6: Playing House

“Daddy, why didn’t you drive your car?”

“Why didn’t I come in my car? Because Verna offered to drive and I trust her and it’s nice to depend on someone sometimes.”

“I depend on you,” Zane said solemnly to his father.

“And you always can,” he was promised.

“Can I depend on Berna?”

Travis’ jaw dropped. At a loss for words, he stumbled over, “Well… Um, I would hope so. Er- but maybe you should ask her.”

Verna glanced at him over Zane’s head and saw him mouth ‘sorry’.

Stopping at a red light, she turned to look at the sweet boy who had his father’s eyes.

“Berna,” he said, “can I depend on you?”

Though she was prepared for the question, her throat closed momentarily and she smiled to hide the emotions that welled up. “Of course you can, Zane. As long as your father and I trust each other,” she threw Travis a wry look, “I’m here for you.”

“Yipee! Now we’ll be together forever and ever.”

Travis laughed and kissed his son’s forehead, returning the gleeful hug. “Verna,” he said.

“What?”

“Drive.”

They arrived at Travis’s house and Zane was still rattling on about his four days with mommy’s housekeeper, playing tunnels and hide and seek.

“Where was your mom?” Verna asked.

“Mommy went away and I had to stay with Eba.”

When they got inside, Travis was fuming. His little boy ran straight to the playroom as fast as his little legs could carry him. Travis turned to Verna.

“I- would you mind playing with Zee for a bit? I have a phone call to make.”

Verna understood. “Yeah sure, sweets.”

He directed her to the playroom and then kissed her warmly. “Thanks.”

“Hey, no problem Travis.” She caressed the side of his face and looked right into his eyes. “Really!”

With another kiss, Travis walked off into the living room and Verna went upstairs to the playroom.

She found Zane drawing a picture, but he soon convinced her to carry him like an airplane then to play I Spy.

Twenty minutes later when Travis appeared at the door, it was Zane’s turn again and the child was saying, “I…spy something… pwetty.”

“Something pretty?”

Looking around the room and then back at the boy sitting in her lap, Verna thought about what he could see. Her opinion was that he was the most beautiful boy she had ever seen with his blue eyes, curly dark hair, little hands and endless energy. But she was sure he wasn’t talking about himself. Bean bags? No. Legos? No.

It was such a boyish room, she mused with a small smile.

Travis watched Verna hold his son, her pretty eyes roaming over every object in the room. He could almost hear her mentally rejecting certain objects in the room as not pretty.

“Zee, I think you got her on this one,” the boy’s father said. “But I know.”

Zane looked up, wide eyed. “No, Daddy, don’t tell her.” Then he looked suspicious. “How’d you guess?”

Travis came close and whispered in his son’s ear. The boy beamed and put a little finger to his small mouth.

“Hey,” Verna said, swatting at Travis. “Secrets- no fair.”

“Uh-oh, Zane. I think you better tell her before she refuses to bake those cookies with us.”

Zane groaned and slapped his forehead. “Oh man!” He looked up at her sincerely. “I spy Berna!”

“Me? Really? Aw, thank you, Zane.” She kissed his forehead and he grinned again.

“Hey, son, you’re gonna take my girl!”Travis scolded.

Zane let out a giggle and said to Verna, “Kiss my Daddy too!”

So she did. Or rather, he did. Square on the mouth. And he ended it, looking at her with twinkling eyes. “He has to get used to that,” he murmured. When he looked down, his son was still in Verna’s lap, looking up at them. This time he was almost frowning.

“You don’t kiss Mommy that way!”

Travis looked at his son. “I certainly do not. That’s because I don’t love your mommy. Well,” he corrected when he saw the confusion on his face, “I only love her because she helped me make you. And that’s all.”

That seemed to make sense to the boy. “Oh… why do you lub Berna?”

Travis wasn’t ready for that question yet. The look the two adults exchanged showed that they both agreed that it was neither the time nor place for this conversation.

Verna decided to let Travis off the hook. “Hey, sport,” she tickled Zane, “don’t you know you shouldn’t talk about people when they’re right in front of you?”

Giggling uncontrollably, Zane was distracted quite considerably and forgot about his questions. A few minutes after that they went back down to the kitchen to eat lunch. Following that, Verna took out the ingredients for her apricot butter cookies. Travis took it as an opportunity to watch Verna with his son.

She let him load the food processor and press the buttons, then she taught him how to place the soft dough on the cookie trays. He loved the swirly Z she taught him and he made the rest of tray that way.

Verna was totally engrossed in Zane. She laughed at the silly things he said, listened to what he said and watched what he did. Travis was happy that she wasn’t particular about the lopsided nature of the cookies Zane was making, chuckling at the inconsistent shapes. Travis was both surprised and pleased at how well she included the boy at every step.

It also amazed him that Verna would ask him if Zee could lick the bowl. Then he realized why she did it; some parents were very picky about their children’s diet. He wasn’t and told her as much. “Of course he can, but only if I get the spoon.”

Verna’s wicked smile flashed out. “The spoon’s mine,’ she said.

Travis stepped closer to her as she held one batter-covered finger up with the spoon in the other hand.

“You can share!” shouted Zane, his face already on its way to being covered in batter.

“Yeah, we can share.” Travis smiled at his girlfriend and brought her finger towards his mouth.

The moment his warm moist mouth closed over her finger, something inside Verna stirred. His tongue swirled around it, causing images of his mouth doing that all over her body to fill her mind. He sucked her vulnerable finger further into his mouth and she went weak.

“Berna! You dropped the spoon!” Zane groaned, placing a batter-covered hand in his hair.

Travis released her finger and gave her an amused look. “It was good,” he said, licking his lips. Then bent down to retrieve the spoon.

“Yeah!” Zane agreed.

When she recovered her voice, Verna couldn’t help laughing. “Look at you, sport! You’re a real live cookie monster, aren’t you?”

“I think he should wash his hands and face. Come on, kiddo.” Gathering his small son into his arms, Travis carried him to the bathroom.

Verna stayed behind to clean up the kitchen and load the dishwasher. For the first time that day, she got the chance to look into the garden she loved so much. Perched on the kitchen counter top, she turned her eyes east to where the lilies grew all over Travis’ yard.

She had only been to his house a few times before, the last time being the day they had gotten tested for STI’s. Travis had treated her to lunch at his place. After the meal, they had gone out to the garden and had come so very close to breaking their no-sex agreement for the umpteenth time.

Her smile faded as she remembered the more recent past. Zane’s questions rang in her head. Can I depend on Verna… why do you love Verna? Maybe she should have let him answer that last one. Then quickly she dismissed the thought. No, when he’s ready he’ll tell me himself, she told herself.

They hadn’t known each other for too long but it was definitely getting serious. She found herself constantly avoiding making what she called ‘forever statements’ because she didn’t want to scare him away.

Love was one thing she would never dream of forcing someone into. Her heart had skipped when she’d realized that he didn’t deny it but she knew men weren’t really big on commitment anyway, so she was fine with letting things fall into place as they happened. Verna wasn’t oblivious of her own hang ups and that she wouldn’t want anyone pushing her into a corner to face some of them, so she was happy with how things were.

Her quiet time was interrupted when Zane came racing down the stairs so she took him outside to push him on a swing hanging from a tall oak, near the lilies. On that tree, there were two swings side by side. A small one for children and another suitable for adults. Travis followed them out and convinced Verna to take Zane on a ride in the bigger seat.

At first, Zane enjoyed the sensation of greater height and sitting in her lap but as his father pushed harder, he started to get scared. He clung to her t-shirt and buried his face in her chest. She smiled but said, “Travis, stop pushing so hard.”

Zane whimpered in agreement.

For a moment, Travis didn’t listen, but when he realized she was serious he relented and they slowed down. Zane’s face remained snuggled against her and Travis grinned. “It’s okay, son. You can look now.”

Zane looked up and saw his father crouching in front of them and smiled, but refused to let go of Verna’s t-shirt so she carried him back inside. They had to take the cookies out of the oven and wait for them to cool, so after placing them on the counter they headed to the playroom to clean up in there before they got ready to leave.

After they were done in the playroom, Travis poured some milk for Zane and placed a few cookies on a plate. The rest went in a box for him to take home.

Wendy still hadn’t arrived by the time they got to her place so they left the boy there with Eva and promised to be back before he went to sleep. They grabbed hamburgers from a steak house for dinner and returned to Wendy’s to find Zane preparing for a bath.

Travis offered to do it himself. “Come up,” he invited Verna.

Travis scrubbed him clean, dried him and put him in a blue all-in-one. By the time they finished, Wendy still wasn’t home and Travis decided to ask Verna what had been on his mind all evening.

He walked up to her and put his arms around her. Looking down into her brown eyes, he started, “Verna, I don’t want to leave Zane here with Eva. She has enough to do without nanny duty. So we have two options. I can stay here and let you go home alone…” Verna tensed. “Or we can take him home with us.”

She thought about it for a full minute before bending down to Zane’s level and asking, “How would you like to come home with us? You can see where I live.”

Zane beamed and jumped up and down in excited agreement. So they packed a bag with his things and left a note for his mother with the housekeeper.

As soon as they got to her house, they put him in Stacey’s old bed and Verna sang him an Italian lullaby. When he finally dozed off, they both kissed him and went to their room. They took a totally platonic shower and fell into bed.

“You were great with Zane, babes.”

“Yeah?”

He put his arms around her. “Sure, you were awesome.” Pause. “Sorry for all the questions he fired at you… and me.”

She laughed a little. “Oh, I kind of liked the questions.” She paused, opened her mouth to say something then decided against it.

He began kissing her and she forgot all about it.