by Laney Smith
Ryan smirked. “Um . . . sure.”
Evan fished a pen out of the pouch, along with a crumpled piece of paper. He proudly handed them to Ryan.
“This is the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me,” Evan chuckled.
Then, as Ryan started scrolling on the paper, for the first time, Evan’s eyes glanced at the other two people with Ryan. The excited smile quickly faded as he stared at Corlay. Then, all expression dropped from his face as his eyes widened just before he glanced down at Nathan. He stood, petrified as Ryan shoved the pen and the paper at him. Realizing what was happening, Ryan attempted to interrupt the locked stare Evan and Corlay shared.
“Here ya go.”
“Thanks,” Evan weakly offered, taking the paper from Ryan without diverting his eyes from Corlay. “How’ve you been?”
Corlay glanced at Ryan, flashing him a smile before she looked at Evan, again. “I’m good, thanks.” Her heart pummeled the inside of her chest, but at least she looked calm and collected.
“It’s been a while, huh?”
Corlay closed the gap between she and Ryan. “Kind of, I guess.”
Evan glanced at Ryan, stunned with surprise. “Good day for a romantic ride on the water, huh?”
Ryan glanced up at the sky. “Seems to be a good day for an outing, yeah.”
Evan pointed behind Ryan. “Here comes your ride.”
A gondola pulled up to the gate. As the current occupants exited the back of the boat, Ryan stepped aside, helping Corlay board the craft. Then, he turned to help Nathan, passing the boy to his mother. Just before Ryan prepared to step in the hull himself, he felt a hand grip his arm.
“I thought you were dating that realtor chick,” Evan whispered, using Ryan’s body to hide from Corlay. “Weren’t you just on the news with that chick yesterday?”
“It would just make that little realtor’s day to know she found some sucker to believe that little act.”
“This is gonna sound funny, but I used to be married to that girl you’re with, now,” Evan muttered. “I really was. Like, we used to live together and everything. I’m not lying.”
“I know,” Ryan nodded. “I thought Nathan looked just like his mother, until I saw you.”
“You think so?” Evan smiled. “A little chip off the old block, huh?”
“Yeah. Listen, I don’t want to hold you up. I know you’ve got other people to tend to,” Ryan said, politely dismissing Evan.
“Enjoy the free ride. Anytime you want to ride, just make sure I’m here and I’ll let you go for free, bro.”
“Thanks,” Ryan said with a sarcastic smirk.
“Yeah, man. Thanks for the autograph. I’m gonna be telling everybody about this for days. I can’t believe I got to meet you, bud. This is cool!”
“OK. We’ll see ya.”
Ryan stepped into the boat, kissing Corlay as he sat beside her. They held hands and Ryan pulled Nathan closer to him as the operator pushed the boat away from the gate. After they were out of earshot, Corlay glanced at Ryan.
“So, what was that about?” she softly asked, referring to the private conversation between Ryan and Evan.
Ryan scoffed and shook his head. When he looked at Corlay’s curious face, he recognized the expression. He had seen the same exact one on Nathan’s face a number of times. It melted his heart.
“It was nothing,” Ryan answered.
“What did he say? Was he saying anything about Nathan?”
“No, he sure wasn’t,” Ryan answered in disgust. “He offered me a free boat ride, as long as I come when he’s working.”
“Nothing about Nate?” Corlay asked in surprise.
Ryan shook his head. “You have nothing to worry about. I told you.”
He smiled at her and wrapped his arm around her, hugging her as he planted a kiss on top of her head. He looked over at the oblivious little character sitting beside him, taking in all the sights. As they approached the tunnel they had stood on the night before, Corlay looked up at Ryan.
“This is my favorite part,” she said.
Ryan winked at her. “Mine, too.”
As the tour guide talked about the history and the construction of the bridges, Ryan and Corlay enjoyed a tender kiss as they floated through the shadow of the tunnel. Ryan felt a little hand patting his leg as they drifted through the waterway, trying to get his attention. Ryan chuckled as he glanced over at Nathan.
“What do you think?”
“I thought that man was going to get knocked down,” Nathan secretly confessed as he pointed to the gondola operator.
Ryan laughed as he looked back at the man propelling the boat. “If we hear a splash, we’ll know what happened, huh?”
“I love you, Ryan. I love you, too, Mom,” the boy said as he looked around Ryan at his mother.
“We love you, too, sweetie,” she smiled happily as she looked at Ryan.
“Can you make the boat go zooming fast?” Nathan asked the man at the back of the boat.
“We can’t do that,” the man said with a kind, patient tone. “We would wreck into the other boats. Then, we would get in trouble.”
Ryan shook his head, smiling at the wonder he saw in Nathan’s face. “One day, we’ll go on a fast boat.”
“Today?”
“Maybe not today. But, one day.”
“Today, Ryan and I are really tired,” Corlay interjected. “It would be a good day to watch movies on the sofa.”
“Or take a nap,” Ryan chuckled.
“No. Boats!” Nathan teased.
“OK. A deal is a deal,” Ryan agreed. He hugged Corlay to him and whispered in her ear. “Next time I make some asinine promise to this kid, jab me in the gut.”
“He’ll get bored,” Corlay softly spoke as she offered a comforting smile.
“Ah, let him have his fun. It’s not his fault I was up all night. You, on the other hand . . .” he teased.
“Last night was beautiful.”
Ryan kissed her, “You’re beautiful.”
Corlay playfully smiled. “I really want you to think so.”
“Mmm . . . I do,” he muttered.
~THIRTY-ONE~
After four rounds of boat rides, and a couple more exchanges with Evan, Nathan had finally grown bored with riding the gondolas. The lack of sleep was catching both Ryan and Corlay. Ryan’s eyes were bloodshot and his eyelids were puffy. Corlay couldn’t quit yawning. Ryan finally put his foot down.
“OK, here’s the deal. We’re going to take you home. You’re going to sleep, and I mean it. Nathan and I are going to run some errands. When we’re done, we’re doing a changing of the guards. I don’t care where I drop, but I’m going to fall out for a while. So, Sleeping Beauty, you should get sleep while you can.”
“OK,” Corlay happily agreed with a yawn.
After Ryan dropped Corlay off at her house, he and Nathan went to his parent’s house. As Ryan turned into the driveway, he questioned his judgment on this plan, internally. He looked at Nathan, touched by how cute it was when the little guy strained to see out the windows.
“Ryan, where are we?” he asked.
“This is my mom and dad’s house.”
“What is your mom’s name?”
“Frannie.”
Nathan laughed. “That’s a funny name. Is that really her name?”
Ryan nodded. “Yep.”
“What country did she come from?”
“This one. The same country you come from.”
“Her name sounds like it should be from a different country. Does your dad have a funny name, too?”
“His name is George.”
“Like Curious George?” Nathan asked with a smile.
Ryan chuckled. “Yeah. Like Curious George. Come on. You can come meet them.”
As they entered the house, the sounds of a game show permeated the, otherwise, quiet house. Ryan pitched his keys on the kitchen counter and strolled toward the living room. He stood in the doorway.
“I’m almost thirty-nine years old, moving back in with my parents,” he huffed. “Hey! Who’s your friend?”
Nathan shyly ducked behind Ryan, peeking at Rick.
“Come here,” Ryan chuckled as he tugged at Nathan’s shirt. “Come say hi to my brother, Rick.”
Once Frannie realized Ryan had brought Nathan home with him, she sprang from her chair, rounding it to get a look at the boy. Ryan and Rick looked at each other, having a silent conversation as Frannie moved closer to Nathan. She bent down, staring at the child.
“Aren’t you cute. You must be Nathan. Ryan tells me about you all the time,” she said. “But, you know what he didn’t tell me? He didn’t tell me if you like cookies or not. So, do you?”
Nathan smiled and nodded his head.
“Well you better get in here and help me see if we can find some,” she said as she started for the kitchen.
Nathan held Ryan’s hand, trying to urge him to follow his mother to the kitchen.
“What are you doing, pushing me? I know where the cookies are. You better go find out. She’s one of those nice moms, too. You’ll like her. Go ahead,” Ryan insisted. “I’ll be right here. I’m going to talk to Rick for a minute.”
Nathan nervously started toward the kitchen. As Ryan watched Nathan follow his mother, Rick stood and joined his brother in the doorway.
“This is the kid, huh?”
Ryan nodded his head and sighed. “This is him.”
The two men watched their mother interact with the little boy. It took her a few minutes to pour the boy a glass of milk and put some cookies on a plate. She put the snack on the table and she sat down, inviting Nathan to join her.
“Can Nana have a little piece?” she asked Nathan.
Ryan dropped his jaw. “Did she just refer to herself as Nana?” he asked his brother.
“He’s a cute little guy,” Rick offered with a smile.
“Just wait. He just gets cuter.”
“Is that right . . . Daddy?” Rick smirked. “If she gets to be Nana, can I be Uncle Rick? It only seems fair. Start him off right, ya know.”
“What in the hell did you say you are you doing here, again?” Ryan asked, changing the conversation.
“I showed Sasha the test results and proudly claimed my daughter. We were up all night, fighting. I don’t know. She said too much. I said too much. I just don’t think we’re going to be able to pull this one out of the shitter. I’m hurt and she seems to want to fault me for that. I seem to want to fault her for everything. I’m not mad. I’m not hurt. I’m just numb.”
“So, you’re back, too?” Ryan punched his brother in the arm as he chuckled. “Mom and Dad must be so proud of us.”
“Dad already told me we’re both paying rent, effective immediately,” Rick chuckled. “You know Dad doesn’t know anything about the rental market. So, we both owe him forty-five bucks a month.”
“That’s not right,” Ryan laughed. He sighed as he stared at his brother. “I’m sorry things are . . .”
The men were interrupted by a hearty laugh coming from their mother. Rick shrugged as he started for the kitchen.
“Like I told you, I’m numb. Don’t be sorry. Let’s go see what these two are up to.”
“Ryan, this little angel . . . Oh my heavens! He is just precious!”
Ryan noticed the boy’s sly grin.
“What did you do?” Ryan proudly asked.
“Tell him what you said,” Frannie cackled.
Nathan turned his hands palm side up and shrugged. “I just told her that babies come from ladies eating too much food because their tummy gets fat.”
Ryan smiled, shaking his head as he looked at the little boy. He couldn’t help but laugh at how funny his mother found Nathan’s theory to be. She was laughing so hard, she had tears flowing from her eyes. The sounds of her hysterics brought George out of hiding, curious as to what Frannie found so amusing. He shuffled over to a vacant chair at the table and sat down, studying the little boy.
Nathan slid off the chair and went to Ryan, shyly hiding his face. Frannie motioned to the chair the boy had been sitting in.
“Come sit with him so he’s not so shy,” she urged. “He is just as cute as he can be. I just wanna squeeze him.”
Ryan sat the boy on his lap as they returned to Nathan’s place at the table. Rick pulled another chair out for himself and joined the others. Frannie couldn’t quit staring at the little boy. Ryan knew his mother would find a soft spot in her heart for the kid. He really didn’t expect it to happen so quickly. That soothed him, yet it made him nervous at the same time. He hoped he and Corlay were on their way to being significant to each other. He also knew that anything could happen, at any moment.
“You should come sit with your Uncle Rick,” Rick said to Nathan, flashing his brother a proud grin.
“No, you don’t, Ricky. If he sits with anyone, it’s going to be me,” Frannie countered. “Do you want to come sit with Nana?”
Nathan whispered to Ryan, “I just want to sit with you.”
Ryan chuckled. “They’re scaring you, huh? They’re really nice. They just think you’re pretty cool. They want to know you.”
Nathan looked past Ryan to peek at Rick. Then, he looked back at Frannie. He pointed his finger toward Frannie and whispered to Ryan.
“You said her name is Frannie.”
“Oh, honey, my name is Frannie. The grandkids call me Nana. You can call me whatever you like.”
“Am I a grandkid?” Nathan asked Frannie.
Frannie looked to Ryan, searching for guidance.
“You can call her whichever name you want to call her.”
The boy whispered to Ryan, again, this time quieter than before. “I want to call her Nana.”
Ryan smiled and nodded his head. “OK. You can do that.”
Nathan looked at Frannie over his shoulder. “Thank you for the cookies, Nana.”
“Oh, Ryan, you have to let me hold that precious little boy,” Frannie insisted, excitedly clutching her hands to her chest. “Nathan, can you come sit with me?”
He looked at Ryan as though he were asking for permission.
“What are you looking at me for? I’m too big to sit on her lap.”
“I know, silly head,” the boy giggled.
Ryan put the boy on his feet and Nathan went to Frannie as though he had known her his whole life. Ryan sighed, nervously cutting his eyes over at his brother. Rick smiled and nodded his head, as though giving his approval.
“Uncle Rick, are you and Ryan twins?” Nathan asked.
Rick’s eyes widened as he looked at his brother. “Did you hear that? Uncle Rick!” He glanced across the table at the boy. “No, buddy. We’re not twins. See, I’m the good-looking brother.”
Ryan scoffed. “Yeah. You wish.”
George pointed his thumb at the two brothers as he looked at Nathan.
“The both of ‘em are full of beans. Everybody knows, I’m the best lookin’ feller around here.”
Nathan covered his mouth, drawing his shoulders up and giggling as he looked at Ryan.
“Oh, all of you are good looking boys, huh, Nathan? Tell them to stop being silly.”
“Ryan, where is my mom?”
“She’s sleeping, remember? We took her home so she could take a nap. We’ll see her, again, in a little while. You doing OK?”
“I think my mom would like your mom and dad and your brother, too. She’s gotta try these cookies.”
“Nana makes the best cookies, ever,” Ryan agreed, realizing how weird it sounded to refer to his mother as “Nana.”
“I have two little girls,” Rick shared with Nathan. “I’ll have to bring them over here sometime when you’re going to be here so you can meet them and then you’ll have some friends to play with.”
After Nathan spent some time, visiting with the Priest family, Nathan and Ryan retreated to Ryan’s bedroom. Ryan sa
t on the edge of his bed and Nathan laid across the foot of the mattress. Ryan turned on cartoons for his little friend while he made a few phone calls and checked his email. To his surprise, he had an email from Scottie titled, “Sharing this house, just in case.” He laughed to himself, afraid of what she had sent, this time. As he sat on hold, waiting to speak to his broker about the developments with the greenhouse, he clicked open the email and instantly stood from his seated position, staring at the computer screen.
“Where the hell is this house?” he spouted.
Nathan flipped over to see what Ryan was so excited about. “What? What is it, Ryan?”
“It’s the house I’ve been looking for, buddy. I can’t believe she finally found it,” he said. He studied every photo and read every little detail about the property. “New build located at 101 Sovereign Guild Court in Castle Hills, seventy-three acres, six bedrooms, eight bathrooms, ninety-seven hundred square feet, flagstone patio with built-ins, pool, Jacuzzi, hilltop views, just south of a golf course, fountains in the sprawling garden, fully landscaped, library, game room . . .” Ryan stopped reading in the middle of the rambling list of features and glanced over at Nathan. “Nate, my friend, I think we’re gonna need to see that one.”
“Can we wait until this show goes off?”
Ryan laughed. “We won’t go, today. But, that is going on our list of things to do, for sure.”
“Who are you talking to?” Nathan asked, noticing Ryan holding the phone to his head.
“Absolutely no one. That’s kind of a problem,” Ryan said as he disconnected the call.
As Nathan became absorbed in the television, again, Ryan studied the listing for the house more closely. Then, he searched for nurseries in Castle Hills. As though it were sign, the first listing popped up with a “going out of business” banner across the image. For whatever reason, the owners were looking to sell the four-acre, established nursery for just under four hundred thousand dollars. Ryan stared at the images, unfamiliar with anything he was seeing. He shrugged.
“Castle Hills, huh? Just maybe,” he muttered to himself.
“You’re going to live in a castle?” Nathan asked, kicking his feet as he stared at the television. “Does it have a big TV? Can I come to your house?”