7: Don't You Love Daddy?

Verna smiled, looking back at her morning at home. They had acted just like a ‘normal’ family. She had made breakfast while Travis made sure Zane was ready in time for the early morning start. By the time she was done getting dressed, Zane had his shoes on and everyone was ready to leave the house. Her smile faded just as quickly when she recalled the time to kiss everyone goodbye in the car.

She had leaned forward and placed on Zane’s forehead and turned to touch lips with his father.

“What’s wong, Daddy?” the little boy had asked. “Don’t you lub Berna anymore?”

Travis had grinned and said, “Of course I do.” And had taken the opportunity to show them both.

She had sat stock still for a moment after the kiss. “Right,” she said. “I’m off.”

Verna had waved once again at Zane as she stepped onto the sidewalk. He had waved back frantically and Travis had turned to wink at his son! That had made Verna narrow her eyes, but she simply walked off.

With a little effort, she managed to shake off the irritation and get on with her work on that Monday morning; however Travis was taking advantage of his son’s presence to take the chance every morning to kiss her properly. Especially on Friday, the day when Travis had a late night meeting and Verna was spending the day with Zane.

That morning, he kissed her so tenderly she rather enjoyed it. He smiled and said, “One more for five to seven.” And he kissed her again, this time pulling her into his arms, causing her to moan before he released her.

She sat back as he casually said goodbye. “Bye, son.”

“Bye Daddy.”

“Bye sweetheart.”

“Bye.”

The ladies in Verna’s department absolutely adored Zane and the child was in awe of the men who played on their computers all day making book covers for people like his Uncle Ted.

They had a great time at lunch time playing games in her office on the carpet and eating alphabet soup and sandwiches. After lunch, Verna set him up next to her desk where she could watch him draw and play while she worked.

When his mother came to collect him, he nearly cried. In fact, a few tear drops did fall down his cheeks and he clung to Verna.

“Are we still gonna make cookies?”

“Of course we’ll make more cookies. We will the next time your Daddy sees you on the weekend. That’s when we’ll make cookies,” she promised.

She stood up and handed Zane over to Wendy. It was a very unorthodox first meeting, but she smiled and gave her Zane’s bag too.

“Thanks for looking after him.”

“No problem, he’s great fun.”

Wendy looked at her as if she were crazy for a moment, but when she glanced at her son, her expression softened.

Verna got a fellow editor to drive her home and Travis took her out for dinner. That night, at eleven fifteen, they had a fight.

“Why don’t you kiss me in public?” he asked her.

She looked at the floor and said, “I didn’t know it was a crime not to.”

He sighed, “It’s not a crime, baby, but I feel as if you’re ashamed of me or something.”

“I told you once bef-”

“That it’s not discreet,” he interrupted sharply. “Why should we be discreet? It’s not like either of us is cheating on another person. At least I’m not,” he added pointedly.

She looked up to face him saying vehemently, “Neither am I!”

“So what is it?” he insisted. “Tell me babes. Do I embarrass you? I can back off it that’s it.”

Verna looked away and said nothing.

Travis waited in silence for her to say something but when the quiet dragged on, he sighed and stood up. He picked up his keys. “I’m going for a drive.”

Verna looked up sharply, but still didn’t speak. She watched him close the door and then she went to her room, turned off the lights and lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling.

It’s not like she was ashamed of him. She just didn’t like the element of staring eyes and knowing looks. It was hard to just let go. But there was something else as well…

She fell asleep and had yet another dream about her kissing Travis in his car without qualms. This time she was disturbed at how real it felt, until she realized that Travis had returned and was murmuring to her between wake-up kisses.

“I’m sorry baby. I won’t force you into anything you don’t want. It just makes me feel weird everyday… don’t go to sleep angry.”

She kissed him back. “I’m not angry, Travis.”

They went through the act of forgiving each other without words. It was two twenty.