Like Father, Like Son ✔

Chapter 10 - Family Fun

CHAPTER 10

CAT

The drive was quite uneventful. They chatted about a new pop song that came out earlier in the month, which was a topic that lasted them quite a while considering Nick absolutely hated it and Cat found it incredibly catchy.

"I don't know, I just think all of the stuff you hear on Top 40 radio stations these days is all so commercialized. It's not really about the music anymore. You've got all of these singers with actual talent, but it's buried under auto-tune and really superficial lyrics, most of 'em talking about—" Nick hesitated for a moment, considering something. "S-E-X," he added, spelling the word out for the sake of Luke's little ears.

"OK, yes, you have a point, but you can't generalize either! You've got your Miley's and your Ariana Grande's and all of those other pop stars that seem to just want to make the biggest bang possible – no pun intended – but pop music isn't all like that... How about Adele? She doesn't have to get naked for people to pay attention to her," Cat told him pointedly, every now and then glancing away from the road to look at the thoughtful expression on his face.

It went on for ten minutes, a flow of back-and-forth banter about a subject that they were both so passionate about.

After that they discussed their spring break, but since Cat didn't have anything very exciting to say that topic fizzled out pretty quickly. By the time the GPS instructed Cat to make a right turn off the highway, Luke was finished with his cartoon on Cat's iPad and he'd launched into a very animated discussion with Nick about Milwaukee and how they should go on vacation there one day with Aunt Hannah and Aunt Amanda.

Silently, Cat listened to the two boys talking and she couldn't help but grin happily at just how easily it was for Nick and Luke to interact together. At the same time however, the knots in her stomach seemed to be tightening uncomfortably the closer they got to their destination, now only 1.9 miles away according to the GPS. She started to drum her fingers restlessly against her armrest, her other hand clenching the steering wheel so tight she was pretty sure she'd have a hard time unwrapping her fingers from it later.

"You OK?" Nick asked after a few seconds, settling a comforting hand over hers. She could feel his calloused fingertips against the back of her hand and yet still there was this sort of softness about his touch that made her feel so at ease.

"I'm just nervous," she said a little breathily, glancing over her shoulder at the number etched in gold print on the side of a house, just a few digits from Nick's parents' address. She was getting very close now.

"It'll be fine, you're gonna be fine," Nick chuckled.

"Yeah, mama, you're gonna be fine!" Luke piped in.

Nick's parents lived just outside of Chicago on about forty acres of land.

At first the view of the house was obstructed by two large trees, but as Cat drove Amanda's car further down the winding driveway, she was met with a beautiful home that seemed to fit into the end of the nineteenth century era a whole lot more than the current time period. Renovations had obviously been done over the years, as indicated by the brand new windows and the large electric doors leading into a three-car garage.

Cat was absolutely in love with the house's rustic charm. My God, she could only imagine how pretty it must be in the summertime when the grass was actually green and the flowerbeds were in full bloom. She could faintly see a big, beautiful sycamore tree behind the house, bigger than the two trees out front. It must be hundreds and hundreds of years old!