Old Flames

Old Flames: Chapter 13

She actually tilted her face to him and winked! 

"It helped Chris understand why you were wearing pink," she explained.  "To him, that's a serious crime, especially for boys.  He looks up to you -- in his own way -- and I didn't want him to second-guess himself."

"Couldn't you have given him the Real Men Wear Pink spill?"

"Gary never wore pink," she added quietly.  "Chris's views on real men are a bit biased."  She scanned Aaron from the tip of his hairline to his feet.  "But he's getting there."

Aaron took the compliment as it was meant.  Just an innocent remark.

A bit biased.

Aaron figured that made sense to him.  And just like always, Lainie knew what her children needed, and how to bring that to them.  He began to wonder if he'd ever understand all the little tricks to parenthood.  As he studied Lainie, he admired that she did this by herself, and so easily.  She was a natural mother.

He'd heard that phrase before, but he never really seized upon the true meaning of "a natural mother."  And it wasn't long before he got to see more of that quintessence in action.

"Mama!  Chris got paint on me!"

Lainie sighed heavily and got up to tend to her children.  In less than two minutes, she had them happy as clams, popscicles in hand, and situated in the shade of a dogwood tree.  Purely amazed, Aaron cleaned up the mess that was Bowser's new home.  The house itself looked great.  Aaron did most of the construction work, but the paint job...

At least dogs are color blind.

Bowser lifted his head and growled a little.  Correction: dogs are dichromatic, seeing only shades of blue and yellow.

Bowser grunted and went back to snoozing under Aaron's porch swing.  "I swear that mutt can read minds," he muttered, going into the garage with the painting paraphanelia.  When he came out again, he crouched down next to his dog.  "And it's a good thing you can't see shades of red, you spoiled cur.  Because you just moved into the canine version of Barbie's dream home."

Bowser opened his eyes, rolled them a little, and then shifted to go back to sleep.  "Talking to your dog again?" Lainie asked behind him.  Aaron looked over his shoulder.  The sun glinted off her brown hair, giving her a honeyed aura and highlighting the sweetness of just her.   "Thank you for this," she continued.  "The kids enjoyed themselves."

That was when he noticed that they were gathered up to leave.  Lainie had a hold of a hand on each child, shifting back and forth to accomodate the wiggling of two opposite forces.  "You're leaving?" he asked and mentally slapped his forehead.  It was obvious they were leaving.

Lainie nodded her head.  "Yeah, it's getting close to lunchtime.  Then they'll need their naps."

Aaron latched onto the possiblilities of lunch and a nap.  "Lunch," he repeated.  "How about we go to McDonald's.  My treat."

"Oh...I don't know.  You've done so much already, and..."

Chloe tugged on her side of Lainie.  "Oh, I want to go to McDonald's!"

"Yeah, they have Transformer toys now," Chris added. 

Aaron grinned.  "Well, it's settled.  Three against one."

Lainie eyed Aaron with wary.  He held his head high and didn't back down.  He wanted this.  He wanted to spend more time with her and her children...and she could just grin and bear it. 

*****

Lainie had to admit.  She was having fun.  The kids behaved themselves and even shared their chicken nuggets, and Aaron behaved himself as well.  They were like two friends, sharing the same booth at a kid's resturaunt and laughing over the same jokes.  This, she could do.  Being friends with Aaron was wonderful.  It reminded her of all the good times they had together.