by Cee Bowerman
Sam took the now sleeping Zoey from Bird. Bird stood up and walked over to Carlie. He squeezed her shoulder and then leaned down to kiss Brighten on the cheek as she rested her head on Carlie’s shoulder.
I stood up next to Bird and we said our goodbyes at the door as we watched Sam and Carlie put the kids in their seats. They both waved as they drove off, Bird waving back with the hand that wasn’t around my shoulders
“Where are your brothers?” I asked him.
“Oh, they sent me a text. They walked over to Mom’s house really quick. She’s been baking. She does that when she’s stressed or upset.”
“I do too.”
“We have a few more minutes to talk before they come back.”
“I think my questions have been answered.” I had wondered how Bird would be with kids around. Toddlers that needed supervision, tenderness and snuggles. Little boys that tripped and fell over nothing but air. Young ones that wanted to touch everything in sight, but sometimes their little fingers couldn’t hold onto what they picked up, so occasionally things got broken.
He handled it all the way I would like to imagine my son’s father would have. I knew different though, he wasn’t nearly as calm or laid back as Bird had been this afternoon when Brighten had broken one of his possessions.
“If you don’t mind, I’m going to call my Mom. I want to let her know about Grunt staying in her house and get a definite answer on when they’re coming home.”
“Okay, Sunshine. I’m going to walk over to say hi to my Mom. Maybe snag some goodies for us to eat later.” He grinned and I saw the little boy in him who was excited for some homemade treats. He leaned down and kissed me. “I’ll be right back.”
I watched him walk out the front door and then I walked into the kitchen to grab my phone. As I waited for Mom to pick up, I wandered around Bird’s house, taking in the details I hadn’t had time to see before.
“Hi, sweetheart. I was going to call you back in just a minute. I just got all three boys down for a nap.”
“Hi, Mom.”
“What’s wrong, honey?”
“Do you believe in destiny?”
“Well, that was out of the blue, wasn’t it?” I sat quietly while Mom thought about my question. “I do. You know I do. It’s not something I can explain, baby. I know you have never agreed with me. I’m the eternal optimist. Even though nothing has worked out the way I planned, I know that someday I’m going to open my door and destiny will be right there in front of me. Why do you ask?”
“I met someone.” I flopped down in the chair by the bookshelves. “We’ve talked quite a lot over the last few days. He said he believes in destiny. He says that when he first shook my hand, he felt electricity and knew he needed to know me better.”
“What did you feel?”
“Safe. Content. Like I would follow him anywhere. And, I did.”
“You followed him? What do you mean?”
“I met him on Friday when I was out with Drea. He asked me to dinner, and I took his hand and walked out without a thought. I got on his motorcycle and he brought me to his house and cooked for me. I haven’t been home since. I’ve barely been out of bed since.”
My mom was laughing so hard that I knew she had tears running down her face. She snorted, laughed a little harder, and then finally calmed down.
“That, my baby love, is destiny.”
“There are other things, but it’s not really my nature to put them into that category.”
“Tell me.”
“He said he wants little birds of his own to run around his house.”
“That’s an odd choice of words.”
“His Mom loves to watch birds while she sits outside and drinks her coffee. His name is Bird, Mom. It’s not a nickname. That’s his real name.”
“Oh, my. And, you have three little birds still in the nest to watch over.”
“Yeah. John and I named them Crow and Hawk because of how much he loved to watch birds. How fascinated he was with them. I named the baby Phoenix after John died because it was like John coming back to me from his ashes. I have three little birds. See what I mean?”
I could tell that my Mom was crying. This time not with laughter.
“Summer, how could this be anything other than destiny?”
“I don’t know, Mom. I’m having a hard time finding my usual arguments.” I was trying hard not to let the tears fall myself. “Some of his friends came over and I watched him interact with their children. It was amazing to me that he has never had kids of his own, he was that good with them.”
“Some men have that instinct, baby. Some men don’t.” She left the words unspoken, but I knew she was talking about John.
“It’s way too soon for me to think about letting him meet my boys. Or you.”
“Do you want him to meet your boys?”
“I do, but isn’t it too soon? They’ve never known me to date.”
“They’re four and younger, baby. They don’t know what dating is.”
“True. But what if they fall in love with him and it doesn’t work out between us?”
“What if it does?”
She and I sat quietly for a few minutes.
“I know your childhood was filled with uncertainty, Summer. I see now how wrong that was of me to put you through some of the things we did. It’s not a defense, but I was so young. So fucking young.” Mom sniffed and moved the phone away from her face to blow her nose. “I’m sorry for that, baby. I’m sorry it clouded how you think and feel now. I’d change it if I could, but you’re the only one that can do that now.”
“I know, Mom.” I whispered. “I don’t blame you for anything. You’re right. You were so young, and you had three kids, the same ages I do now. I’m damn near thirty. I can’t imagine having to juggle this life at seventeen. No money, no house, no certainty.”
“But, honey, you’re you. It’s a different life you are giving your boys. You have a house, a car, a savings account to dip into if you need something. You’ll have all those things to fall back on if something happens and it doesn’t work the way you want it to. You’ll learn from my mistakes and make sure that’s something your boys never experience. Do something that makes you happy and could make them happy for the rest of their lives, if it all goes right. Take a chance. Take that leap. Get on that motorcycle and take that ride.”
“I’m doing that, Mom. I am.”
“Good, baby.” Mom sniffed again and took a deep breath. “I want to meet this man, sweetheart. I’ve never known you to talk this way, and I like it. I like that he’s giving you this. Hope. I like that he’s rocking your solid life, showing you what’s possible.”
“I love you, Mom.”
“I love you too, my sweet girl. I love you all the way around the earth and back. I hate to let you go, but I hear the boys in there chattering. I thought they were asleep.” I heard a crash and flinched, even from almost two hundred miles away. “Shit. I’ve gotta go.”
Mom hung up and I sat the phone by my side. I realized too late that I hadn’t told her about Grunt.
7.
“Do not pee on your brother!”
Words Summer never imagined she’d have to say
BIRD
I watched Summer show Fain and Clem around her house. I wandered around, looking at her home. There were pictures of her boys and other children in frames spread out on the shelves and surfaces of her living room.
I picked up one of the frames and smiled at a picture of a little girl and three smaller boys, two in diapers, sitting in a mud puddle in someone’s yard. They had mud all over them, and the smiles on their faces were stunning. Happy children.
Another picture, off to the side had the three small boys dressed up for Halloween. They were dressed like the Three Musketeers, complete with little swords on their belts. The picture made me smile, remembering when my brothers and I dressed up for Halloween. One year, Mama went all out and made costumes for us to dress up as the band, K
ISS. That was hilarious and all of my parent’s friends loved it.
Her house was clean, but had the usual clutter that families seemed to keep. A pile of little shoes by the front door. A hot wheel car peeking out from under the sofa. A lonely sock on the floor by the chair.
Her kitchen table had four chairs pushed in around it. Three of the four chairs held booster seats for little people to be up closer to the edge of the table. The drain pan beside her sink held one coffee mug and an assortment of sippy cups, along with plates that had superhero characters printed on them. In the silverware section of the drain pan, there was a fork and a spoon along with smaller, plastic versions of the silverware.
As I walked down the hallway, I peeked into the first room I came to. It was filled with toys, probably their playroom. There were shelves holding books and puzzles, baskets holding dinosaurs and cars, another lone sock laying on the floor by the overflowing toy chest. The walls had posters of superheroes and oddly enough, different pictures of birds.
The first bedroom I came to had two small beds. One was a regular size twin bed, the other a miniature bed with a crib mattress. On the wall above the twin bed, there was a hawk in flight, the blue sky was vivid behind him. Above the smaller bed, the poster was of a large crow sitting on a fence post, the gray cloudy sky behind him.
What odd decorations for a kids room. I shook my head. To each his own, I suppose. I heard Clem come out of the bathroom behind me and watched him walk down the hall back to the kitchen to find Fain. I followed the hallway to the master bedroom. I could hear Summer moving around in there, hopefully packing a bag to bring to my house.
Her room was large, the bed king sized. Her nightstand had a little pair of tennis shoes and a toy car on it. The other nightstand had a bottle of water and a sippy cup. The room was decorated in blues and greens, except for above the crib in the corner. There was a beautiful poster of a Phoenix rising from the ashes, his wings spread out for flight. Another odd choice to decorate a little boy’s area.
Summer looked up as she walked out of the closet. She had a large bag in her hands, it was bright green and had a picture of The Incredible Hulk on the side of it. I smiled at her luggage choice.
“That’s all I have. I haven’t taken a trip in years, so I don’t have a single piece of luggage I can use. This was the best I could find!” She laughed a little bit. “I had to clean out an assortment of toys, and a few rocks before I could put my things in it.”
“Whatever works, Sunshine. You almost ready?”
“I’m ready now. I’ll have to go ahead and come here Monday night or early Tuesday morning to get dressed for work. There’s no reason to drag my work clothes all the way to your house. I would need my makeup and all that stuff. I’m just bringing regular clothes for tomorrow.”
Summer had changed clothes since I saw her come back here. She was wearing a light pink, short sleeved shirt. It wasn’t a t-shirt, but it was soft material that swayed when she walked toward me. Her jeans were dark blue and tapered down to a sexy pair of high heeled sandals that showed off her hot pink toes.
“You look good enough to eat, baby.”
“Thank you. You did promise to bite into me a little bit ago.” She dropped the bag on the foot of her bed and walked into my arms.
“That I did. You look all dressed up, hon. Don’t you want to get comfortable?”
“I am comfortable.”
“Not that I’m complaining about the shoes. Never would I complain about you wearing fuck me shoes, but they don’t seem comfortable.”
“It’s my thing. My shoes. Everything around me is covered in boogers and dirt. Boy stuff surrounds me. Trucks, bikes, bugs, rocks, cars, guns and swords. All over. The one girly thing I have is my shoes.”
“Alright.” I leaned down to kiss her on the nose. “I know what to buy you as gifts from now on then. Shoes.”
“You can never go wrong with shoes. Or purses. I’m not a flower type woman. I am not really a fancy jewelry girl. Earrings, sometimes. Rings occasionally. Shoes, pedicures and manicures are always welcome gifts.”
“Good to know. I’ll keep that information in my arsenal.” I reached around to grip her ass. “Let’s go get some dinner. I feel like some Mexican food and a cold beer. What about you?”
“Oh, yum. Guacamole and some fajitas. Yes, please.”
“Since you asked so nicely, that’s what we’ll get.”
I leaned down for another kiss and then grabbed her bag from the bed. I put the thought in my head that I would need to buy her a set of luggage in case we went on a trip. The boys would each need a suitcase of their own too.
I came to a sudden stop in the hallway, and Summer ran into my back with a grunt.
I was thinking of taking a trip with Summer and her kids. I was planning for it like it was a given that we would be together at some point in the future and want to go away somewhere. Holy shit. I had never in my life thought of the future and made plans that involved a woman traveling with me, let alone her three small children. The thought didn’t scare me. It made me smile inside. A big smile, making my chest expand.
Summer leaned around me, curious about why I had stopped. I dropped the bag and picked her up with my hands holding the cheeks of her ass. I turned and put her back to the wall as I put my mouth on hers in a hard kiss. I thrust my tongue in her mouth and dueled with hers for control as her hands came up to grip my face.
After a minute or two I let her slide slowly down the wall and I stepped back from the kiss, breathing as heavy as she was.
“Well, that was nice. Unexpected but hot as hell.” Summer shivered and then stooped down to pick up the green bag. “Good Lord.”
I watched her walk away, still reeling from my earlier thoughts. Oh, fuck it, I thought. Are the kids too small for Six Flags?
~*~
“So, tell me about your job.” I was enjoying a beer while Summer sipped a margarita. The bowl of chips was between us, and we were making a dent in the bowl of hot sauce the waitress had just delivered.
“I work in the accounting department. I do the accounts payable. Paying invoices and bills for the buildings and equipment at the different locations of our company. I work directly under the CFO at the corporate office.”
“Is he the one Drea was talking about?”
“Yeah. I put in an application to work in Drea’s department and she seems to think I’ll get it. It’s a pay cut, and I won’t be using my degree, but it will be worth it to get away from him.”
“The money’s not good enough to put up with that shit, obviously.”
I leaned back as the waitress set the sizzling pan of fajita meat on the table between us. Summer and I dug into the food and continued talking as we ate.
“No, it’s not. The money isn’t really the issue. I have quite a bit saved from John’s life insurance. I put portions of it back for each of the boy’s college but kept some for living expenses and what not. I really work there for the health insurance. It’s too expensive to afford to pay for a private policy.”
I nodded in agreement, my mouth full of chips and salsa.
“If I didn’t have that expense, I wouldn’t really have to work, to be honest. I would like to stay home with my boys while they are small, maybe do some part time work from home, but it’s just not in the cards. It kills me that I see them for about three hours a day, five days a week. By the time I get home from work and pick them up from my Mom, it’s time for me to cook dinner, then do baths, then it’s already their bedtime.”
“I never thought of it that way. It was different when we were kids. We spent a lot of time in the diner with my Mom. We had our own table in the corner where we napped until school started or did homework after school until Smokey picked us up.”
“Yeah. My Mom worked when we were little, after our Father left. The three of us stayed home together and she was gone all the time. She didn’t have an education, so she had to work two low paying jobs just to keep the lights on.”
“Damn. That sucks.”
“She did it though. After we got older and could help out, she quit one of her jobs and went to school to become a nurse. Things got easier after that. She met her second husband and worked until Spruce was born. I was a Junior in high school when he came along.”
“Did you like your stepfather?”
“You know, I really did. He was the first man around our house. It was harder for Atlas, because he had always assumed that role. For me and Willow, it was kind of nice. We felt secure that he was taking care of Mom.”
“What would your son’s think if you got remarried?” After my thoughts in the hallway of her house earlier, that seemed like a natural question to ask. Six weeks ago, thoughts like that would have made me laugh in someone’s face.
