Caraleigh

 

Needing to have something to do that day and keep my mind occupied, I get busy unpacking boxes that didn’t get finished the day before. I start off in the kitchen, and by the time I need to leave to pick Luca up from school, I’ve made it through the living room boxes and have them broken down. Two rooms down, four to go, I think to myself. Maybe while Luca is playing with Lily I can tackle his room and get it done before he makes it home. Sure would be a lot easier to do without him under my feet.

With a game plan in mind, I grab my keys and purse and head out the door. The line to pick up Luca at the school is long and unorganized in my personal opinion. Kids are running around everywhere making me nervous. They need to be keeping a better eye on these kids. One day one of these kids is going to be hurt or kidnapped. Just the thought makes me sick to my stomach. Looks like something I should bring up at the next parent-teacher association meeting, hopefully they’ll listen to me and take my fears seriously. These kids are vulnerable and need more supervision than they have right now, they have no concept of danger at their ages.

Finally I make my way up the line and spot Luca in the crowd of children. He is standing next to Lily and they have their heads together. Uh-oh, those two are going to be trouble. Rolling down the window I call out his name, his head pops up and a huge smile graces his face. I’ll never get tired of seeing that look, I can be having the worst day and he’ll grin at me and all my troubles will melt away. I wave at Lily and she waves back, I notice she has spotted her ride home as well. Now I won’t feel bad about leaving Lily there by herself, I see my boy running to the car, papers in hand and excitement showing all over him.

“Did you have a good first day buddy?”

“It was the bestest, Momma! I gots to play with Lily at recess and we even have PE together.”

“That’s wonderful, Luca. Is Lily in your grade?”

“Nah, she’s in kindergarten and I’m in first.” Like I can ever forget my baby is no more, he’s a young man now. When he was in kindergarten I could still get away with thinking of him as my baby, but that is a thing of the past. He feels older and braver since he passed to the next level of school, and I take on his mentality. I never want to make him feel less than what he is feeling, I want him to grow up learning to think on his own and able to solve his own problems. I’ll be right there beside him, helping him along the way, helping him out in any way he’ll allow me to.

“I’s don’t have any homeworks today. Can I go right over to Lily’s and play?”

“Let’s make sure that her Nan doesn't have anything she needs to do first.” I can see him in the corner of my eye as he crosses his arms and pouts. He doesn’t possess much patience, but then again, I don’t know any kid his age that does. “I promise, buddy, you’ll get to play with Lily, now turn that frown upside down.” I can see his face light up as he giggles at what I said.

“You’re so silly Momma.”

“What?” I feign being shocked. “You couldn’t mean me?” I gasp out causing him to laugh harder. These interactions between us are the highlight of my day. If it wasn’t for him, I’d be a sad, bitter pile of misery lying on the floor.

Once at home, I get him into the house and help him unload his backpack. I feel it is important that he learns early on to do certain things for himself. As I am looking through the papers he has brought home with him, he empties out his lunchbox and puts it on the counter. “Go get changed into play clothes, Luca, while I get these papers signed, okay?”

“Okay, Momma. Can I have a snack?”

“I’ll have one ready for you when you get back downstairs, okay?”

“Yeth!” he exclaims, already running up the stairs. I smile as I sort his papers into things I need to read, sign and return, and the things he has done today. Looking in his backpack, I see a folder with his name on it, along with a weekly agenda. Reading over it, I see that the only homework he has is to read for twenty minutes. Since we read every night before bed, I go ahead and sign off for today’s reading time. Going to the fridge, I pull out the plate of fruit I put together for him before I left to pick him up. Then I get him a glass of ice water to go with his after-school snack. With everything now on the table, I go back to reading and signing papers. Jeez, how many times do they need my emergency contact information? It isn’t like I have a lot of options to add along with mine, with Graham dead and his family not involved, and mine too far away, it’s only me. I hear him as he comes running back down the stairs and hide my smile as he skids into the kitchen, plopping down in his seat.

“Luca?” I ask.

“Yeth Momma?” he replies, already eating a strawberry.

“Remember we don’t run up and down the stairs. You could fall and hurt yourself.”

He sighs. He doesn’t like forgetting the rules and always feels bad when he does. “I’m sorry, Momma. I forgot.”

“I know you did and I also know how excited you are to go play with Lily, I just wanted to remind you, okay? Since that’s kind of my job as your mom,” I tell him, putting the signed papers into the folder then getting up and putting it into his backpack so he’ll have it for tomorrow.

Once he finishes his snack, I help him take care of his dishes. There’s no way I want any child of mine unable to take care of themselves! “Okay, little man, go wash your hands and we’ll walk next door and see if Lily can play now,” I tell him. When he goes running out of the room, I laugh and then sigh. I guess he forgot “Rule Number One—No Running” again.

“I’m ready, Momma,” he says as he runs back into the kitchen. Seeing my look, he drops his head and says, “I forgotted again, didn’t I?”

“You did, but that’s why I’m the momma. I’ll keep reminding you until you remember, okay? You ready to go next door?”

He grabs my hand and starts pulling me toward the front door and I have to laugh at his excitement.

“Slow down little man, there’s no rush, Lily isn’t going anywhere.” I laugh at his exuberance and am excited for him and his new friendship.

At the house next door, I knock as Luca jumps up and down. When a man opens the door, my words fail me. He’s big, one of the tallest men I’ve ever seen and he’s definitely not a suit kind of wearing man. No, not the way those muscles stretch the t-shirt he has on over a pair of jeans that are molded to him like a second skin. “Can I help you?” he asks. Hearing that deep baritone sends shivers through me and catches me off guard. I’ve never reacted to anyone like I am to him and have only been in his presence for a matter of minutes, if that!

“Uh, hi, I’m your new neighbor. We met Nan and Lily this morning and set up a playdate for the two kids,” I manage to stammer.

He looks me up and down and I can feel every inch of it as he visually examines my body. I feel a shiver run through me and am taken off guard with the way I’m reacting as he looks at me the way I perused him only moments ago. I feel like I can’t get words to leave my mouth, I only want to stand here and continue admiring the view in front of me. I am brought out of these thoughts when Luca tugs on my hand.

“Momma, can I plays with Lily now?” I see this man who’s taken my rational thoughts look away from me and down at my son.

“Hello Luca, my name is Braxton and I’m Lily’s dad, she’s been waiting for you to come play with her. She’s in the backyard, would you like to go join her?”

“Yes!” Luca screams out while jumping up and down. Still having a hold of my hand, I feel my body jerking with his exuberance. “I’m gonnas go play with Lily now Momma, love you,” he says to me as he lets go of my hand and takes off in their house heading towards the back door.

I yell out, “Be good Luca, I’ll be here in two hours to pick you up.”

“Yes ma’am,” he hollers back never stopping long enough to look at me. Standing here in front of any woman’s wet dream, I try to make my mouth work so I can tell him I’ll be back and thank him for allowing Luca to come to his house and play.

“Umm...thank you for allowing Luca over to play with Lily this afternoon. I’ll be back at five to pick him up,” I stammer out as I turn around to walk away. I don’t make it far before I feel a hand on my wrist stopping my hasty retreat.

“Won’t you come in and have something to drink before you take off? I’d like to get to know my neighbor and my daughter’s newest friend’s mom.” Yes, I want that very much, I think to myself but wonder if it’s a wise decision to make. It’s been a long time since a man has affected me this much with his presence alone...hell who am I kidding, it’s never happened. That alone scares the everloving crap out of me.

“Sure,” I say, “but I can’t stay long, I still have some unpacking I need to get done while Luca is busy and not under my feet the entire time. Entertaining a little boy while trying to get the house organized is harder than you’d think,” I giggle, unsure of what to do or say. Dammit, I’m making a fool of myself and I feel my cheeks heat with embarrassment.

He must think I'm a complete idiot since I can’t seem to get my thoughts straight. Of course he knows what it’s like to have a kid underfoot, I bet he’s now looking forward to me walking out his door and go home.

“What would you like to drink?” he asks me, maybe I haven't completely screwed this up.

“Water will be fine, thank you.”

“I have beer and wine if you’d like to kick back and relax some.”

“I don’t usually drink until Luca is in bed for the night, maybe some other time,” I say hoping he’ll want to do this again another day without the kids here.

“So tell me, what brings you to our town?”

“I needed to get away from my deceased husband’s family, this place is far enough away from them that I feel comfortable and it’s a good place for me and Luca to start over again.”

“Your husband passed away, I’m sorry to hear that.” And I can tell by the way he says it that he’s sincere in what he said.

“We were married, but we didn’t love or respect each other anymore.” Why in the hell am I telling him any of this? I must be losing my mind while consumed by his good looks and southern charm. I need to get out of here as soon as it’s been an acceptable amount of time!

He gets up and goes to get my water and him a beer, he comes back with a bottle of water and a bottle of beer. I can’t help but admire the way he moves, he has a manly grace about the way he walks and holds his body. A body I really want to admire without that shirt on. I want to see his chest and count his abs that I can tell through that tight shirt that he has, but I can’t tell to what extent that is.

“So do you work?” he asks me.

“I haven’t since Luca was born, but now that it’s just us, I plan to find something,” I tell him as I open my bottle of water. Taking a sip, I mentally think even though I don’t have to work, I can’t stare at four walls all day long.

“Well, you’ll find out soon enough since you’ll hear my bike, but I belong to the new MC in town and we’re in the process of opening up several businesses.”

MC? What the hell is that? “I... I don’t know what that means,” I say feeling embarrassed.

“Motorcycle club,” he replies before turning his bottle up and taking a long drink. Watching the way his throat moves has my brain synapses misfiring and I feel like drool may be pooling around my lips. Seeing the look on my face, he further clarifies, “My club isn’t into illegal shit. All of our businesses are legitimate. We just like the freedom to do as we please, but for the most part, we’re like your everyday average working man.”

Yeah, right, like any of the working men I’ve ever seen look like him! “So I’ll probably hear motorcycles?” I question.

“There’s no probably about it, but if I’m coming home late from a trip, I will bring my cab, not my bike home.”

“Your cab?” he must think I’m pretty naive since I haven’t a clue what a cab is.

“The cab to my eighteen-wheeler, the front of the truck without the trailer part,” he tells me with a smirk on his face.

Needing to change the subject so I’m not looking at his smile and how it transforms his face I ask, “Is that what that big building is on the other side?”

“Yeah, we built that so that I could pull the cab in and keep it secure. We only have a few trucks so far and while crime isn’t big in this town, why take chances? Plus, it’s big enough for my pickup truck when the weather turns too wet to ride.”

“That makes sense.” I want to know so much, like what happened to Lily’s mom and is he seeing anyone, but I quickly realize that there’s no way that I’ll be asking those questions any time soon. Finished with my water, I stand and say, “Thank you for the drink, but I better see if I can get his room unpacked before he’s done playing.”

He stands as well and replies, “I can throw something on the grill, why don’t you come back around six thirty and it’ll be done by then. That’ll give you a little more time to unpack, won’t it?”

Shit as tongue-tied as I’ve been this past twenty or so minutes, now he wants me to eat dinner with them? Out loud I say, “I’d like that, thank you. He tries hard to help, but I’m sure you know that a child’s help usually means more work.”

He chuckles as he follows me to the door. “Yeah, they try their best though and that’s all we can really ask, isn’t it?”

“You’re right. Okay, I’ll come back around six thirty then. Do you want me to bring anything?”

“Just yourself.”

“I can do that, if Luca is any trouble just bring him home, thank you again for the drink.” I say as I stand and practically run to the front door. I’m acting like a teenager—hormones and all.