Chapter 7: Seeing With New Eyes
Howie walked into the house, holding onto James, Leigh quickly following him, both of their faces lighting up when they saw her. “I thought Bri said you weren’t coming,” Howie said, giving her a hug.
“I wasn’t sure, but work eased up for me, so I was able to crash the party.”
“That’s great.” Howie stepped back and tilted his head slightly as he saw Damian in her arms. “Am I missing something?”
“Nope. Damian has taken a liking to her. Not sure what’s going on, I just know he’s one lucky guy,” Nick said, stepping up behind Theresa, lightly touching her back. Howie glanced behind him, looking at Leigh, both of them sharing a look.
“Esa?” James said, lifting his head and grinned. “Daddy, down, want Esa!”
“She has Damian buddy.”
“No Esa!” She laughed and held her free arm out to him.
“Come on James. Dang, between you, Damian and Baylee, I have no limbs left for Mason or Ava!”
“Oh no, you are not holding that little girl before me!”
“Please Howie; you aren’t anything but an uncle, aunts top uncles!” Leigh wrapped an arm around Howie’s waist and shrugged.
“She has a point.”
“Oh, fine, whatever.” But they all shared a laugh and walked out to the back yard.
“James….hey, that’s my aunt!”
“Baylee, don’t you dare get jealous! Goodness!”
“I didn’t realize that you captured all these men’s attention,” Nick whispered in her ear.
“Neither did I, it’s rather flattering.” She sat down, letting James down so he could go play with Baylee.
“I’m glad Damian has taken a liking to you though. It took months for him to stay with LeighAnne and not cry. As for any other female, forget it.”
“And that’s odd. Most babies will go to the females; it’s normally the males they avoid. But then again, this is your son, which means he’s already gonna be an odd ball.”
“Hey now, I’m not that kid that you remember, you know.” She lifted her eyes and looked into his.
“I know,” she whispered softly. And with those two softly spoken words, both could feel that deep inside of them, something had changed. If it was for the good or for the worse, well, time was gonna have to find out.
-----
“We have arrived!” AJ announced as he walked into the backyard, holding the most precious little girl.
“Hi AJ, hi Rochelle, let me hold her!” Theresa said, shoving Howie out of the way. Both of them cracked up, giving her hugs before handing her Ava. “Oh my gosh, she is so tiny!” Both AJ and Rochelle leaned around her to look behind her.
“Uh, Theresa?”
“Hmm?”
“You’re being followed.” She glanced behind her, busting out laughing as every kid had followed her, Damian bringing up the rear as he crawled as fast as he could.
“Yeah, I guess all the kids love me and have to be where I am.” She turned around and looked at them, lifting Damian up. “Okay, since I seem to be the official babysitter, let’s go.” She grinned as they followed her to the table.
“When did all the kids adore her?” AJ asked as he hugged Brian.
“I’m not quite sure. I think she’s always had a way with kids though.”
“Interesting, even more so with Damian.”
“Yeah, that’s throwing all of us for a loop. Nick more so than anyone else.” AJ took the spot next to Howie, his eyes still glued to the very odd scene.
“Man, snap your eyes back in your head.”
“I’m not staring like that. I’m just, shocked. Besides, you know how protective Nick is of Damian.” Howie lightly touched AJ’s arm.
“I think that Nick’s crush on her has grown.” AJ quickly snapped his head around and looked at Howie.
“You mean that old school boy crush?”
“Oh come on, you know that was way more than some school boy crush.” AJ’s jaw dropped slightly and then he let his eyes run over the crowd, letting them land on the tall blonde.
-----
“There you go James, that’s a great sand castle!” Theresa turned her attention to Baylee and Mason, both who were covering her feet with the sand; and then she glanced at Damian who kept trying to eat the sand. “Icky Damian, you don’t wanna eat that.”
“That’s my boy. Put everything in his mouth now, ask questions later.”
“So I’m seeing. Somehow, I don’t think he should be doing that.”
“How else is he gonna learn?”
“True, I suppose.”
“Hey, Uncle Nick, wanna help us bury Aunt Theresa?” Nick looked at her feet and shook his head.
“I got a better idea little man. Go to you’re mom’s nail polish and bring me that pretty sparkly purple one that she loves.” Baylee jumped up, quickly laughing and ran off to do his uncle’s bidding. Theresa just stared at Nick, waiting for an explanation but Nick only shrugged. Moments later, Baylee ran back and gave Nick the nail polish. “Now, you and Mason sit on her legs.” The kids quickly complied and Nick grabbed her foot, starting to apply the nail polish.
“Nick, what in the world are you doing?”
“You just had the best pedicure, why not get a pretty nail polish?” Nick was not about to share how much he enjoyed doing that, nor how sexy he found feet that were well taking care of.
“Nick!” She squealed a bit and tried to take her foot back, but between him and the kids, there was no where she was going to. “Fine, you win.”
“I usually do,” he said, looking up at her through his lashes, making her stomach twist in ways she never thought possible.
15 minutes later, she wiggled her toes, thinking the purple was a nice color. She glanced beside her and lightly pushed the man there.
“If you can’t make it as a singer, you can paint nails; you did a really good job.”
“Thank you.” He breathed on his nails and polished them against his shirt. “I’m just that good.”
“Oh good grief blondie, I didn’t say all of that.”
“You don’t have to, I already know.” She rolled her eyes and pushed him again.
“You are horrible Nick. I used to like that nerdy kid who had no ego. Now, I got to deal with this giant who has an ego the size of Alaska!”
“There is nothing wrong with having a little confidence, you know?”
“I do know. You just don’t have a little confidence, you have a crap load!” They both laughed, their attention turning to the kids.
“You know, it’s a shame with as good as you are with the kids that God never granted you one.”
“I think after I miscarried, I was pretty scared and really took a lot of precautions. And I still do. But now it’s because the men I was with, I couldn’t picture being a daddy to my baby. Was that stupid?”
“No, you’re waiting for someone special and at some point, he’s gonna arrive.” She turned her gaze to him, thinking how over the last few years and how much he’s grown and just how much she enjoyed talking with him. “What?”
“Just thinking about how you’ve grown. You really have become a dear friend Nick.” She twisted around and gave him a hug.
-----
Brian watched the couple in the sand box, not sure what exactly he was feeling. It wasn’t jealously, or anger; but there was an emotion that he really wasn’t liking. He narrowed his eyes a bit and then turned back to the grill, flipping the burgers.
Mentally, he sighed, trying to figure everything out. It wasn’t that he didn’t want Resa dating, but he really didn’t want her dating Nick. Maybe it had to do with the hurt that Nick would cause when he got tired of Resa.
He glanced back in their direction, seeing that embrace and in a voice much more harsh then he meant to use, he yelled out that dinner was done. All heads turned to look at him but he just didn’t care, not now, not when he had seen that.
Author's Chapter Notes:
So sorry for the delays, things have been beyond crazy...but hopefully...i can get back into a swing here. Hopefully, you all are still into the story. :)
