Impress Me Not: The Handyman

Chapter 41

Jay nodded and covered his ears a bit. He seemed really clingy to Niko. It was cute. If Niko even tried to start putting him down, he would cling on tighter to him.

"There should be some medicine for that in one of the cabinets," Niko said. "Why didn't you tell me, Jay?"

The boy just shook his head and buried it in Niko's shirt again.

"That's the fun thing about kids," Solomon told him. "Sometimes you just have to play twenty questions until you get it right."

They walked to the kitchen. Solomon knew this wasn't Niko's house, but he seemed to know where everything was. Niko grabbed a bottle of eardrops from the cabinet just above the stove and sat with Jay on the couch to put it in.

The house was a little messy, but still really nice. The only thing that made it messy were the toys that were all over the place. They must really spoil this kid for him to have so many toys. The walls had family photo's all over it. He didn't see Niko in too many of them. Most of the ones that he was in were birthday parties. The rest were with a woman that looked a lot like Jay and another man.

"He must have gotten an ear infection that Matilda didn't know about," Niko shook his head as he walked over there. He had put on a kids show on the TV and told Jay to stay down for a bit so that the medicine would work.

"Is this Matilda?" he pointed at the pretty brunette in the photo. She had a small, round face, and rich brown eyes.

"Yeah," Niko laughed nervously. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this sooner."

"Niko," Solomon shook his head. "You act like we've been dating for two years or something. It doesn't bother me that you waited to tell me you had a son."

"Really?" Niko looked so shocked when he told him that. Solomon just chuckled a bit and started walking towards the living area.

"I mean," he started. "I would like to know how you got this cute little guy," he motioned towards the boy who was slowly starting to fall asleep. "But I think that can wait until everything's cleaned up and he's all tucked in."

"Oh dang," Niko looked back into the hallway. "I forgot about that juice."

"You seem a bit forgetful tonight," Solomon patted his shoulder. "I'll keep him distracted. You go clean it up."

He sat next to the boy on the couch. He looked so worn out from crying, but it only took a second for him to realize that his father wasn't there again. He was going to start crying again when Solomon shushed him.

"He's just getting things ready to tuck you in tonight," Solomon told him. "He'll be right back. Don't worry."

"That's what mommy always said," those big blue eyes looked at him with tears in them. "But then he'd leave!"

"Well, I know for sure that he'll be back," Solomon smiled at him. "You wanna know how?"

"How?"

"Because, your Dad never goes anywhere without this," he picked up the phone that he left on the coffee table. "As long as you see this, you'll know that he's not going to be far."

"But Clay leaves his phone all the time."

"Well, your dad doesn't," Solomon shook his head. "I've never seen him leave his phone since I've met him."

"When was that?" The boy was looking at him in wonder. Jay seemed like the one kid who was extremely social compared to the others. He always had a curious look to him that Solomon liked. He really wanted to learn everything that he could. It reminded him of Niko so much. That man always asked Solomon a thousand different questions about himself. He always wanted to learn as much as he could about him.

"Not too long ago," Solomon answered. "I've known him for almost two months now."

"Does this mean your going to be coming here more?" he asked. "Like Clay with Mommy?"

"Who is Clay?" he asked.

"He's Mommy's boyfriend," Jay said.

"Ah," Solomon took a deep breath. Talking about this stuff with kids was always difficult to word. "Do you like him?"

"Yeah!" Jay almost bounced when he said it. "He's cool! He takes me to all of these places to do things while Mommy's gone!"

"That's great," Solomon smiled at him again. He always wound up smiling when he was talking with a kid. Their happiness was contagious. "Does that mean that your mom has to work a lot?"

"Yeah," he shrank a little into the blanket he had. His face was now sad instead of happy. "She works a lot. Just like Daddy."

"Ah," Now he understood a little better. The poor kid didn't get to see either of his parents that much. That explained the clinginess that he had with Niko. He wondered just how much Jay saw of his dad. Considering all the time that Solomon had spent with him, he kind of felt guilty for it now. He probably took time away that he could have been spending with his son.

"Alright," Niko came out. "Everything's all cleaned up. You ready to go back to your room, Jay?"

"Maybe we should watch a movie first," Solomon said. He gave the boy a wink and looked back at Niko. "That way we could all have some fun tonight."

"Yay!" Jay bounced up again. "Movie! Movie! Movie!"

"Alright," Niko caved. He gave in so easily to Jay, it was cute. "Which movie do you want to watch?"

Solomon sat back and watched as the two of them looked through the movie collection that was there. This made up for the dinner that they were supposed to go to. As much as they were nice and romantic, Solomon really loved moments like these. The family moments were always the ones that he remembered the most in his life.

This reminded him of when he had just gotten custody of Maya. She was only ten then, and, boy was she a ball of energy. He joked with Somner that he could lose weight simply by trying to keep up with her. Somner didn't really like those jokes. But he laughed it off more with Solomon than when his father said it.

Somner's dad was just like him, only he didn't have the weight that his son had. They both argued tooth and nail about everything. But after his father had apologized for the past, they became really close. They would argue with each other no matter what, but it didn't have the same venom that it used to.

They would have movie nights with Maya a lot back then. Only, instead of Solomon sitting on the couch while he watched these two look for the right movie, it was Somner who would wait. Solomon and Maya were the ones who picked the movies. Somner usually didn't care. Half the time he would wind up falling asleep sometime around the end. Maya and him had a blast with whipped cream during the nights that he would fall asleep on that couch.

Niko and Jay found a movie and put it in before he could get too lost in thought. Solomon scooted towards one end of the couch, so that Niko could have the middle. Jay was at the other end, with his head resting on his father's lap.

"Looks like our date night wasn't canceled after all," Solomon nudged him playfully. Niko seemed to have a softer look to him. He quickly put an arm around him and pulled him close.

And, for once, he could feel the man relax.