addicted. (a tayvis short story)

c h a p t e r . f o u r

Taylor looked over at Ian playing on his rug. Holding a toy in one hand, he used the other to put one of his toys in his mouth. Teething was such an annoying part of parenting to Taylor. "Ian! NO! You do not put toys in your mouth," Taylor fussed. Ian looked at her, before slowly pulling the toy out of his mouth. He may have been a bit developmentally delayed, but his understanding of what anyone told him was amazing.  She got up from where she was sitting and walked into the kitchen, grabbing his fruit teether out of the freezer and giving it to him. "You can put this in your mouth." Ian took the fruit teether from his mother and stuck it in his mouth. The doorbell rang, and Taylor's eyes went straight to the clock. He was a few minutes early. "Hmph, he's usually late." She walked over to the door and opened it. Travis stood there smiling.

"Hey there," he greeted simply.

"Hey," she replied, tucking a loose piece of hair behind her ear that immediately fell back into her face. Travis then pushed the hair behind her ear for her, holding it for a moment lightly resting his hand on her face. She let her eyes meet his and felt herself blushing. He let go after a few short seconds that to them seemed like a few long hours and the hair stayed in place. "Thank you," she told him feeling warm. "Come in." She motioned for him to enter the house, then closed the door once he was inside. "You found the place okay?"

"Yeah, no problem at all," he answered walking closer to the area in which Ian was playing.

"We could have met you."

"We're going to the same place, why take two cars?" Travis asked as he watched her gather her and Ian's things.

"I can take some of that."

"It's just his bag and my purse," she told him then picked Ian up.

"Well, it seems like a lot, so at least give me his bag or him," Travis offered. Taylor gave him Ian's bag, and they made their way out of the door.

"Can you get his car seat out, please?" Taylor asked, using her key fob to unlock the doors.

"Yeah, no worries," Travis stated, opening her car door. He leaned in and began trying to unhook the car seat. He quickly became frustrated with the seat. "Wow, this is complicated."

"No worries, huh?" Taylor teased. Just like Travis to think he was superman and could do anything he set his mind to, no matter how hard the task may have been. "I'm kidding it's a pain. Joe had to get the most expensive, annoying car seat he could find." She hated the thing and wished they would have gone with a more basic one. Travis chuckled as he eased out of the car and stood up.

"I can't get that thing out."

"Can you take Ian while I do it? If I put him down, he'll be under me, and I don't want to hurt him accidentally." 

"Yeah, that I can do," Travis said with a smile, eager to hold him.

"He'll probably cry. He doesn't like new people," Taylor warned. "Ian this is Travis."

"Hi there," Travis greeted, causing Taylor to laugh. The look on Travis's face was so cute as he talked to the little one. His eyes seemed to light up, and crease at the corners. 

"Say hi to Travis," she instructed, and Ian waved. "Can you say Trav? Say Trav." Ian looked at his mother and then at Travis. He stared at Travis for a while, then started moving his fingers towards his mouth. "No, no, no," Taylor told him, moving his hand. "Say Trav."