“Daddy!” Jack exclaims as Faye calls me into her home after I knocked on the front door.

“Hey, buddy, how was your day?” I ask him, giving him a hug.

“It was so good. Mrs. Leeper let me be the line leader again ‘cause I can’t pass out papers with my hand.”

“Ahh, that’s great, how’s it feeling?”

“Good.”

“Ready or not, here I come!” Braxley calls out from the other room, and Faye opens a lower cabinet in the kitchen gesturing Jack inside. He runs and climbs in. She closes the door, right as Braxley rounds the corner. “Where is he?” he asks us, and we both shake our heads like we have no idea.

Braxley wanders off, and I can hear Jack giggling from the cabinet, so I know it won’t be long until he’s found. “Thanks for picking him up,” I tell Faye.

“Are you kidding me? It made it easier than trying to break the two apart. They are practically joined at the hip.”

“They really are.”

“Found ya,” Braxley hollers, yanking open the cabinet, and Faye jumps out of the way, then they run out of the kitchen together.

“How was your flight?” she asks me.

“It was good, smooth—quick—the way I like to fly.”

“I don’t know how you do it,” she tells me.

“Do what?”

“Fly for a living.”

“What do you mean?” I ask her, confused.

“I don’t know what it is about flying, but I’m not a fan, and it’s not because of 9/11 or anything, I’ve been that way my entire life.”

“Well, you’ve never flown with a capable captain then, have you?” I raise my eyebrows to her and watch the tint in her cheeks rise a pitch.

She shakes her head then opens the oven and says, “Dinner should be ready soon.”

“Can you come outside real quick? I bought you something today.”

“Thane, what did you buy me? You don’t need to buy me anything.”

“This I had to. I can’t wait to show you; it’s totally romantic.”

“Hey boys, we’re gonna run out front real quick.”

“Okay,” they call out together.

“No playing with knives or anything,” I warn them, still leery from what happened to Jack.

Walking out front, it’s starting to get warm and feels nice to not need a coat. I unlock my car and open the back. As she peeks inside, both sides of her mouth turn up into a huge smile. “You bought this today?”

“Yeah, I had a couple hours to burn in Cali and thought, ‘I need to get that woman a new garage door opener.’”

“It’s so sweet of you, but you gotta stop buying things for me.”

“Would you stop it? I’ve bought you a few meals and some coffee. Plus, it’s the least I can do, you saved my ass today.” Her hair blows in the wind, as a breeze rolls through. “Just accept it, would ya?” I tell her, as I take out the opener and we head back in.

“All right! Thank you, it’s very sweet of you, Thane.”

I smirk at her as we step foot back inside. The boys are still playing hide and seek. Braxley flies in front of us and hides in the same cabinet Jack did earlier.

“You want a beer?” she asks me, and I nod.

“How can I help you?” I ask her cracking my beer open on the side of her counter top. She’s laughs a little with a bottle opener in her hand, and I hand her my cap.

“Really? My countertop?”

“What? I didn’t hurt it.”

“You know I used to think you were a gentleman.”

I sip my beer leaning back, watching her, thinking about what she’d look like with no clothes on. My stare makes her nervous as her cheeks get red again, and she says to me, “Why don’t you take the salad from the fridge and get the boys?”

“Sure thing,” I tell her, taking out the huge bowl of salad, setting it down, and calling the boys. It’s not but a minute later, and they fly into the dining room like it’s a race to see who can get to the table first, moving a million miles a minute and flopping into their seats at the table.

“How do you guys have so much energy?” I ask them sitting down too.

They both bounce in their chairs ignoring me, laughing, and I ask Faye, “Did you give them candy or something?”

But she doesn’t respond, and as I look at her she’s motionless, her shoulders are slumped forward, and her head is in her hand. Something’s not right. “You okay?” I ask, getting up, and when she looks at me, tears are in her eyes.

“What’s the matter?” I ask, grateful that the boys haven’t noticed she’s upset. But she doesn’t answer, she turns away from me, shutting down, and I don’t like it. At this point, I want her to know she can open up to me. I touch her shoulder, and she shakes her head, brushing me off, “It’s nothing.”

“Faye, you can talk to me.”

She wipes the tears from her eyes, but they won’t stop watering, and it kills me to see her upset. A moment ago everything was fine, and now she’s so upset, and that’s hard to handle. I grip her shoulders rubbing them gently. “It’s okay.”

“I know…it’s…just…when I looked at you sitting there, in Ben’s chair, I…I saw him for a moment and…it fucked me up.”

Hearing her confession comes as a shock, and I don’t quite know how to help her. “Maybe we should go,” I offer. The last thing I want to do is cause her any unwanted stress or for my presence to upset her.

She swallows away the tears, wiping her eyes again. “No, please don’t leave. I don’t want to be alone.”

“Are you sure?”

She nods but still won’t look me in the eye. It’s like she’s embarrassed to be emotional in front of me

“It’s okay to cry, Faye. You don’t always have to be so strong.”

She smiles, finally bringing her eyes to mine and I can’t help it. Taking her body, I pull her into a tight hug, holding her closer and tighter to me than ever. She clings to me, and I let her just be because that’s what I want to show her, that she can be any way around me, and no matter what, I’m not going anywhere.