Him & I

Hey Brother

Hey brother
There's an endless road to rediscover
Hey sister
Know the water's sweet but blood is thicker
Oh, if the sky comes falling down
For you, there's nothing in this world that I wouldn't do

----Hey Brother, Avicci

October 5, 2018

Cait was again headed to the airport, this time to pick up Connor.  He was going to spend the night here and then in the morning, they would fly down to Texas to see Connor's mother.  After the visit, they were going to fly to Colorado, so that Connor could spend the remainder of his long weekend there.  Cait was going to stay until Sunday afternoon, but then she wanted to go back to Salt Lake City, so that she could be there for Grayson's birthday.  He had a preseason game on Sunday night in Portland and then would return to Salt Lake City before leaving for another game in Sacramento on Thursday. 

Marvin had been texting Cait and asking if she was coming to Sacramento, but she promised that she'd come for the first regular season game in less than a week.  She knew Grayson would probably play more during the preseason game, but somehow it didn't feel right to miss his first ever regular season NBA game.  The fact that it would be Marvin and Harry's first game as well was just an added bonus.  And the fact was, she had work to do and couldn't be nothing but a basketball groupie. 

Grayson had a lot of road games at the start of the season and she was balancing when and where she would travel with her work responsibilities and her responsibilities in Park City.  And she didn't want Grayson to have to concentrate on anything other than basketball.

Cait knew that Grayson wasn't totally thrilled with her taking Connor to visit his mother.  She'd explained to him that a federal prison camp was a minimum security facility and that these were not violent criminals.  And she'd explained the process and that Connor would have two hours to visit his mother, but that Cait would need to stay with him the entire time, because he was a minor. 

But they'd literally be on the ground in Texas for about four or five hours, before heading back to Colorado.  And Cait promised that she'd stay in touch with him.  She understood that this was such a bizarre situation that Grayson was having some difficulty with it, but she felt as though she had some responsibility.  She was the one that had encouraged Connor to see his mother, so she ought to be willing to facilitate it.

And when she saw her father, Joan and Connor deplane and head for the private terminal, Cait had to smile at the fact that she was glad to see her brother.  The brother she thought she hadn't wanted, that she didn't think she could handle.  She was suddenly looking forward to spending a couple of days with him.  He'd be a smart ass and tease her, but it was okay. 

Connor stepped into the terminal first and smiled and hugged her.  And Cait was again fighting tears when he did.

*****

Cait took Connor to get some lunch, since he insisted he was starving.  They arrived home to find Grayson there after his shoot around and he and Connor renewed their video game battle for a little while, Connor pleading that he could put off his homework for a little bit. 

Cait sat back and watched them and couldn't help but smile.  In between talking smack over the video games, Grayson managed to quiz Connor on his grades, his classes, soccer and his friends.  Clearly, he had learned a few things from his parents along the way.  And Cait couldn't help but imagine what a great dad he would be someday. 

She'd known, when she'd seen him handle the freshmen the year before, that he had grown up so much and that he had an innate ability to nurture.  And watching him the last couple of months with Connor had been even more of a revelation.  If ever a man was meant to be a father, it was Grayson.  He loved kids and he was kind and compassionate, but firm and even tempered too.  She had to hide a smile at the thought of Grayson being even tempered.  Virtually no one would ascribe that term to him.  But he'd matured, so much, in the two years that she'd known him, come so far from the guy that had been both insecure and overwhelmed.  And the realization only made her love him that much more.  She was still finding that there was no bottom to how far she could fall for him.