"Is James coming after school?" Tyler asks me as I sit by his bed.
"Of course." I say as I stroke his hair.
I glance up at Ms Carrie, she is standing there, a small smile on her lips as she stands against the wall, her arms are crossed over her chest. Jake comes in, doing a few last check ups before going to make his rounds. As he does, I walk toward ms Carrie.
"Thank you, for helping me out today. I really appreciate it." I say to her. She blushes lightly, ticking a strand of hair behind her ear, like I've seen her do so many times beforehand, when we spoke after class while I was in high school.
"It's okay, I don't mind...did you need a lift home?" I bite my lip contemplating. Before I can answer, Jake walks to me. A smile on his lips.
"He can be discharged today, usually I wouldn't but you have my number Laura and I know he's in good hands." I smile a toothy smile before hugging Jake.
"Thank you." I say truthfully.
He walks out and I turn back to Ms Carrie. She had been watching us both intently. Turning her attention solely on me once Jake leaves the room. Her blue eyes making me heart beat quicken slightly.
"So, about that ride?" I say with a soft chuckle. She just gives an amused smile and nods her head, saying she will wait for me. I get the paper work for Tyler, filling it out and handing it over at the nurses desk who then in return gave us the all clear to leave. I help Tyler get into a change of clothes and pick him up, having him on my hip as we walk toward Ms Carrie.
"Who's she?" Tyler asks me in a whisper, looking directly at Ms Carrie.
"That's a friend of mummy's. Her name is Arizona." I whisper back in his ear, even so, Ms Carrie was in hearing range and smiled.
Tyler looks at her, just watching her for a few seconds, as if he is assessing her, before giving a small smile and waving at Arizona. I smile at this small gesture as we make our way toward her car. To my surprise, she has a booster seat in the trunk of the car. I watch as she gets it out, bending over in front of me to put the seat in. I bite my lip as I can't help but watch her beautifully sculptured arse, her dress rising torturously high where her knickers were almost showing. I pull my eyes away before she can catch me, guilt seeping through my body as I think about the wife I had just lost. I shouldn't be looking at Ms Carrie in this way, especially so recent after being widowed.
I put Tyler in the seat, strapping him in and kissing his forehead before closing the door and heading toward the front passenger seat. Ms Carrie gets into the front drivers seat at the same time I sit down. I watch as she buckles herself up before checking the review mirrors and starting the engine.
"So the booster seat?" I ask after a few moments of silence. She glances my way with a blush.
"I have some young nieces and nephews so I didn't throw it out after my son was finished with it." I smile widely, I didn't realise she had a child.
"How old is your son?" I ask curiously. I see a smile start to creep onto her cheeks as she watches the road.
"He's seven, his name is Justin." I watch her, still smiling, the look in her eyes and the smile on her lips say it all, this boy of hers is her life. He's the most important thing in this world to her. Which is what I feel about my boys.
"It's amazing how much you can love someone so unconditionally, isn't it?" I ponder out loud. She blushes and glances my for a moment.
"Yeah it is." She says softly.
"Speaking of, do you mind if we stop on the way to pick my son up?" I smile and shake my head.
"I don't mind at all, and thank you for doing this for me." I say sincerely.
She just nods her head and continues driving towards the local Primary school. She parks the car outside the from of the primary school. I watch as a young boy with light blond hair comes running toward the car, his black shoes have freshly made marks on them, probably from running and playing. He holds onto his bag straps as he runs toward the car.
He grins as he sees Ms Carrie, he slows down and walks to Ms Carrie's window. I watch as he wraps his arm around Ms Carrie.
"Hi mum, how was work?" He asks as he gets into the back.
He looks to Tyler, surprised to see another child in the car. He sits down anyway and buckles in while waiting for his mother to answer his question.
"Work was good, how was school Justin?" I watch Ms Carrie as she starts the car up again and listens to her son talk about the events of his day, not that I was paging a lot of attention to the conversation.
"So, who are these?" Justin asks curiously, gesturing to me and Tyler.
"These are friends. This is Laura and Tyler." Ms Carrie introduces us. I turn and give him a small smile. He smiles back.
Soon enough we get to my home. On the drive home, Justin and Tyler had started talking to each other and seemed rather disappointed that we were home.
"Would you like to come in for a little bit?" I ask Ms Carrie.
She looks back at her son, contemplating whether or not to stay or not. Looking back at me, she sighs and nods her head, unbuckling her seatbelt.
"Sure, but not for long Justin okay?" She warns as she turns to Justin.
Justin grins and nods her head. I smile and get out of the car, walking to the back to help Tyler out. I hold him to me and open up the front door to be greeted by aria and James.
James grins and runs to his brother. I let Tyler down on his own two feet, who is then attacked with a hug by James. I smile at the two of them, tears of joy starting to well up in my eyes.
I watch as Aria does the same. She picks up Tyler and hugs him to her. He whines a little from all the attention but hugs her back. Soon enough Aria glances to Arizona.
"Oh hi ms Carrie." Arizona blushes.
"Call me Arizona." Aria nods her head and let's Tyler go before walking back into the kitchen, bringing out some sandwiches for the boys.
The three of us walk into the kitchen, each of us with a coffee as the boys play in the lounge room. Small talk filled my ears as Arizona and Aria spoke to each other whilst I watched my sons play. That is, until I hear a gasp, looking over at my sister and Arizona I see that Arizona had spilt her coffee on her dress.
"Come, you can wear some of my clothes." I say, standing and offering my hand out to help her up off her seat.
She blushes and takes it. The small contact warming up my body, but it's quickly gone, as soon as she finds her feet. I lead her to my room, getting out a grey t shirt and a pair of denim shorts. I turn to see her looking at the photo of me and Ellis, my wife.
"So you got married to Ellis?" She asks with a small smirk. I chuckle.
Ellis was a girl who was in a couple years below me. We had always had feelings for each other but I never acted on them until she was eighteen, and by that time I was twenty-one.
I walk to her, grabbing hold of the photo. I sigh and trace over her face, the pain coming back. I run my hand through my hair and look back up at her.
"It was so hard losing her." I managed to choke out, a limp forming in my throat.
Arizona caresses my cheek softly. Her eyes looking at me with remorse. I smile and place my hand above hers.
"You loved her a lot didn't you?" She asked knowingly. I nod my head and sigh, trying to calm the flood of emotions. I move away from her touch and give a weak smile before walking out of the room, letting her change. It's not long until she walks back out. My breath escapes my lungs as I look at her, she's biting her lip and tugging at the bottom of her top slightly, feeling foreign in someone else's clothes.
"Thank you for the clothes." She says as she walks to me.
"You look better in them then I do anyway." I mentally curse at myself for blurting that out. I blush and let out a sigh of relief when she just smiles and blushes. It could have been a worse outcome.
We walk together back out to see James and Justin falling asleep on the lounge as Tyler plays with his toys quietly. I smile and pick up Tyler, walking with him in my arms toward the kitchen. As I do, Aria covers the other two boys in blankets.
I sit next to Arizona with Tyler on my lap. I hug him to me, swaying my legs, rocking him to sleep as I stroke his head. I can feel Arizona watching me as I help him fall asleep.
"Your boys are so beautiful." She says softly as Tyler falls completely asleep. I smile.
"They are my life." I say in all honesty.
"I know what it's like. Justin is all I have." She says as she looks toward her son.
"What happened to his father?" I ask. She looks down at her lap.
"He doesn't have one. Not that he knows of." She says in a mumble.
"Did he not stick around?" I ask, feeling sorry for her.
"Something like that." She mumbles. I let the subject drop, she obviously not comfortable talking about it.
"If you want, he can stay here tonight, I can drop him off at school tomorrow." I say as I look at the boys who are now eating dinner. She bites her lip, worry in her eyes as she thinks about it.
"I'm not sure." I smile with q little chuckle escaping my lips.
"I'm a police officer Arizona, he will be completely safe." I assure her. She blushes and nods her head.
"Okay, well I guess I'll see you tomorrow." She says with a smile on her lips.
I stand up and walk her toward the lounge room where she lets her son know he can stay the night, before walking with her toward the door.
"I'll see you tomorrow." I said with a smile as she stands beside her car. She smiles and wraps her arms around me, hugging me. I smile and can't help myself, pressing my lips against cheek as we pull away. I watch as her face reddens considerably.
"I'll bring your clothes back tomorrow." She says with a slightly flustered look on her face.
I nod my head and watch her get into her car and reverse out of the driveway. Sighing, I walk back into the front door, greeted by the sounds of giggling coming from the lounge room, I just can't help but smile.
Soon enough Aria says her goodbye. I carry my two boys into their bedroom with Justin following behind me giggling as the boys squirm in my arms. I set them down on their beds and take out the spare mattress, setting it up on the floor of the boys room.
After telling them all a bedtime story, I walk into my room and sat down, only now realising I still have my uniform on. I let my hair down and run my hands through it before undoing my uniform and changing into a singlet and shorts. I climb into bed, looking over at Ellis' side of the bed, taking hold of her pillow and hugging it like I do every night.