Chapter Thirty-Six
Hannah
I heard them running around inside the house as I stood on the other side of the door. I could count the number of times on one hand that I had been around children. Ezra was the first man I’ve ever dated that had kids from a previous relationship. Just before I knocked on the door, I heard a loud boom from inside. “Tanner! Tanner, you and Nolan settle down in there before you break something!” Ezra’s voice traveled through the door as I hesitated before going inside. Break something? It sounded as if they already did.
I knocked on the door a few times before Ezra finally opened it up. “Hey, baby,” he said, embracing me as I walked inside. “These boys have been here for almost two hours, and they are determined to turn my house upside down.” Inside, there were action figures and sports equipment scattered around in the front room. The television set was turned to some cartoon that I hadn’t seen before. The last time I saw one of those was on Saturday mornings when me and my cousins used to get up early just to watch them while we ate cereal. I held my purse close as if somebody was going to run up and snatch it out of my hand for fun.
Just then, in a blur, two boys sped past me, nearly knocking me to the side in the process. Ezra grabbed both of them by the arm. “Hey, hey, what did I just tell you two? Settle down. Didn’t you see that there was a woman in front of you while you guys were running? You bumped into her and didn’t say excuse me.”
“No, it’s fine, Ezra,” I said with a smile, as the two young boys looked up at me like I spoiled their fun.
“It’s not fine. They have to learn to show better manners when they are around women. They know better than that. Boys,” he said, looking at them sternly. “What do you say?”
“We’re sorry,” they said in unison.
“Good. Now, introduce yourselves to her.”
The oldest boy dropped his toy to the ground and extended his hand towards me. “My name is Tanner.” I didn’t expect his handshake to be so firm at his age.
“Well, hello Tanner. My name is Hannah. And who is this little man right next to you?”
“That’s my brother Nolan. He doesn’t talk that much because he is shy.”
“Shut up, Tanner!” he said, punching his brother in the arm before he ducked behind his father for a shield.
I thought it was cute how he hid behind his father for protection. They were both cute little boys, and I could see traces of Ezra in both of them. “It was nice to meet you two.” They waited quietly for a few moments until Ezra gave them the nod. After that, they picked up their things and ran to the back of the house and slammed the door to their room. Seconds later, there was another thud, followed by a rumble of laughter.
Ezra shook his head. “Boys will be boys. They won’t be satisfied until one of them breaks their arm or something. Shit. That’ll give Tanya another reason to try to take them away from me.” He shoved a few toys off the couch to clear a space for me to sit down, “Sorry about the mess,” he said. “I made them clean it up about 30 minutes ago, but somehow, everything was placed right back in the same spot just minutes after they moved it.”
“They look like they have nothing but energy.”
“They look like it? Yeah, that’s because they are just a ball of energy. That’s it. I wish I could bottle what they had and sell it. I’d make a killing in the energy drink market. No question about it. But, I was thinking of taking them bowling or something later today. Are you down for that?”
“Yeah. Yeah, bowling is cool.” I looked to the right, hesitant to ask the question that was bubbling in my mind. I was afraid that he would say something I didn’t want to hear, but I was dying to know what happened. Ever since I saw the pictures she sent to his phone, I was worried about their initial interaction after that happened. “So, um, Tanya stopped by?”
“Yeah. She dropped the boys off almost two hours ago. Why?” I looked at him, hoping he would get the idea and I wouldn’t have to ask him about it. “Oh, that. Yeah,” he laughed. “Yeah, Tanya is just… I don’t know, she is weird. Sometimes, she hates me, and other times, she wants to jump my bones. What can I say? I’m irresistible.” I was unamused by his narcissism and his smile quickly faded when he saw my straight face. He cleared his throat, “So um, yeah, she did try something, but I shut it down.”
“Ezra!”
“What? She tried, but I told her no. I let her know that I was happy and in a committed relationship. I mean, times before, she would call me, and we would have sex, but things are different now. I’m in love with you, and I don’t want to do anything to mess that up. I can’t lose you, not for her or anybody else. So, I told her to leave, and she got upset and stormed out of the house. That’s all that happened.”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah. I mean, we can call her if you want and you can hear her snap about it for yourself. I mean, she was upset! Cursed me out and everything, but it was worth it. I am happy with who I am with.”
He started to dial a number on his phone, but I put my hand on his and took his phone out of his hand. “No.” I pressed my lips against his. “There is no need to call her. I believe you. Thank you.” I kissed him again, but I quickly moved my lips away from his when I heard the pitter-patter of little feet running down the hallway.
“All right boys, get your shoes on. We are getting ready to go bowling.”
“Yeah!” they yelled together as the scurried to grab their shoes.
We arrived at the bowling alley 20 minutes away from Ezra’s home. He wanted to take the boys later in the evening so they could participate in the glow in the dark bowling at 7 pm. One of the pins glowed in the dark, and if somebody got a strike when one of the pins glowed, then they got little prizes to celebrate their victory. “All right boys,” Ezra said. “We are going to split up into two teams. Whoever wins gets ice cream, and the loser has to pay for it.”
“But Dad, I don’t have any money,” Tanner said as he slipped on his shoes.
“Well, that just means that whoever has money on your team has to buy it. Nolan? You and Tanner get to pick who you want on your team, OK?”
I tied my shoes, knowing that one of his boys would pick him first. To my surprise, Tanner chose me. My eyes widened as he said my name. Ezra looked at me and shrugged his shoulders with a smile on his face. “Oh,” I said, “all right. I wasn’t expecting that, but OK. Let’s kick some butt, Tanner.”
“Ooooh, Tanner, you’re going down! How dare you pick her over your old man?”
“That’s just it, Dad. You’re an old man. She looks younger than you, so I’m going with the younger person. That’s it.”
“Yeah, your father is almost 50, so you made a good choice with me.”
Tanner smiled as he picked up one of the bowling balls from the center. “Wait, Tanner,” Ezra said, approaching him from the side. “Let me show you how to hold that thing before you go throwing it down the lane.”
Nolan sat beside me, struggling to slide his foot into his shoe. He stood up and stomped his foot into the ground, but it still wouldn’t slide in. He hadn’t spoken much at all since we were introduced to each other and his big brother said he was shy, so I figured that he just needed a little time before he came around. “Do you need some help?” I asked softly. He ignored me and kept stomping his foot into the ground. I looked at Ezra as he held the bowling ball in his hand in front of the lane, showing Tanner how to bowl right. “Here,” I said, reaching down to Nolan’s foot, “let me help you, sweetie.”
He sat down and let me remove his shoe from his foot. I loosened his shoe strings, then held my thumb at the back of his shoe to help his heel slide into place better. “OK, now try it.” When he stood up, his foot easily slid into the shoe; then a wide smile jetted across his face. “You see? That wasn’t that bad, was it?” He shook his head no, then ran away from me to find a ball. Before he got too far, he came back to me. “Thank you,” he said bashfully before he turned and sprinted away to find a ball.
“What was that all about?” Ezra asked while he took a seat next to me.
“Nothing. That was just me stealing your other son away from you.”
He laughed. “I wouldn’t be surprised. I guess I’ve got a bunch of traitors on my hands. A bunch of small backstabbers! But, looking at you? I think I would have done the same thing if I were them. Hell, they might have a crush on you. I wouldn’t be surprised.” Just then, Nolan came back with his bowling ball. It was a small ball that would easily bounce off the bumpers that we had set up on our lane. “All right, is everybody ready? Let’s go, Nolan! We’ve got some ice cream to win!”
I sat back and watched Ezra’s interaction with his boys. The way they were drawn to him made me want to have kids of our own. I wanted to be around him and see how he built that kind of connection with his children. I could tell they loved their father and it hurt me to think that Tanya would want to come between that bond. Even though she said it was a joke, I still believed that she would make good on the threat if the opportunity came. “All right, Hannah, you’re up!”
Ezra called me to the lane. I grabbed my bowling ball and ordered him to step to the side. I threw the ball down the lane, and it ricocheted off each bumper until it made its way down the lane and knocked all of the pins onto the floor. “Strike! In yo face, Ezra!” I slapped hands with Tanner as he cheered for me.
“Those bumpers saved you, Hannah, and you know it!”
“So! A strike is a strike and um, I want sprinkles and caramel on mine. Thank you.”
It was only the first frame, but I was a shit talker when it came to competitions. As they bowled next frame, my phone rang. “Hello?”
“Hey, Hannah? It’s your agent. Listen, I need you to come to the office when you get a chance. It is urgent.”
The boys cheered in the background as I covered my ear to hear her better. “What is it about?”
“The movie. If you can come today, that’d be great, but if not, then Monday will work.”
“Um, OK. Monday. Monday it is.”
“All right. See you then.”
I hung up the phone as an uneasy feeling sank to the pit of my stomach. I didn’t know what the meeting was about, but I was scared that it was going to be bad news. Maybe I stopped performing to the expectations that were set, and they wanted to replace me? I didn’t have much time to think about it, because a few minutes later, Ezra called my name. “Hannah, you’re up! Try not to use the bumper this time. You’re a grown woman!”
“Well,” I said, standing up with sassiness, “if the bumpers are there, I am going to use the bumpers. Now, if you will excuse me, Tanner and I have some ice cream to win later on. Right, Tanner!”
“Yup!”