The History We Found

4.5 December 8, 2009

"Am I in the middle of a world war?" Vic asked as we closed my SUV doors.

I shrugged, "I think that's up to baby-daddy."

"Don't ever say that again, please." He groaned.

I got JJ out of his seat and set him down. Before I even got the diaper bag up onto my shoulder, Vic had scooped him up to keep him from booking it straight to the yellow lines in the middle of the road.

"Don't run in the street, JJ. No." Vic advised him kindly. It's nice to not always have to be the bad-guy for a change.

"No." He repeated back.

Vic looked surprised, but I just grinned it was nice to see that he was lippy with more than just me. "Yeah, he does that."

Vic looked a little hurt. "Be nice to tio Vic. Can you say Vic? Vic? V-ii-c?"

"Can you say JJ?" I opted, knowing that my son didn't like the parrot-game. He liked it when he got attention.

"ay-ay!" He screeched.

Vic opened up the front door. "He's as vain as his mother."

"Could be worse. Could be as vain as his father." I whispered as we just walked into the house.

"Jess!" Vic called.

"Kitchen!" She hollered back.

"JJ, go get Jessica." Vic put her down, pointing down the hall.

He walked nervously, looking back at us every few steps. He kept going though. Jess called to him and he just lit up, running with abandon to her voice. "JJ? Is that you?"

"It must be nice to trust that much." Vic sighed.

"There's a reason grown-ups don't. Because trust like that is dangerous and it gets us all hurt." I reminded him. He didn't lol impressed.

"Cynicism for 500, Alex?" Vic asked.

I smiled, "I haven't watched that show since I lived here."

"I still have episodes on my Ti-Vo from where you set it to record." He admitted.

I laughed, "You never got rid of that?"

"Never had the heart." Vic said.

We stepped into the kitchen where Jessica was holding JJ who was, inevitably, reaching for her food. "No, this is granola. You can't eat granola."

"JJ, here. Mama has juice. Do you want that?" I offered him his sippy.

"Duice?" He looked at me, reaching with the hand that wasn't holding onto Jess.

She just laughed and bridged the gap that his tiny arm couldn't reach. "Here you go."

"day-nu." He said.

"That's 'thank you'." I translated. Jess just laughed and nodded. I guess she understood. It was 50/50 if people did or not.

"Anyway, if you want to hang out with him, we'll clean out that back room and get out of your way." Vic offered.

"Sure. Take your time." Jess said.

I just smiled nervously and walked through the halls I knew so well. They felt so different at this point. Vic and I sorted through most of the stuff in the music room- my piano and my notebooks were all that was there though.

The guest room was a different story completely. Paintings I had bought for the house, pictures I inherited from when my dad died, my jewelry box, a flat-iron, some clothes that probably don't fit post-baby. All of my nail-polish. Blankets and a lamp and things from my first apartment. "Do you remember this?"