Chapter 10
?
Hearing Ricky shout with laughter as Naomi pushed him higher and higher on the swings brought sheer joy to her heart.
She’d known for a long time that she was in trouble in terms of the reality that she would have to say goodbye to this precious little boy at some point, but she was storing up as many of these happy times as she could.
She had to admit it was holding her back somewhat from being able to completely surrender to all the emotions flowing through her.
She knew perfectly well that, when that time came—when her nanny and tutor services were no longer needed—it would absolutely destroy her.
Until then, she wanted to make as many memories as she could. Listening to him laugh, shout, and shriek with joy was exactly what he needed right now. They went to this playground all the time, when he was up to it. It was nearby, part of the apartment complex, and fenced in.
He’d been out of sorts when he’d gotten up, not wanting to read, didn’t want to do anything.
He had even been snappy, which, for him, was very unusual.
She wondered if it had something to do with the fact that Trent had gone to talk to the lawyer but didn’t return right away.
Then she belatedly realized that Trent leaving them soon would have an impact on Ricky as well as on her.
Yet that was a given, and Trent had only been in Ricky’s life for a little while. She knew the little man would be challenged in so many ways, and yet she could do only so much to help him, and that hurt too.
He was such a good kid, and yet his parents didn’t seem to care. That just made her so angry that it was hard for her to keep it contained.
When Ricky suddenly bolted off the swing with a big jump, shrieking and racing to the left, she turned in shock, only to see him grab Trent around the legs.
Trent picked up Ricky and easily threw him into the air, the little boy shrieking in delight before Trent caught him, hoisted him over his shoulder, and carried him back to where Naomi stood, grinning foolishly at the spectacle the two of them made.
This was exactly what Ricky needed.
He needed a father. He needed somebody to care.
He needed, though she hated to say it, a man, because an awful lot of single women out there were doing a hell of a job as single parents.
Still, there was only so much anybody could deal with, and if there was a chance for boys to have a father figure, it seemed like it was a pretty major thing for them.
Trent laughed at her as he got closer and smiled wholeheartedly. “I see the park became part of today’s activities,” he noted in a lighthearted tone.
She smiled. “He was a little out of sorts this morning,” she shared, “so it seemed like a good idea.”
Immediately Ricky turned and stared at Trent, then declared, “You took off without saying goodbye.”
Trent looked down at him in surprise but nodded. “You’re right,” he admitted. “I’m sorry, but you were busy sleeping, and I wasn’t going to be all that long. At least I hadn’t planned to be all that long.”
Ricky frowned at him and muttered, “But you know what they say about plans.”
Trent burst out laughing. “I’m sure you’ll tell me what they say about plans,” he teased with a big smile, “even if it’s not necessarily something I want to hear.”
“Well, I might hold back this time,” Ricky suggested in that very adult tone he used at times, “if you push me on the swings.”
“Now we’re getting bribery into the action,” Trent noted, still laughing but looking at her in amazement.
She nodded. “He’ll do an awful lot for the swings.”
“The park is right here beside your apartment, so I would imagine this is a fairly common place for you two to visit.”
“It absolutely is.”
In the meantime, Ricky nodded and smiled broadly.
“As soon as we get our work done, we’re down here mucking about in the dirt, like two little grubs,” Naomi shared, as she reached over and tickled Ricky.
He shrieked, raced to the swing, then hopped up and started yelling for Trent to push him. When she turned to Ricky, her hands on her hips, the little boy immediately softened his tone and added, “Please.”
Trent laughed. “For that, absolutely. Nice job on modulating your tone.”
Ricky sighed. “She doesn’t like it when I yell.”
“Nope, I sure don’t,” she agreed cheerfully. “I don’t think anybody likes it when you yell, but sometimes it feels kind of nice to yell.”
“It does, doesn’t it?” Trent agreed. He looked around, saw nobody, and suggested to Ricky, “How about we yell right now, both of us, as loud as we can?”
Immediately Ricky went off with a shriek that made both of them clap their hands over their ears. Trent looked at him in astonishment, then declared, “I think I can beat that.” He immediately released a bellow that, if they had been inside, would have made the rafters shake.
She stared at the two of them as they tried to outdo each other, over and over again, her hands clapped over her ears.
She watched in astonishment as Trent completely divested himself of all adult characteristics and became a slightly bigger kid than Ricky.
When they were finally done laughing and yelling like the little boys they were trying so hard to be, she stared from one to the other.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen that happen before. ”
“What?” Trent asked. “That Ricky let loose as a kid, or that another adult let loose with him?”
“Both,” she declared, laughing.
“Well, maybe you should try it,” Trent suggested.
“I do try,” she muttered, “but there can be only one.”
He laughed. “So you like to reference movies, do you?”
She smiled. “It is one of the few things that we get to do all the time,” she noted. “Some things we can’t do, but other things we can do a lot of, and movies are one of them.”
Trent smiled. “We need to be working on expanding Ricky’s experiences, not limiting them.”
“Oh, I agree,” she stated, “but we don’t have TV service, so it’s limited to whatever movies I can rent.”
He frowned over at her. “Sorry. What did you say?”
She nodded.
Trent asked again, “They didn’t want Ricky to have TV?”
“I don’t know why. When I texted the lawyer about it, he acted like it was a bridge too far and like I was asking for way-too-much money.”
“Interesting,” Trent murmured. “Well, hopefully we’ll get a response from Ricky’s parents today, and maybe you’ll also have something extra for things like TV too.”
“I wouldn’t hold my breath,” she snapped, her tone brittle. “They seem to be, you know, a family of doers, not the type to sit back and watch life happen on TV.”
“Sure,” he noted, “yet sometimes it’s really nice to have that break, that chance to just relax and not have to think, not have to worry, not have to even contemplate life outside of what you’re currently watching.
After all, there’s always something you could be doing, but sometimes you’re just too tired to do any of it. ”
“Like now,” Ricky said, as he came over and sat down on the sand, then looked up at them and threw himself backward and started making snow angels—sand angels in this instance.
She shook her head at him and asked, “You’re really having a day of it, aren’t you?”
He grinned and declared, “It feels so good to be alive.”
That made her pause. She looked over at Trent and then agreed, “I think that’s a great way to look at it.”
Trent smiled, then offered, “How about ice cream?”
Immediately Ricky bounced to his feet and declared, “Ice cream would be perfect.”
“Although it might be a bit early,” she added.
“Nope, it’s never too early for ice cream.” Ricky turned to Trent expectantly.
“Right? I mean, how could it possibly be too early for ice cream?” he asked in the tone of an absolutely outraged teenager, thinking somebody was pulling a fast one.
She shook her head but then smiled. “Well, we already had lunch,” she conceded, “so I guess a little bit of ice cream would probably go down just fine.”
“It would go down just perfectly,” Ricky repeated, right on her heels, as they walked toward the street.
“Where? Where are we gonna go?” Ricky asked, as he bounced around.
“I was thinking about maybe … Pop’s Ice Cream Shop.”
“The old pop shop?” Ricky asked, bouncing forward.
“Well, … I’m not sure yet,” she said, trying to fake seriousness. “Maybe Trent doesn’t want ice cream.”
Ricky looked at her like that was not even possible.
Even Trent started to laugh and shared, “I’m pretty sure that, even if I didn’t want ice cream, it really wouldn’t be an option at this point.”
She started to laugh too. “You could be right.” With that decided, they headed toward the ice cream place that they often went to. Not that it was a regular stop for them by any means, but, as they got closer, she asked Ricky, “What kind of ice cream do you want?”
He frowned, looked back at Trent, and asked, “What kind of ice cream do you want?”
She had to smile at that. Even Trent seemed to understand, and he replied, “I’ll have to wait and see what my choices are. What’s your favorite kind?” he asked the little boy.
That started them off on an endless discussion about favorite flavors and combinations. Trent seemed completely okay to just enjoy the time with Ricky. He was a pretty special kid, and the fact that Trent was handling Ricky as well as he was made the whole thing very enjoyable all around.
When they got to what they called the pop shop, she looked up at the huge assortment of flavors, then turned to Trent. “Yeah, good luck trying to pick something.”
He just stared at the list of offerings and muttered, “Good God.”
“Yeah, I know,” she agreed. “It’s also one of the reasons I have a never-ending problem at this place.
Eventually you have to pick something,” she shared, then raised her hands in a lazy gesture.
“Then, no matter what you get, you always wonder if what you could have or should have gotten instead might have been better. So, then we have to come back and try different flavors.”