Runaway Mother chapter 23

As I collect Ethan from school, we walk home skipping over the cracks in the pavement as usual. He finds one of the biggest puddles I have ever seen and decides it to be funny to jump in it over and over again. When we arrive home, he’s wet from head to toe. I strip him and send him upstairs.

‘You can put on anything you want!’ I wink at him.

‘Really! Anything?’

I nod and collect his wet clothes from the hall floor as Ethan rushes upstairs as fast as his short legs will carry him. I shuffle the dry clothes with the wet, the clean with the dirty, like a Rubik’s cube. I fold the clean clothes, putting them in three piles; one for Zach, one for Ethan and one for me. I put them on top of each other and go out to the hall.

‘Ethan, you ok?’ I shout up the stairs.

‘Yea!’ the little voice replies and appears in the landing wearing a spiderman onesie.

I laugh and ask, ‘where did you find that?’

‘I’m spiderman!’ Ethan states and shuffles down the stairs on his bottom. When he reaches solid ground, I tell the amazing spiderman that he has to take out his homework.

‘Aww!’ he says and reluctantly drags his bag the length of the hallway.

It happens to be the letter ‘M’ today, something Ethan is finding surprisingly easy! I think it’s because he used to trace it whenever he got a McDonald’s with mom. In fairness, it’s been a while, but he does the homework in record time!

I don’t like calling Carolyn mom anymore! She doesn’t deserve the privilege when she fails to look after her kids, both old and young! Connie has been more of a mother to us in the past couple of weeks than Carolyn has in the past year!

Connie left me a voice message today asking if she could pick Ethan up from school tomorrow. She promised to do his homework with him and everything! How could I not take her up on the offer? I have to run it past Zach first, but I really want Ethan to have the opportunity of spending time with an actual grown up for a change.

As I was putting his ‘M’s’ into the blue folder and back into his bag, Ethan, or spiderman rather, was playing with his cars and dinosaurs. I’m about to put his backpack in the hall when the doorbell rings.

‘Who could that be?’ I ask myself.

Ethan runs to the door and thankfully the lock is beyond his reach. Mom, or Carolyn rather, opted to have the door like that because when Zach was younger, he was known for getting up in the middle of the night to play basketball. Carolyn decided that if the lock was beyond his reach, it would deter him from doing it. Stubborn Zach then began to bring a kitchen chair into the hall and stand up on it to open the lock.

When I open the door, I’m shocked to see none other than Chad standing on the front step.

‘Hi!’ I said in surprise.

‘Hi!’ he replied.

‘Hi!’ Ethans little voice escaped from behind my legs.

Chad went down to Ethans level and I noticed both of his hands were behind his back.

‘You must be Ethan!’ Chad said in a tone that told me immediately he was good with kids. ‘My name is Chad.’

‘Hi Chad,’ Ethan feigns shyness by reaching up for my hand.

‘I have something for you behind my back! Would you like to see?’

‘Yes please!’ Ethan looks up at me and smiles, which in turn makes me smile.

Chad takes his left arm from behind his back and produces a shiny red toy car.

‘Wow!’ Ethan says and looks up at me to see if he can take it.

‘Are you going to thank Chad for your new car?’

‘Thank you!’ the little voice says and accepts the gift before running into the sitting room.

Chad stands up and says, ‘you didn’t think I’d forget about you now, did you?’ and produces a single red rose with his other hand.

I tilt my head to the side and can’t believe how sweet this man in front of me really is. I graciously accept the rose and want to kiss him. I hold back the urge because of Ethan. He has had a lot of new people introduced into his life in such a short amount of time that I didn’t want to overwhelm him.

‘Why are you here?’ I smile, grateful that he is.

‘I couldn’t go a day without seeing you now, could I!’

‘Well are you going to come in?’

‘Is that an invitation?’

‘C’mon,’ I gesture with my head for him to come inside. I close the door behind him and Ethan comes running out of the sitting room, his new car getting chased by a dinosaur.

On the run back, Ethan stops to ask, ‘you wanna play?’

Chad now looks to me for permission. I just smile back at him.

‘Do I ever!’ he says and the pair of them rush into the living room where Ethan shows Chad all of his dinosaurs and cars. There isn’t one dinosaur he shows him that Chad doesn’t know the name of.

I look at him puzzled.

‘I was a big dinosaur man when I was Ethans age!’ he explains.

‘Hey, Ethan,’ Ethan looks up from stuffing his new car down a t-rex’s mouth, ‘do you know all the makes of cars?’

Ethan shakes his head no.

‘This one,’ he points to the one he rescues from the t-rex, ‘is a Ferrari!’

Ethan seems mesmerised. He picks one out from his toy box and asks, ‘what’s this one?’

Chad looks at the car and identifies it to be a mustang, the next a ford, and the next a BMW.

I can’t get over how good with him he is. I know that if I don’t rescue Chad now, Ethan will want to know the make of all his cars.

‘Ethan buddy,’ I say and he looks up at me. ‘Me and Chad are going to go into the kitchen now, ok? You can stay here and play with your toys!’

‘Ok!’ Ethan smiles at us as we leave the room.

Because of Ethan I can’t close the doors, but I do pin Chad to the wall just behind the kitchen table, where I know I’d hear footsteps before he’d see us, and plant my lips on Chad’s. After a relatively short but long-awaited kiss, I ask, ‘how did you become so good with kids?’

‘I have cousins his age!’ he states, ‘well, they were his age once upon a time!’ he laughs and I pretend to hit him on the upper arm. He rubs it as though it hurt and puts his bottom lip over the top one.

‘Come and sit down you big baby!’ I tease, Ethan still playing in the living room.

 

‘So…?’ Chad puts his hands on the table expectantly.

‘Oh, sorry! What would you like to drink?’

As I begin to get up Chad stops me. ‘No silly…how did Zach’s game go yesterday?’

‘Oh, right!’ We giggle as I sit back down holding both of Chads hands in mine. ‘Well we were in a rush getting out the door this morning and he didn’t come home ‘til after I went to bed, so I guess I’m as clueless as you!’ I look up at the clock. ‘He should be home around six!’

This time its Chad who starts to get up apologising. I stop him, ‘would you like to stay for dinner is what I’m trying to ask?’

‘Oh, I wasn’t coming round to be fed!’

‘I know,’ I smile and lean over the table to kiss him.

Zach has impeccable timing as we’re kissing full view of the front door. I hear it slam and look over to see Zach shaking his head with distain. ‘You’re home early!’ I say and go to help him with the bags…he obviously went grocery shopping.

‘Isn’t this cosy!’ he says as he meets me in the hall and hands me some grocery bags.

Chad stands and extends his hand to Zach who looks at him scornfully. He places the bulk of the bags onto the kitchen table and reluctantly takes it.

‘How was the big game man? Mary was just saying…’ Chads words die off as Zach totally snubs him and begins to unpack the grocery bags. Chad makes eye contact with me, ‘I’d better go!’

I don’t like the vibe that Zach’s is giving off. He has to realise that Chad is my boyfriend and he’s just going to have to play nice or I could play really nasty.

‘Why don’t you stay for dinner Chad?’ I ask, Zach shooting me a menacing look.

‘No thanks Mary, I’m going to head now!’

I look at Zach pleadingly and he stops unpacking the groceries. ‘You’re more than welcome!’ he tells Chad and puts his own emotions away, whatever they are, and gesticulates for Chad to sit back down.

Chad smiles enthusiastically, ‘yea, dinner would be lovely!’ He locks eyes with Zach, ‘thank you!’

Zach takes a deep breath, ‘look man, I’m sorry if I snubbed you! It’s just hard walking in the door and seeing your sister with her tongue down some guys throat! But I swear that as long as you treat her right, then you’re good people in my book!’

‘Thank you!’ Chad smiles showing them dimples.

I walk over and stand between the two of them. I put a hand on each of their shoulders. ‘It would really mean the world to me if the pair of you could bond over a Fanta while I make the dinner!’

‘You can cook?’ Chad says surprised.

‘We all have our signature dishes Mr stroganoff!’ I smile at him and wink at Zach.

‘It’s ok, just move the food around the plate for a while so it looks as though you’re eating it!’ Zach laughs. I punch him in the arm for real, his biceps hurting my fist.

 

With the dinner over, the three of us stay at the kitchen table, Ethan quite happy to just play in the living room. I’m surprised at how quickly Zach is starting to take to Chad. I was convinced the kissing bit turned him off, but the pair seem to be getting along like a house on fire.

I was the one who moved the conversation to Zach’s big game last night.

‘Aunt Connie said you played exceptionally well!’

Zach begins to blush, ‘well, all three scouts offered me a scholarship, so I must have done something right!’

I look at him and begin to scream. I get up off my chair and envelope him in a hug. ‘I can’t believe it! All three of them?’

‘Yup!’ he says pushing me off him. He has one of the biggest smiles on his on his face that I have ever seen. I scored 88 points for the team!’

‘Whoa man, you must move like a ninja!’ Chad shows him respect!

’88 points is a lot!’ I put my two cents in, not really knowing what I’m talking about.

‘They wanted to take me out to a place where we could discuss my future, but basketball is a team sport so I insisted that we either go out as a team or not at all!’

‘Go you!’ I say and we hi five. ‘So when did they tell you they wanted you?’

‘We had pizza, and obviously it was free, and the guys trickled away until it was just us! That’s why I was home so late!’

I gesticulate for him to move on with the story but he’s insisting on keeping me in suspense.

‘So yeah, all three said they wanted me and I now have my choice in what college I’m going to next year!’

‘What colleges are you being offered man?’ Chad asks taking the words right out of my mouth!

‘Well there’s the university of Virginia,’ I nod my head, drinking in his words, ‘the university of North Carolina,’ I’m getting excited, ‘and Duke!’

I squeal with excitement as we live smack bang between Duke and the university of North Carolina! I calm myself and take a deep breath.

‘You could commute to a couple of those!’ I grin like a Cheshire cat.

‘Yea,’ Zach scratches his head, ‘but I might just pick university of Virginia, you know, shake things up a bit!’

With that my face drops and I feel deflated. To my recollection he agreed to go to somewhere he could commute.

‘I’m only pulling your leg Mare!’ he says laughing at me. ‘You should have seen your face,’ he continues to laugh, Chad joining him.

‘It was all contorted!’ Chad tells me.

I pout for a second but then clap my hands really fast and bounce on my chair.

‘I got you good!’ Zach says.

‘That you did!’ I admit. ‘So...’

Zach shrugs his shoulders, ‘I have always wanted to do computer programming, and Duke is a very good school for that…so I’m edging towards there!’

I get up and hug my brother, ‘I am so proud of you!’ I tell him.

‘Computer programming!’ Chad says leaning back in his chair impressed.

‘Can you believe it Mare? I’m going to Duke!’

‘And you can cycle there on your bike to boot!’ I add delighted that at least Zach’s life is coming together.

As we sit there, we talk about college. ‘I’ve always wanted to go to business school and open a chain of Bob’s Deli’s around the state!’ Chad announces ‘…eventually!’ he adds. ‘I’m just not ready for college yet! But I commend you on following your dream man!’

‘Thanks Chad!’ Zach smiles and glances at me, looking more comfortable around Chad. ‘Look Chad, I want to apologise if I said or did anything today that would make you think of me as a dick! I was just surprised to see you here!’

Chad waves him away with his hand, ‘if I had a sister and walked in on her kissing her boyfriend, I would be pissed too!’ He smiles, his dimples making my heart beat faster.

Ethan runs into the room breaking the stare I have on Chad and I sit him up on my lap.

‘Chad, the Ferrari is being eaten by the t-rex!’

‘Well I think we might need reinforcements to get it out, right?’ Chad replies. Ethan slides off my lap again and Chad follows him into the sitting room.

I look at Zach. ‘He’s a really great guy Mare!’ he admits, ‘and he’s brilliant with Ethan!’ we laugh in unison when we hear them roar loudly like dinosaurs, each trying to outperform the other.

I gaze towards the hall with a look of awe on my face, ‘he is, isn’t he!’

‘I can see now what you meant about his dimples!’ Zach sniggers and I hit him in the bicep of his arm again, and again, it’s me who it hurts. I shake my hand feigning injury and Zach starts to clear the plates. I get up to help and am instructed to go and play instead.

 

As we play, the time flies. It isn’t until Ethan yawns that I look at my watch and realise its 8:30.

‘I’d better go!’ Chad laughs as Ethan rubs his eye with the back of his hand. ‘It looks as though this dinosaur needs to go to bed!’

I can’t help but look at Chad as he is about to get up, when Ethan makes a valid point, ‘the toys haven’t been put away yet!’

‘Oh,’ Chad looks at him, ‘and where do all of these toys live?’

I wait for Ethan to answer him. ‘In those big boxes!’ he points to the two tubs that are overturned, their contents spilled across the living room floor haphazardly. ‘You put the dinosaurs in the red one and I’ll put the cars in the blue one!’ Ethan instructs. Chad complies with his instructions.

Twenty minutes later, the toys finally away, Zach comes in and says he’ll put Ethan to bed and give us some much-appreciated privacy! Before he goes to bed, he gives both of us a hug and grabs ducky before Zach picks him up like a sack of potatoes and throws him over his shoulder, closing the door behind him.

‘Wow!’ Chad says with a smile on his face as we move onto the nice soft couch. Its heaven in comparison to the floor.

‘So,’ I start, ‘you’ve met my brothers!’

‘Indeed I have!’ he smiles back.

‘And what do you think?’ I ask curiously.

‘Well I can see now why you talk about Ethan all the time. He is such a breath of fresh air Mary!’

‘And Zach?’

‘I’m not going to lie, I had reservations at first…but as we chatted at the dinner table, I understood that he was just looking out for his sister! Something I would do if I had a sister!’

‘So…overall?’

‘Amazing pair of guys! Really amazing!’

I beam up at him, the ends of his mouth curled upward and quickly look away when he goes to look at me.

He touches my chin and gently turns my head before kissing me softly, his tongue teasing me into wanting more, but he stops.

‘Is everything ok?’ I ask confused.

He bites his bottom lip. ‘I’m sorry Mary but I can’t kiss you here knowing that either of your brothers might come in any minute. I have more respect for the three of you far too much to be that guy who has his mind on only one thing!’

‘Do you?’ I ask surprised.

‘It has crossed my mind…yea! But I’m not putting you under any obligation or pressure, we will go at your pace and I will never do anything to make you feel uncomfortable…I promise!’

‘It’s crossed my mind too!’ I admit.

Chad moves so he can see my face more clearly. ‘It has?’

‘Yea,’ I smile. ‘Thank you for not rushing me, I really appreciate it!’

We kiss some more and I pull away when I have the urge to go to second base. ‘Maybe you’re right about not doing it here!’ I say with closed eyes and a heavy heart. It’s a good job too as I hear Zach come down the stairs and rifle through the bags in the hall before going into the kitchen.

Chad looks at me longingly and says, ‘until tomorrow my fair lady!’ and gets up to leave. I join him and he makes a point of going into the kitchen to say goodbye to Zach before he finally goes.

After I close the door, I stand against it with my back and take in some deep breaths. I come back down to earth with a bang when I remember I have a whole column to produce tonight. The deadline isn’t until tomorrow midnight but I know what with working tomorrow, that I’m going to be too tired when I get home to produce anything fluid. I bite the bullet and bang out the column before bed, thinking it the easiest money I have ever made!