Chapter 14

(3 years later)

Lenny, now twenty-six, was living the life he'd never thought he'd be living. He loved his work, he loved his home, and he loved his family. Everyday at work was a piece of cake. Mainly because Dustin, who was both older and had been a part of the business longer, would usually be doing all the paperwork and stuff. Lenny did his part too, but what he really loved was seeing the kids. A few times each week, he would take a break from his boring office papers and do what he could to help with the kids. They were always happy to see him there. And he was always happy to play with them or help them with their problems. He figured doing so helped him to become a better father to Kendall.

As much as he loved being with the kids though, it didn't always keep him away from his desk. During the day, as so often happens with most working people, he would start to wish he was at home with Kylie and Kendall. When Kendall was born, Kylie resigned her job in the organization to take care of the home. This meant Lenny almost never got to see her during the day anymore. So he kept a recent photo of the three of them on his desk at work. If his mind and heart ever yearned for them, he would glance at the photo to remind himself that they would be there when he went home at the end of the day. Sometimes the picture would distract him completely. It was a lovely family photo and that was a fact. Lenny had his right fin around Kylie, who was gazing at him lovingly, and Kendall was sitting on his left shoulder. Sometimes it annoyed Lenny that he stuck out like a sore fin because he was the only family member in the picture not wearing a scarf. Kylie was wearing her signature blue floral scarf and Kendall was wearing the striped yellow and black scarf Lenny had given him for Christmas. The story behind that was Lenny had seen the scarf on sale at a kids store and it instantly brought back memories of "Sebastian the whale washin' dolphin". So he bought it and Kendall adored it so much that he almost never took it off. That was clearly a trait he'd inherited from Kylie; they both loved scarves.

Lenny and Dustin ran the lost and found organization the way they both thought leaders should. With smiles, patience, giving their employees a good laugh from time to time, and showing that they cared about the kids not money or power. All the things Lino never did as a leader. Lenny knew that being a team leader did not mean one had the authority to use fear as a control stick to use at their pleasure. What would that accomplish? Only making him the most feared, or as he saw the most hated, creature in the ocean. Sure everyone would obey him, but at what cost? Only to have them leave his sight and tell everyone they knew that they hated him? Yeah, like he wanted to live to be hated by all who surrounded him. He and Dustin ran things just fine without having to use the iron fist.

One day, the two co-presidents were finishing some last-minute paperwork… well, one of them was anyway. Lenny was too distracted by his precious family photo to concentrate.

Dustin laughed and said, "Hey, family man." Lenny looked up at him. "These papers aren't gonna sign themselves," Dustin continued.

Lenny scoffed. "I know, I know. Sometimes it's just hard for me to think about anything else."

"Oh come on, Lenny," Dustin joked. "You'll see them in like ten minutes."

"Do you know how long that is in my mind?"

"Lenny, sometimes I get the feeling you think one day Kylie's gonna take Kendall, run away, and leave you all alone," said Dustin.

"… I can honestly say up 'til now, that's never crossed my mind," said Lenny. "Thanks a lot for pointing out that possibility."

"It's not a possibility, it's just a joke."

"A kinda cruel one, don't ya think?"

"No, a funny one," said Dustin with a smile.

Lenny rolled his eyes. "Dustin, the only reason why it's funny for you is 'cause you've been single your whole life and wouldn't understand the pain of possibly being ditched by your girl."

"Oh yeah? Well…" Dustin made a serious face. "Touché."

The two friends laughed and Lenny looked down at the paper on his desk that he hadn't finished filling out.

Dustin could tell he was still anxious to get home to his family. "Ya know what? Why don't you get going on home? I'll stay behind and finish up here."

"You sure?" Lenny asked hopefully.

"Positive," said Dustin with a wink. "There's not that much. I can get it all done in a few minutes."

"Dustin, you rock," Lenny said happily.

"Say hi to the family for me."

"Can do."

Lenny was out of the office in a heartbeat. He felt like a prisoner being freed from his cell after years of rotting in jail. He couldn't wait to see his wife and son. But he didn't officially feel completely happy until he was in his bedroom being greeted by Kylie with a kiss.

"You're home early," she said.

"Yeah, work was kinda slow today and I couldn't stay away from you any longer."

Kylie gave him a loving gaze. "You are too much of a dreamboat."

Lenny returned the gaze and said, "That's not a problem, is it?"

"Not at all."

Before the two of them could get any closer…

"Daddy!"

Kendall, who had just woken up from his nap, swam up to Lenny with a flower in his fin.

Lenny lifted Kendall up, not paying a lot of attention to the flower, and said, "Hey, Kendall. How ya doin' today?"

Lenny took a brief moment to look over his son. Seeing him in that yellow-and-black scarf was always a sight that brought back rare memories of him (Lenny) actually being happy on the South Side Reef. Kendall really did look a lot like he did when he was three, except for those refreshing olive green eyes, which he'd gotten from Kylie's side. But Kendall had inherited much more than physical traits from his parents. One only had to spend five minutes with him to realize that he truly was his father and mother's son. He was shy and timid like Lenny but not quite as jumpy. He always maintained a calm and practical nature like Kylie. He was really close to his parents so they were usually the only ones who saw the more playful side of him, especially on weekends when they would take him for swims around the reef. He loved nature, just like Kylie, so on weekdays when Lenny would work, the two of them would spend outdoor time on their own. Sometimes Kylie would take him to see Lenny at work and play with the lost kids in the organization. The latter didn't always succeed because of Kendall's shyness, but Lenny and Kylie still loved him. And like them both, Kendall was a vegetarian. They valued this, but Lenny was determined to always love Kendall regardless of what he ate.

"So what've you both been up to today?" Lenny asked Kylie, still holding onto Kendall.

"Let's see," Kylie tried to remember. "We went for a little swim this morning and then after lunch we went to visit my parents."

"Sounds like a good day," said Lenny. He looked at Kendall. "Were you good for Grandma and Grandpa?"

"Yup," Kendall replied. "But Aunt Kelsey sure wasn't."

"Uh oh, what'd she do this time?"

Kylie crossed her fins and said, "Well, she was kicking her soccer ball around inside the house, which my parents have already told her a million times not to do, and broke my mom's antique teapot."

Lenny knew how important that old teapot was to Kara. "Wow, I bet your mom wasn't happy."

"You'd win that bet," said Kylie. "For the next month, Kelsey's banned from TV, soccer, dessert, and phone privileges."

"Talk about bringin' down the hammer," Lenny teased. "But can't say she doesn't deserve it. She's eighteen, when is she ever gonna grow up?"

"I think Aunt Kelsey's grown up," said Kendall.

Lenny smiled at his son's humor. "That's because she's fifteen years older than you."

"Kendall, show Daddy what you picked for me on our swim today," said Kylie.

Kendall held the flower he was holding up to Lenny's face. Now that his mind had been called to it, Lenny could clearly see that it was Kylie's very favorite flower. That's right, a blue carnation.

"You picked that for your mama?" Lenny asked. "Well aren't you just a little lover boy?"

"Yes he is, unlike his daddy," Kylie teased. "Notice that unlike the corsage you gave me on our first date, this flower is a whole flower. All petals are still intact and not one is a part of someone's digestion."

Lenny laughed nervously. "Kylie, please. Not in front of our son, he looks up to me."

"Only because he doesn't know you as well as I do," said Kylie. "You can really learn a thing or two about being romantic from him."

Lenny scoffed. "Yeah, yeah."

"Here you go, Mama." Kendall handed Kylie the carnation.

"Thank you, Kendall. I'll put it in a vase later. Now go on and play until dinner time."

"Okay." Lenny set Kendall back down to the floor and he went off to play with his collection of stuffed animals.

"Speaking of dinner," Lenny said to Kylie, "what is it? I'm starvin'."

"I figured you'd be hungry when you got home, so I ordered from the Chinese restaurant's takeout menu. I called them twenty minutes ago, so it'll be about another ten minutes. Sorry, I didn't know you'd be home so soon."

"It's fine, I can wait," Lenny insisted.

"Good," said Kylie. "And I hope you really are starving because I also called the sweets shop and ordered your favorite dessert."

Lenny liked the sound of that. "Kelp-flavored ice cream cake?"

"Only the best for my Lenny-Wenny."

Lenny smiled. "You're too good to me, ya know that?"

"Why shouldn't I be?" Kylie asked. "I fell for you the moment I first saw you, I pledged my undying love to you, and I mothered your child. You both deserve to be spoiled."

"At least I'm more spoiled than he is," Lenny said, looking over at their son who was playing with his stuffed beluga. "Ya know? I never thought bein' a parent could be so easy."

"Me neither," said Kylie.

"I don't know why your dad's always sayin' it's the most exhausting thing in the world."

Kylie rolled her eyes. "Maybe because raising seven girls who are all super close together in age is a much bigger challenge than one little boy."

Lenny never really put that into consideration. "Yeah, that could be it."

Kylie chuckled. "I remember when I was Kendall's age, I was sitting on my dad's shoulder and my mom was introducing me to Kandice for the first time. Then when Kandice was three she was on my dad's shoulder, he was trying to balance her and hold Karissa at the same time, my Mom was holding Katrina, and I was trying not to drag Kayla on the ground. And when Kayla was three, she was hiding behind my dad because newborn Kelsey was crying too loud and my dad already had his fins full because he was holding the twins by the fin to make sure they didn't fall down."

"That sounds like a party," said Lenny. "It also sounds luxurious. When I was three, my brother was chasing me around the living room with my mom's lipstick."

"Oh, well I guess you win for worst childhood memory then."

"At least I learned from it," Lenny admitted.

"You learned never to do embarrassing things to your family members?" Kylie guessed.

"No, I learned that a shark with my skin tone should never wear pink," Lenny joked. "But that's a pretty good learning experience too."

Kylie laughed. "Well either way, I'm pretty sure we won't see Kendall parading around wearing any of my lipstick. It's mostly pink and he has your skin tone."

The couple laughed together.

"I want him to have a better childhood than I did," Lenny said hopefully.

"From the looks of it, I'd say he already does," said Kylie.

And that was a basic day in Lenny's life. But unbeknownst to both Lenny and Kylie, it would also be the last day like it.

End of chapter