Braxton

by Liberty Parker

  * * *

  Caraleigh

  * * *

  As I get the ladder situated on my side I climb up and notice he has the other ladder ready for me. I straddle the fence, put my foot out for the ladder, and I feel his hand touch me to guide me over. Chills run through my body, what is this guy doing to me? I can’t help where my mind wanders to, feeling those hands run up and down my body caressing me in ways that haven’t been done in many years. Then I hear, “Sure you’re alright, sweetheart?”

  I come away from my delicious thoughts and tell him, “I’m fine, just a little nervous to miss my step,” and I carry on. Once I have both feet planted on the ladder I feel his hands grab my waist and nearly moan out loud at the contact.

  The tingles that race down my spine are something new, something I’ve never felt before. I hope I get to experience his hands on me many times over. Firmly planted on the ground I turn around and come face to face with the man I’ve been daydreaming about ever since he opened his door and invited me in.

  “Thank you for helping me, I’m clumsy sometimes and was worried I’d fall flat on my butt.” The thought of falling and landing on my backside has embarrassed me even though it didn’t actually happen. I didn’t lie when I said I’m clumsy, my family doesn’t let me climb anything that I could potentially fall from. My brother especially freaks out when I try to take on jobs that entail me having to reach, climb or stand on any objects.

  “No problem, sweetheart, and just so you know as long as I’m around to catch you, you’ll never fall on my watch,” he says as he winks at me causing a blush to cover my body. I can’t wait to find out what else he can do to my body. Those thoughts go away quickly when I hear my little guy call out for me.

  “Momma, you’re here!”

  “I am, buddy, have you been having fun with Lily?”

  “The bestest time! I’m so glad we moved here Momma, Lily is my new bestest friend.”

  “Oh yeah? I don’t think we should tell that to Ralynn...it may hurt her feelings,” I tell him, Ralynn is my best friend’s daughter, she and Luca have grown up together and have always been inseparable.

  “It wonts hurt her feelins, Momma, yous silly. Ralynn’s my bestest friend there and Lily is here. Theys still both my bestest.”

  “Well, that’s good to hear because she and Donna Jo are coming to visit next week!”

  “Yay! Lily yous gonna like Ralynn, she is so much fun,” he says dragging out the so as dramatically as he can.

  “Did you hears that, Daddy? I get to makes another friend.”

  “That’s great, baby girl,” Braxton tells her, “one can’t have too many friends.” He winks at her causing both kids to laugh and I can’t help the chuckle that escapes my mouth along with them. He’s such a good dad, it makes me miss Graham, not for me, but for Luca. He needs a dad in his life, and I feel guilty that he no longer has one.

  “Momma, Lily is gonna helps me look up in the sky for Daddy tonight. We’re gonna tell him that we’re bestest friends.”

  “You are huh?” I can’t stop the tears as they gather in my eyes. I turn my back and bend over pretending my shoe needs to be tied so he doesn’t see his momma holding back her tears.

  “Her momma's gone too, but she’s not up in the sky like my dad is. So we don’t have to tell her about us, Lily says she just left her. Why would a momma leave her kid?” Leave it to kids to ask the tough questions. I look at Braxton and see his head hanging down, I don’t know if it’s because he misses Lily’s mom or if he’s unsure of how to answer Luca’s question.

  Braxton bends down in front of the kids and takes Lily’s hands in his. “Sometimes, adults can’t handle the responsibility of having kids. Lily’s mom couldn’t, so she left her with me to love and take care of.”

  “What’s responbility?” Luca asks Braxton.

  “Responsibility,” I correct him which causes him to roll his eyes at me.

  “May I?” I ask Braxton before I jump in.

  “By all means, please.”

  “When a parent has a child, not only do they love them, but they are responsible for taking care of all of their needs. Like when I help you with homework, taking a bath, cleaning your room and making you something to eat. It means I am responsible for making sure all of your needs are taken care of, that you never have to do it all by yourself. Just like your goldfish you had, you were responsible for feeding him, cleaning his water and talking to him so he didn’t get lonely.”

  “Yes! I was responbible.”

  “Yes you were, I love you,” I tell him, needing to let him know in my way how proud I am of him, and very thankful this conversation is coming to a close.

  He and Lily run off and start blowing bubbles, it brings back a lot of memories from my childhood. My brother and I used to love to blow bubbles and run around the yard popping them. I watch as the kids do the same and start laughing at how much fun they’re having. I’m so happy that Luca has made a friend he can play with here at home. While watching them I’m also keeping an eye on Braxton and Nan as they finish up on the grill.

  “Anything I can do to help?” I ask, feeling like a freeloader just sitting here.

  “You’re our guest sweetheart, just sit back and relax,” Nan tells me. “I made some sweet tea earlier, would you like a glass, dear?”

  “That sounds amazing, I would love a glass, Nan.”

  “Were you able to get a lot of unpacking accomplished?” Braxton sits next to me and asks.

  “I did actually, Luca’s room is finished and so is the guest bathroom. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but to me it will make life easier. Luca will have all of his toys to keep him occupied so that I can finish my room and bathroom. You don’t realize how much stuff you have until it’s time to pack it up and then put it away.”

  “I remember, it wasn’t that long ago that Mom, Lily and I moved here. We were the first tenants and Lily was bored out of her mind. We made sure her room was settled before any of the other rooms were even touched. I was never so grateful in my life to say goodbye to fast food as I was when the kitchen was finally done.”

  “I did it opposite, Luca and I only have fast food on rare occasions. I like him to have as much healthy food as possible. Too much sugar and sodium makes for a very miserable time for mom.”

  “He gets hyperactive, huh?”

  “That he does, he already is like a locomotive on a good day, I’m constantly sitting and wondering when the caboose will show itself.” I laugh at my own analogy of my son and his active lifestyle and he joins me in the laughter. “What about Lily?”

  “That girl of mine can sit and play by herself for hours. She’s always been able to entertain herself with her dolls and kitchen playset. I sometimes have to go in search of her just to check and make sure she’s alright. She’ll be so quiet I’ll start to wonder to myself if she’s taken off on me. I think the quietness is more nerve wracking than when she’s being loud and rambunctious.”

  “I think if I was to go without hearing Luca for any amount of time I’d freak out. He hasn’t been quiet since the day he was born. He’s always been so curious, and ever since he started walking he’s been into anything and everything his hands can get ahold of. It would drive me crazy wondering if the house was baby-proofed well enough.”

  “I know! Lily was a really good baby, but when she started pulling herself up on furniture and grabbing anything in sight I started bubble wrapping things up. Mom used to laugh at me and tell me I was being melodramatic, but all I could see was her hurting herself. Scared the life out of me on most days.”

  “I know what you mean, I used to spend my days following him around for fear of what he’d find next.” I am enjoying hearing the way he talks about Lily, you can see the love pouring from his eyes as he talks about her. I want that for Luca.

  “So earlier you mentioned that a friend of yours was coming for a visit? When do you expect her here?”

  “She’ll be here with her daughter Raly
nn in four days,” I say excitedly, she’s my closest friend since childhood and I can’t wait to see her. I know it’s only been a few days, but I already miss her terribly.

  “What about Ralynn’s school, won’t she miss too many days?”

  “No, she homeschools Ralynn...the school she’d have to attend isn’t the best. Donna Jo can’t afford to send her to a private school so she chooses to work from home that way she can keep her daughter safe and play teacher at the same time.”

  “I would do the same thing if it meant keeping Lily safe,” he tells me.

  “I agree, I helped her find the right homeschool program and it’s worked out well for Ralynn. She’s a very smart little girl and hasn’t had a hard time adjusting to it. She picks things up quickly and I swear she could probably jump a grade or two if Donna Jo wanted to explore it further. She won’t though, because she eventually wants Ralynn back in the public school system. She wants her to have socialization skills and to make friends. She’s looking to move and I’m hoping to talk her into moving here with me.”

  “Sounds like it would be a good move for her and Ralynn. You say she works from home? What does she do?” I don’t tell many people what Donna Jo does for a living, some like to judge her, but I have a feeling he won’t.

  “Promise not to judge her?”

  “I’d never judge someone on what they have to do for a living to support themselves and their child,” he states matter-of-factly.

  “She writes adult romance books.”

  “So what you’re trying to tell me is she writes those books for women with sex in them?”

  “Yep,” I tell him waiting for his reaction.

  “That’s awesome, Mom likes to read those types of books. Maybe you can tell her about your friend so she can pick up one of hers to read.”

  “I’ll do one better, she usually has some on hand and I’ll have her bring one for your mom when she comes.”

  “Really? Let her know I’ll pay her for a copy, I know that shit’s not free,” he says.

  “Nope, not this first one, at least,” I tell him. He shakes his head at me and grins before looking over his shoulder at the kids.

  “I’m glad they’re getting along so well.”

  “Me too,” I reply. “Luca hasn’t had too many friends because when his dad got sick, we had to watch who came around.”

  “That had to be hard on y’all.”

  “It was...challenging. I hated it for Luca because despite everything, his dad loved him and doted on him.”

  “What about you?” he asks me.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, how was it challenging?” Ugh, he asks the tough questions.

  I sigh before saying, “His parents never liked me and after some time, he adopted their behaviors toward me. When he got sick, his mom was around all the time and I did even less right than before. The tension was so high you could have cut it with a knife and I got to where all I focused on was making sure Luca wasn’t impacted.”

  He reaches over and squeezes my hand and replies, “That couldn’t have been easy on you at all.”

  “It wasn’t, but I focused on him and powered through. And now we’re here, ready for new beginnings.”

  Picking up his beer, he clinks it against my glass of sweet tea and says, “To new beginnings.”

  Four

  Braxton

  Dinner has finally been served and we’re all listening to the kids tell us all about their playdate today and how much fun they’ve had.

  “Can we do this every day, Daddy?” my beautiful little girl asks me.

  “I’m not sure about every day, baby girl, but we can make sure y’all get together a couple of times a week. Luca and you will have homework and they have friends coming for a visit in a couple of days. We don’t want to intrude on that,” I tell her, hoping to appease her some.

  “Lily would never be an intrusion to us, Braxton,” Caraleigh tells me and I can’t help but focus my eyes on her lips as she talks. Lips I can’t help but imagining doing all kinds of dirty things to my body. I snap my eyes up to meet hers.

  “Anytime you feel like having her over just let me know and either Mom or I’ll bring her on over.”

  “I was thinking of taking Luca to the playground near the school when they get out tomorrow, would it be alright for me to pick Lily up from the school and take her with us? We won’t be long, maybe an hour, two tops.”

  “Pease Daddy, pease can I go?”

  “As long as you promise to do your homework as soon as you get home without complaining.”

  “I pwomise, Daddy, I’ll be good and not compain any.”

  “Complain, baby girl, not compain, and I’ll call the school tomorrow and give permission for Caraleigh to pick you up.”

  “Yay,” Luca and Lily both shout and do little shimmies in their chairs. They’re acting like they didn’t just spend the entire afternoon and evening together.

  “Sounds like a plan to me, let me help you guys clean up this mess and then Luca and I need to head home. He needs a bath and I need to snuggle in my bed with an e-reader and a glass of wine. It’s been a long day,” Caraleigh says to us.

  “Nonsense, you two get the kids bathed and in bed and I’ll handle the clean up tonight,” Mom says.

  “Are you sure, Mom? I don’t mind helping.”

  “Like I said, take care of the kids, I’ve got this. Why don’t you and Lily walk Caraleigh and Luca home, Braxton,” Mom says, she has that look in her eyes again, I have a feeling the matchmaking has begun. I sigh knowing our conversation from before has long been forgotten.

  “Alright, Mom, if you insist.” I give her a smirk letting her know I’m on to her game. “Come on, Lily, let’s walk our friends home.”

  “You don’t have to do that, Braxton, we’re just next door,” Caraleigh says to me.

  “No, we don’t mind, do we, Lily?”

  “Nah Daddy, we don’t mind,” she says grabbing Luca’s hand causing my heart to temporarily combust. In my mind her holding his hand is innocent, but my heart can’t take it. That’s my baby girl and she shouldn’t be holding any boy’s hand, only mine. Period, end of story. I look over at Caraleigh to get her reaction, only she has a big smile on her face, I can tell I’m all alone in this situation.

  “They’re holding hands,” I tell her as if it isn’t obvious.

  “I know, isn’t it sweet?” she says to me and I mentally roll my eyes at her. Sweet, yeah it’s giving me a sweet tooth alright. Fuck!

  Suddenly I can’t wait to get our guests to their house so I can take my baby girl’s hand and hold it in my own. I’ll make sure to scrub that hand extra well during her bath time. Mind made up, I grab Caraleigh’s hand and practically run for the front door. Her laughter following in my wake, I say, “What? I know they both need baths, let’s get this show on the road people.”

  Her laughter should be making me happy, instead it’s making me anxious. What is wrong with these people? They’re too young to be holding hands for Christ’s sake. Now, feeling Caraleigh’s soft, small hand in mine? Totally different story as I intertwine our fingers, earning a look from her. Smiling, I squeeze her hand and lead us out the door.

  Later that night I get a call that our run that we thought had been cancelled was renewed. Guess who’s going out of town for the next couple of days...yep me. I’m bummed about this seeing as I was looking forward to crashing their playdate at the playground just to spend some time with Caraleigh. There is something about her that I can’t quite put my finger on, she does something to me that I’m looking forward to exploring. Just looks like those plans are going to take a little longer than I’d first anticipated. A couple of days away shouldn't kill me...right?

  A lesser man than me would let this get him down...for me, however, it just makes me get a game plan in place. I want to show her what I’m all about, introduce her to the guys. Sounds like we need to plan a BBQ, maybe as a welcome to town party. With a plan in mi
nd I text my VP to have him set it up, now I need to get this run done and get back home.

  Fuck, everything that could go wrong on this run has gone wrong. From the trailer not being refrigerated like it was supposed to, to the supplier not having their shit together when I arrived. Wishing I was anywhere but here, I listen to the foreman yelling at the dockworkers, as if it was their fault that he didn’t get the correct trailer. Sighing, I head over to a forklift and climb up. Maybe if I give them a hand, I’ll be out of here and headed to the delivery point sooner rather than later, right?

  “And then we swang really high, Daddy!” she exclaims in my ear. Hearing about her playdate at the park has me all kinds of homesick, but I promised myself when I had to start making these trips that I would call Lily every night so I could hear about her day.

  “Swung, sweetie. You swung really high. Did you like it?” I ask her. It’s been ten minutes of non-stop chatter and while my heart smiles that she has a new friend, it also clenches at the thoughts that her friend is a boy. Then again, Luca seems to have a protective streak when it comes to her. I noticed that the other night walking them home. Since they live right next door, we actually took a little walk beforehand. He walked on the outside near the parking lot. Granted, they were still holding hands, but whatever. I’ll work harder to delete the sight of her little hand enclosed in his. Maybe. Although...I did enjoy the feel of Caraleigh’s hand in mine. Thinking of how soft her hand was, I mentally groan. I think I’ve jacked off more since meeting my delectable neighbor than I did when I first found out it felt good.

  “I did! And guesses what? Miss Caraleigh taked us for ice cream when we got done playing! And I still ate all my dinner, too,” she tells me.

  “That sounds like a lot of fun, Lily. How’s school?”