveable people I’ve ever met. So, you remember that, always.”
“Sometimes, I wish I could see my dad. Maybe one day, will you meet my dad so I can see him?”
“I don’t know. We’d have to see about that one.”
“What will happen if you are my mom’s boyfriend?”
“What do you mean?” Ryan smiled.
“If you’re my mom’s boyfriend, and then you meet my dad and my dad wants to come back, would you go away so I could have my dad, again?’
“If that was the best thing for you and your mom, yes.”
“I think it would be better. I just want to have my dad, again. The other kids have a dad. I don’t. I just want my dad back.”
Ryan nodded his head. “Dads are special people, huh?”
It felt as though Ryan’s heart had ruptured in his chest. He swore he could feel it withering and wilting. He blinked back tears as he stared out the window. He felt foolish for thinking he had made any significant difference in Nathan’s life. He felt silly for getting so involved with the boy. For that moment, he almost resented the kid sitting beside him.
As he turned into the driveway for the Brock house, he tried to compose himself and not let Nathan’s innocent honesty alter his mood. Before he could get out of the car, Corlay came bounding out the door with a smile on her face. She was excited to see her two favorite people. Ryan walked around the car and opened the passenger side door.
“Excuse me, sir,” Ryan said, smiling at Nathan, “this nice lady needs a seat.”
Nathan wiggled to the edge of the seat and slid out, holding on to Ryan’s pant leg as he found his feet. Ryan looked down at the little hand gripping his jeans. He couldn’t help himself. Maybe it was the lack of sleep. Maybe it just hurt like hell. Whatever it was, Ryan found himself in a full-blown pity party.
Corlay stepped up to him, kissing his cheek as they both waited for Nathan to get in the backseat. She was bubbly and peppy, unaware of the conversation that had transpired. She patted Ryan’s stomach, trying to fish him out of whatever distant thought he was lost in. She smiled at him and he flashed her a fake smile.
“Everything OK?” she asked.
“Yeah. You ready?”
“You look sleepy,” she said as she hugged her arms around him.
His eyes were cold as he looked down at her and agreed. “I am.”
He tried to be upbeat as he extended his arm. “Jump in! You’re upsetting our boating schedule,” he teased.
“Are you sure you’re OK?”
He started to shake his head, before tilting it to look at her. “I’m just tired. I’m still me. I’m just sleeping with my eyes open.”
She kissed him and whispered, “I love you.”
Ryan swallowed hard and bobbed his head up and down, pressing his lips together. “I love you, too.”
He watched as Corlay slid into the passenger seat. He closed the door behind her. As he walked around the car, he tried to nudge himself out of his somber mood. He had two people that he cared about more than anything he had ever known and they were expecting him to behave a certain way. He was determined to be what they expected.
~THIRTY~
When the three got to the River Walk, they started making their way toward the gate to board the gondolas. Corlay and Nathan were on either side of Ryan, both simultaneously reaching for his hands. Ryan smiled, happy, and enjoying the company of the two people walking alongside him. As they approached the gate, Corlay pulled back on Ryan’s hand and quickly turned around.
“What?”
“He’s here, again,” she muttered.
“What?” Ryan asked as he looked toward the gate. The host at the gate looked unnervingly familiar, only older. “He works here?”
“Who?” Nathan asked, trying to follow Ryan’s gaze.
“I don’t want to see him,” Corlay insisted.
“What are you worried about?” Ryan asked, lowering his head to look into her eyes. “What’s the problem?”
“I don’t want to put Nathan through the awkwardness.”
Ryan sighed and briefly pinched the bridge of his nose before he held his hands out beside his body. “We came to ride the boats. We’re going to cross paths with him sooner or later, right? Let’s just do it and get it over with.”
“But, Nathan doesn’t want . . .”
Ryan interrupted, whispering so Nathan couldn’t hear him. “Look at him. He has no idea who he’s looking at. He’s trying to figure out what’s going on. He doesn’t know that guy. Let’s go ride the boats. If he chooses to confront either of you, I’m here and I’ll do whatever you need me to do.”
“I don’t want an argument in front of Nathan.”
“What’s to argue about? He’s selling tickets to a boat we want to ride. We’re going to pay for them. He’s going to sell them to us. We’re going to ride the fucking boat. There’s no need to argue. Let’s go.”
Corlay sighed as she looked up at Ryan. “This makes me uncomfortable.”
“It’s coming sooner or later, Corlay.” He motioned between the two of them. “If this is going to be anything, it’s going to happen. I’d rather do it on our terms than on his, out of the blue. Unless there is some other reason you’d rather not do this.”
“I’ve not dated anyone since he and I split up.”
“So? You’re not doing anything wrong. Look at me,” he urged, waiting for her to look at him. “Is this a feelings thing? Are you still wrapped up in your feelings for him? Because if so,
that’s an entirely different situation.”
“No. I just don’t want the drama. I don’t want it for Nathan. But, I don’t want you to decide it’s too much. It’s different because everyone knows you. I don’t want to cause a scene for you.”
Ryan scoffed and shook his head. He tugged Nathan’s hand, tucking the child behind him as he looked at Corlay. With his voice barely audible, he said, “Benched for unsportsmanlike conduct . . . a . . . few times. Suspended for gambling. The MVP that fucked up the World Series. Dropped from the sport for suspicion of gambling. Yeah! Let’s worry about my gleaming reputation, shall we? It’s not going to be an issue. You think I’m going to walk up to him and throw a right hook out of nowhere? This young man behind me means the world to me. I’m not going to upset him like that. If there’s no other worry, then, we’re going over there, getting our tickets and riding the boat. Sound good?”
Bored with waiting, Nathan tried to use Ryan’s arm as a bungee cord, jumping and hanging from the hand holding him. Ryan turned around and scooped the boy up, playfully curling Nathan up in his arms. He tickled the child as the three made their way toward the gate, the boy wiggling and squirming as he squealed with delight.
“Oh dear,” Corlay said under her breath as they got closer.
Ryan looked over his shoulder and smiled. “Stop!”
As they stepped up to the host, Ryan watched as the guy took money from a customer and shoved it in the carpenter’s apron around his waist. Ryan glanced at the man’s name tag. Evan.
When the man shifted his attention to Ryan’s face, he jerked his head back. He smiled and excitedly greeted Ryan, not having noticed his companions. Ryan smiled and nodded.
“Holy . . . Aren’t you . . .”
“I am,” Ryan smiled. “Can we get two adult tickets and one child, please?”
Evan fumbled in the pouch on his apron, extracting a large poster marker. He drew lines across three tickets and handed them to Ryan. When Ryan offered money, Evan waved his hand.
“No way, man. This one’s my treat. That’s what that black mark means,” he insisted and sighed as he said, “Ryan Priest. I’ll be damned. At my job. This is cool, man. Do you sign autographs when you’re out, or probably not?”