True to You

So Much to Say

2019

Zacky was careful not to let Laine know how closely he was watching her. It had been days since the incident at the party and so far she seemed fairly unperturbed by what had happened. He wasn't sure if he should be thankful or concerned by that.

She was playing peek-a-boo with Sloane and Mini-V which defeated the entire purpose of why he and Kelly had asked her to work for them that day. Kelly had meetings with her business partners who'd flown in for a few days and it was Zacky's custody days with his son. Neither Zacky nor Kelly wanted Mini-V to feel second best to Sloane so the plan had been to have Laine tend to Sloane's needs so Zacky could spend some quality time with his boy. It hadn't quite worked out that way. They hadn't reckoned with the little boy's fascination with his baby sister. So wherever Laine took Sloane her older brother was sure to follow.

"Chasing women around? Welcome to the rest of your fucking life son," Zacky had murmured, mostly to himself although Laine had heard him and rolled her eyes.

The brother and sister show left Zacky free to observe, mostly the adorable way his two children interacted with each other, but when he was sure she wouldn't notice he was observing Laine. He wasn't a complete novice when it came to parenting but he was definitely on a steep learning curve when it came to parenting girls. Not that he was entirely certain that parenting was what Laine needed. He was inclined to think that she might just need a friend, someone older who was willing to just listen and only offer advice when she asked.

Now where could she find such a person?

Zacky picked up his phone and tried to search for suggestions on how to talk to teenage girls. Yeah, that went about as well as could be expected. Peeling his eyes away from the horrors unleashed on the screen in front of him he looked wide eyed at Laine. Fuck. Even after the recent events at the party he'd somehow forgotten what a bunch of assholes guys could be; it seemed that unlike when he was younger they also had the entire internet and numerous social media platforms at their fingertips. Still the cesspool that was the internet could still come through in completely unexpected ways.

Take for instance what had become the viral video of the roofie wielding assholes admitting exactly what they'd done. That had been a win when the police had told Brian that wouldn't be able to use Pinkly's puke filled poop bag as evidence as there was a little chance any judge would accept something that could have so easily been tampered with. Despite the seriousness of the situation Zacky couldn't help laughing every time he thought of Brian earnestly presenting the bulging bag of vomit to the cops after Matt had called them. He wished he'd filmed it. Now that would be a viral video.

"Zacky?" Laine's voice snapped him back to the present. He wondered for a moment if she was going to call him out on his staring but she simply said, "I'm going to put Sloane down. Can you deal with the other casualty?" Zacky's attention was drawn from the drowsy baby in her arms to his curly haired Mini-V who'd crashed out like some had pulled his plug from the socket.

Once Zacky had tucked his softly snoring into bed for a nap he padded back down downstairs. He could hear Laine softly singing to Sloane through the baby monitor. It wasn't a song he recognised but the tune was beautiful. There didn't seem to be any words, Laine was just singing repetitions of the word sleep and shhh.

When Laine finally appeared at the bottom of the stairs again Zacky was in the kitchen laying out a board of cheese and crackers. She gave him an uncertain look. "Pull up a seat," Zacky said gesturing to the kitchen island. "Kelly told me that when the kids went down I'm supposed to offer you a glass of wine and cheese and crackers. She said it's more hospitable than beer and chips."

"It's fine. Really, you don't need to entertain me." Laine gave him an inscrutable look that would have done Brian proud. He wondered if she'd learned it from Elliot.