Building Blocks #2
Dean sets the box on the kitchen table and pulls out a chair. “You’re gonna stay to help us put this together, right, Lainey?”
Colton chuckles. “Did you thank Miss Lainey for the super awesome LEGO set?”
“Thank you.”
Colton picks up his beer. “Seriously, Lainey, thank you. You didn’t have to do that.”
I sip my beer. “Are you kidding? This is such a treat for me. I loved LEGO sets as a kid. My brothers and I would spend whole days putting things together. I think my favorite was the Millennium Falcon.”
“From Star Wars.” Colton moves to the kitchen table to help Dean open the box with a pair of scissors. “We’ve done that one too.”
“Come sit, Lainey.” Dean waves me over. “Can we do the haunted house first? Then we can do the trees and the ghosts.”
I take a seat next to Dean and pull the directions out of the box. “Sounds like a plan.”
“Dad, you sit too.”
I expect Colton to decline the invitation. Hesitate at the very least. Not because he doesn’t want to play with his son, but because he doesn’t want to play with me.
Instead, Colton pulls out the chair on the other side of Dean and takes a seat so that his son is between us. The woodsy smell of Colton’s freshly showered body fills my head and makes me woozy.
Dean glances at Colton, then at me, a big smile breaking out on his face.
“It’s a Dean sandwich,” he says.
Colton grabs the instructions from me and unfolds them. “You are scrumptious.”
“I like sandwiches,” I say. “Peanut butter and jelly is my favorite.”
Dean gasps. “Mine too!”
I hold up my hand, and he gives me a high five.
Colton just stares at his son. “That’s hilarious, because this little stinker told me not too long ago that he didn’t like peanut butter and jelly anymore.”
“I changed my mind.” Dean shrugs.
“Sure you did,” Colton mutters, shaking his head. “I’m sure that has nothing to do with the pretty girl here tonight.”
My pulse skips a beat, but Dean replies before I do. “You are real pretty, Miss Lainey. We both think so.”
“Thanks? I think?” I’m blushing.
“You should have my dad make you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.” Dean doesn’t look up from the pile of LEGO bricks he pours out of the box onto the table. “He’s really good at it.”
I help Dean start to sort the LEGO bricks. “Your dad is good at lots of things.”
“Like what?” Colton smooths out the instructions with the heel of his gigantic hand. He doesn’t look up either, but I still get the feeling he’s watching me. Keeping track of how I move and what I do. Is it wrong that I’m turned on by the subtle attention?
“Playing around with cowgirls, for starters.” I see Colton’s lips twitch.
He reaches for the LEGO bricks. “Almost as good as Lainey is at playing around with cowboys.”
Dean scrunches his forehead. “I don’t know what y’all are talking about.”
“That’s on purpose.” Colton meets my eyes.
There’s a pinch between my shoulder blades, right behind my heart. Warning.
Ignoring it, I say, “I agree with Dean about starting with the haunted house first. I find it’s best to tackle the hardest thing right off the bat—”
“Because then you don’t end up chucking it across the room when you’re overtired and you’ve had it?” Colton’s gaze flickers with something I’m starting to recognize.
Surprise.
Delight even.
“Yes.” I’m having a hard time keeping my pulse in check. “There’s a method to my madness.”
Dean plucks the black plastic part that I’m assuming forms the haunted house’s foundation from the pile. “You do it the same way we do, Lainey. That’s funny!”
I manage a wobbly smile. “LEGO nerds, unite.”
“Who you callin’ a nerd?” Colton says.
“You,” I reply. “And me. And Mister Brainiac here.” I gently nudge Dean with my elbow.
“Nerds are cool now, Dad.”
Colton smiles warmly at his son. “Only because you’re one. All right, guys, let’s get started on this house.”
Dean sneaks an arm underneath his dad’s to steal the instructions. “Dad, you do the porch. Lainey, you do the walls. I’ll start on the roof.”
I grin, feeling a familiar lightness take root in my chest as I start to sort out the LEGO bricks I need. “On it. You’re a good boss, Dean.”
“It’s ’cause I’m gonna grow up to be the boss, just like my dad.”
My chest squeezes. These two are obviously tight.
Obviously obsessed with each other.
My dad and I get along just fine. He’s gone to bat for me at some crucial moments, not only preparing me for college but paying for it too. I love him.
But were we ever close the way Dean and Colton are?
Not really. I have no memory of Dad ever participating in an activity like this with me.
Probably has something to do with the gender dynamics in our family.
Mom was the one who got on the floor with the kids and played with us.
Dad…well, when he wasn’t working, he was just kind of there.
Never mind showing the kind of patience Colton shows with his son.
At one point, Dean suddenly throws down his half-finished roof.
“I can’t do this.” He sounds like he’s on the verge of tears.
Colton drops what he’s doing to rub Dean’s back. “Calm down, bud. Don’t we always figure things out eventually?”
“But this one is too hard.”
“Good thing we can do hard things. Here.” Colton drops his fingertips to the directions. At the same time, he cups Dean’s shoulder in his hand and steers him toward the paper. “Let’s see what you might be missing.”
Dean pouts. “It doesn’t even matter. I’m not good at this.”
“You’re great at it. You already have half the roof done, and I only have, like, two inches of this wall figured out.” I hold up my hapless piece of LEGO siding and laugh. “See how much better you are at building things than me?”
Colton’s eyes flick to meet mine. I could be imagining it, but I think I glimpse a hint of gratitude in the soft set of his mouth.
“Look at me, Dean.” Colton tips up his son’s chin. “You always matter, yeah? You gotta be patient with yourself.”
What I’d give to hear those words from my parents.
Dean’s bottom lip trembles. “But it’s not perfect!”
“Doesn’t have to be perfect to be good,” Colton counters smoothly. “We’re building this thing together, and your contribution matters just as much as mine or Lainey’s. Give yourself another chance. I promise it will be worth it.”
I can only stare, a moon lodged in my throat while the blood inside my skin goes haywire. This is some masterful parenting right here.
The kind of parenting I wish I’d had.
The kind of parenting I hope to do one day.
I know I’m reading into things. But what I just witnessed—it was Colton encouraging his son not to abandon the project, sure, but Colton was also telling Dean not to abandon himself.
The man is reinforcing his son’s human value. Value that Dean possesses not because he’s being helpful or getting out of the way or being as close to perfect as possible.
Value Dean has just for, well, being Dean.
Value that I’ve never really felt I had unless I was perfect. Colton inadvertently tried to disabuse me of that notion that day in the barn. Now he’s doing the same thing with his son, and it is…Jesus, a beautiful sight to behold.
Go figure. The grumpiest, most asshole-y guy I’ve ever met is also the most affirming.
The most caring.
Warmth blooms deep in my core. I feel like I’m going to cry.
It’s getting really difficult to keep hating this man. Suddenly I’m struggling to resist the urge to reach across the table, grab Colton by the collar, and kiss the shit out of him.
Instead, I put down my wall and help Colton help Dean with the roof before he lets me return to my wall. The minutes begin to speed by, and I’m downright giddy as the house slowly comes together.
This is fun. And relaxing. There’s no place on earth I’d rather be right now.
My heart spasms when Colton presses his thumbs to Dean’s cheeks, making sure they’re dry. I laugh when Dean figures out a particularly gnarly corner and literally howls with delight, tipping his face up to an imaginary moon.
Because my brain is short-circuiting thanks to a lethal cocktail of lust and happiness and hunger of every variety, I decide to howl too.
Colton’s eyes bulge. I don’t give a fuck. I keep howling, Dean doing a little happy dance as we sync our voices.
“Y’all are nuts.” Colton shakes his head.
I grin at him. Keep howling.
Dean elbows his dad. “You do it too! It’s fun, I promise.”
Colton picks up his beer and drains it. The glide of his Adam’s apple as he swallows, up and down, has me feeling some kind of way.
But when he suddenly tilts up his head, purses his lips, and howls too?
Yep, I’m a goner.