Frozen

Chapter 13)

Jesse had, for some reason, dressed up, even though I told him it was casual, and had worn a large marvel t-shirt some jeans and combat boots.

"Hey, Barn," I said softly, reaching up on my toes to kiss his cheek.

"Hey, baby," he muttered, grabbing my chin and making a big show of kissing my nose loudly which made me chuckle and Bentley grin widely with delight.

Now, Jesse had picked me up from work and went with me to get Bentley from after school care, which gave Jesse about an hour just him, Bentley and me, which he had spent trying to win Bentley over.

This endeavor was not successful.

Every time Jesse had tried to engage Bent in conversation, asking him about his day, or simple personal questions like age or grade, Bentley would say that not much had happened that day or give the shortest answers possible.

So, as you can imagine, Jesse was a tad bit frustrated when Bentley raised his arms for Barney to pick him up and, when he did, immediately launched into an in-depth description of "the best day ever!".

Barney nodded enthusiastically and avidly listened to Bentley's adventures while he guided us to his kitchen, where a covered pot was filled with pasta and a pan had some sort of creamy sauce boiling, and something garlicky was in the oven.

Bentley paused in his tale only to shout 'that smells awesome!' then immediately continued. Jesse and I sat in the stool seats beside the tall island in the middle of the kitchen.

"So, Bentley really likes Barney, huh?" Jesse asked with a wry grin on his face.

I bit my lip and nodded my head slowly.

I tried to look like I was sorry, but it was hard because...I mean...I wasn't.

"That's good. I mean, him being such a big part of your life, it's good that Bentley likes him," Jesse said, his expression not at all backing up his words as he sort of just glared in the general direction where Barney was still holding Bentley with one arm and stirring the pasta with his other.

Bentley, for his part, was still chattering away like he hadn't seen Barney in four years when it had been less than twenty four hours.

Jesse and I sat and sipped the wine that Barney had pushed on us, listening about Bentley's day, until he finished the last story with a deep breath and a 'Then Jesse and Brianna picked me up and we waited for Brianna to get ready, and now I'm here!'

Everyone paused for a second, not quite knowing how to fill the silence now that the six year old was out of words.

"Where's the bathroom?" Jesse blurted.

Barney gave him directions and, with a quick smile to me, Jesse hurried there.

After a few seconds Barney spoke, his voice trembling with laughter.

"Can I just say," he started, his eyes darting up from the pasta to mine, and I saw they were twinkling in amusement, "how much I love that you wore one of my shirts to this dinner?"

My eyebrows furrowed together.

"I didn't-"

My voice cut off as I glanced down at the shirt I was wearing and realized that I had, in fact, stolen one of Barney's.

"Oh my God," I muttered, my eyes going back to him in horror. When he saw my expression, he busted out laughing and Bentley, not knowing what was funny but wanting to be like Barney, joined in. I pressed my lips tightly together and looked back down at the shirt.