Mommy Mouse (sequel to City Mouse)

Chapter 2: Mouse's Mouth

The elevator doors opened and Leo and Mouse stepped out into the lobby of EliteStar, the modeling agency Henry co-owned, where he spent his days working. Mouse remembered that it had been a scant year ago, nearly to the day, that she'd stepped out of the same elevator, looking for a job as a nanny.

Henry and Leo had been strangers to her then. Who knew so much could change in twelve short months? Leo, holding her hand, led her down the carpeted hallway, a five-year old child who had definitely left toddlerhood behind.

"Leo!" The receptionist, Adam, smiled at the child. "How are you? Look how big you are, wow. You in kindergarten yet?"

Leo shook his head. "I start in September," he told Adam with a smile. "My tooth's starting to get loose, though, wanna see?"

Adam leaned over his desk, and Leo used his tongue to push his bottom tooth, which gave slightly.

"Pretty soon, yeah," Adam agreed.

Mouse smiled. "Come on, big guy, let's go find daddy, okay?"

Adam and the pretty girl next to him sat back, and Mouse realized that it was possible to come to attention while in a seated position. Their response to her was almost humorous. When she'd come as a potential employee, they'd barely given her the time of day. The presence of the pretty ring on her finger, though, announcing to the world that she was affianced to Henry, changed everything.

She was the boss's fiancée, soon to be his wife, and her opinion mattered now, she supposed. She'd have to be kept at arm's distance, and everyone would have to stay on her good side. It was kind of lonely. Except that these particular people hadn't been too friendly to begin with.

Leo let go of her hand and began running toward his father's large, sunny, cluttered corner office. He threw open the door and announced his presence exuberantly, roaring, "Daddy, we're here to take you to lunch!"

Henry looked up from his computer with a grin. "I guess I'm lucky I wasn't on the phone," he said, holding his arms out to his son. Leo leapt into them, laughing. The laughter morphed into giggles as Henry blew raspberries into his neck and tickled his ribcage with his fingers. Mouse watched everything from the doorway with a happy smile.

"And how is my beautiful Mouse?" Henry asked, finally putting Leo down so he could hug her and give her a kiss.

"I'm great," she answered, giving him a smile, running her fingers through his crisp, black hair. "And starving, too."

"Okay, just gimme a sec to finish this email," Henry said, sitting back down and commencing typing once more.

Mouse nodded, and she and Leo entertained themselves by looking around his office for a few minutes. Mouse hadn't been there in a long time, so this was her first time to see the photograph of her and Leo that he had hanging next to one of the windows, the one he'd taken on the High Line the previous summer.

"Wow, this is really beautiful," she said, stepping back to look at it carefully. She took in the line of her neck, how her body curved around Leo's as she held him. His arms and legs looked chubby and adorably baby-like in the photo, and already were so different in person. The boy in the office with her on this late spring day had longer limbs, and in general looked leaner and less round than the child in the photograph.

"It is, isn't it?" Henry murmured, coming up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her against his chest. "I actually have a lot of pictures like this, of people, you two mainly, but not all, and the city in the background?" He turned his head to look down at her as he spoke. "I'm thinking of putting together a show in a few months, if I can get enough stuff, and find a space willing to put it on."