Old Flames

Old Flames: Chapter 5 (Part 2)

Chapter Five: (Part 2)

Who knew a kid could talk so much?  Aaron smiled and nodded...and smiled and nodded some more as Chris spilled out every tidbit of information rattling around in that tiny brain.  He's starved for attention, Aaron figured, sneaking a peek at his mother.  Lainie watched him like a hawk, never smiling and never taking her eyes off of Aaron. 

There was a tightness around her green eyes and a lack of color to her cheeks.  Single-motherhood was surely putting a strain on her.  In the past few weeks, he'd noticed a pattern from across the street.  Three times a week, she'd leave early with her kids and return and hour later without them.  Then she holed up in her house until three in the afternoon when she left again and came back with the two kids.  They must be in preschool somewhere, he assumed.

When the children were around, they played in the yard or walked to the park or they'd create enough racket inside their house that it can be heard all the way across the street into his own house...not that Aaron had been overly curious about Lainie Moon and her family, or spying on them or anything.

Bowser lifted his head from the floor of the trailer and stared a reprimand at him, as though the old hound dog could hear his thoughts.

Okay, fine.  He'd admit that he itched to get to know Lainie again.  And he'd been studying them to find the best way to sneak into her life again.  He wasn't looking for a romantic relationship with her.  But there had been a time when they'd been friends, and that was what he missed.  Knowing that he could call her up when he had a bad day and tell her all about it.  She'd been a good listener once, and if the way her son continued to ramble was any indication, she still was.

Therefore, through his covert spy-work, he found an avenue.  Not one that he'd been all that happy to exploit, but after sitting next to the kid for the ten minute hayride and realizing that the boy needed some male companionship in a bad way, he had no problem striking up a friendship with Chris just to get closer to Lainie. 

Because another thing that he discovered about her...she didn't refuse her children anything, which surprisingly didn't backfire on her.  They weren't spoiled children, always demanding for her to buy them something or have another piece of candy.    So, when Lainie said "No" -- and she did say it -- Chris and Chloe accepted the answer.  Aaron didn't know how she did it.  His own nieces and nephews were taxing on the nerves and wallet. 

So, if Chris wanted to be friends with the fireman across the street, Lainie wouldn't have the heart to deny him that.

After the hayride ended, Chris jumped off and asked if he could take Bowser over to the petting zoo so Chloe could see him.  Aaron looked at Lainie for permission, and he saw her looking at her son with tears in her eyes.  Hastily, she wiped them away and said that would be fine.  Chris took the leash and started down the street at a run, but luckily Bowser was content to just walk his short-legged, skin-warping walk, so the boy had to slow down.  Aaron fell into step beside Lainie.

"Are you okay?"

She glanced at him.  "Yeah, I'm fine.  It's just that Chris used to do things for his sister all the time."

"But not anymore?"

She shook her head.  "No, since Gary died, Chris has become a little selfish about things.  It just surprised me that he knew Chloe would like to see your dog.  She loves animals."

They walked for a bit.  "I'm sorry to hear about your husband," Aaron said, clearing his throat.  "I'm afraid I didn't keep up with your marriage much.  How long were you married?"

"Almost seven years," she answered in a faraway voice.  He looked over at her profile.  Her eyes looked inward and a dreamy smile floated on her lips.  She must have loved him very much, Aaron thought bitterly, and then mentally kicked himself.  She had a right to love someone.  He'd definitely screwed up, so she'd found someone else.  And from the expression she carried right then, she'd been very happy.

No wonder she looked pale and tense lately.  She once had a whole family, but now she had to carry around the pieces of that family on her own.  Without the man she loved.

"How about you?" she asked suddenly.  "Ever get married?"

"No."

A small laugh tinkled from her mouth.  "That's it?  Just no?"

"Yes."

She laughed again, and he smiled at her, loving the sound of her laugh.  It was a twinkling sound, like you'd hear on television whenever a fairy waved her wand. 

"You always had a way with words," she said, smiling softly at him.  "So, you must have a girlfriend, right?"

"Does Bowser count?"

There it was again.  That laugh.  Three in a roll.  He surprised himself and shrugged nonchalantly at her.  "I'm too busy for a relationship.  No woman wants to wait around for days at a time while I'm working a shift."

"That's a lousy excuse," she said.  "Did you ever give a woman the chance?"

"Once," he admitted and hoped she would leave it at that, but this was Lainie he was talking to.  She was never nosy about other people's business, but if she felt she had a point to prove, she wouldn't let up until she did.

"Just once?  Did you live together?"

He sighed because he knew he should just get this over with.  "Yes," he answered.  "Her name was Cortney, and we lived together for a few months.  That was all it took for her to realize that I don't have a 9 to 5 job, and she would have to make some sacrifices because of it."

"Ah," she said in that know-it-all voice, "but did you make any sacrafices?"

"Of course, I did," he exclaimed with a hint of indignation in his voice.  "I told Bowser he couldn't sleep in the bed anymore or drink from the toilet."

She chuckled and shook her head.  They approached the small petting zoo, and Chris looked around for his sister.  Lainie spotted her mother talking to the man at the gate.  Genna saw Lainie and rushed over.  Aaron got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Thank goodness you're here," Genna Moon said frantically.  "Chloe's gone missing."