Guy's Weekend part V

Kyle was eating his oatmeal when Stella began to stir. He got up and poured a big glass of orange juice and took it over to her.

"Oh, thanks," she said taking the glass as she sat up. She looked down, hoping she was decent.

"You're dressed, don't worry," Kyle assured her.

"Wow, so I'm the worst role model ever."

"Why do you say that?" Stella gave him a you-know-what-I-mean look. "I figured you liked the couch. I didn't hear you come home last night."

"Hmmm," she said skeptically.

"This is your house, you're an adult, it's all good. Drink your juice, you're dehydrated."

"And you know this how?" She asked taking a sip.

"My dad makes everyone think he's an angel, but he's not. You pick up things if you pay attention. Like how much water he drinks after a night out," Kyle said with a smile.

Standing just inside the bedroom door Kelly smiled at Kyle's gentleness with Stella in trying not making her feel awkward. Not to mention his secret about Matt. He recalled his talk with Kyle last night and wondered if having the boy in his life had held his love life back at all. But the more he thought about it the more he realized it hadn't. In fact Kyle never seemed to act jealous, and like last night, encouraged him to find love. The only time he saw him balk was when he had decided to move to Spain with Renee.

"Good morning guys," Kelly said as he arrived in the living room area. "How do you feel?"

"Alive. What time is it?"

"9:00. I didn't get up too early, just like you told me." Kyle boasted.

"You did great kiddo. What are you eating?"

"Oatmeal. It's all you had. Thanks for having the almond milk."

"No problem. What do you have to do today?"

"Rehearsal for the Saint Patrick's Day fling. But that's not until 1:00."

"Who is that with?"

"The guys that I was with on the pier."

"When you weren't supposed to be there?"

"Yep. That's them. But now that Dad knows about it and realized that the group had no idea that I was sneaking around and are quite responsible, I get to sing with them. He called them and got the schedule and set the ground rules so they're on the same page."

Kelly marveled at all of Matt's responsibilities. Between his two jobs, he had to keep track of Kyle's schedule, arrange rides, ensure he had everything he needed for sports, for home, for school. It exhausted him just to think about it. He had no idea how the man managed when he had added alderman to his list of duties.

"Okay, 1:00, that's not too bad. We can chill this morning."

"I'm going to take a shower and a nap." Stella said as she stretched.

"I'll make coffee," Kelly said already filling up the pot with water.

While Stella napped the boys lounged around watching mindless television and not talking about anything important. They finally took their turns in the shower and eventually left for Kyle's rehearsal.

Kelly settled into a seat and texted Stella to see how she was feeling. Kyle was right, there was a thread of something beyond friendship swirling around, but so far neither had grasped it or made much of an attempt to gather it up.

Watching Kyle on stage was like watching someone putting on their very favorite jeans, that not only looked great, but felt so comfortable. He was having a great time, and the fun he spoke of that one day during their walk outside of the firehouse was shining through. It was clear he was totally in his element.

Kelly had no idea where all of Kyle's energy came from as the kid didn't sleep all that long the night before, but here he was running up the aisle begging to go to Millennium Park. "Please, please. It's not that cold out."

A half hour later, all zipped up, with hats pulled down over their ears and hands shoved into gloves they were making faces at Cloud gate or more commonly known as the Bean , watching their distorted reflections. They finally stepped away, allowing some tourists a turn.

"I came here that night," Kyle confided. "That night I was out."

"How come?"

"I like it here. I have this great memory with my mother and a magic show. It's one of the few things I have left of her."

"You were so young when you lost her."

"I lost her before that, we just didn't know it yet. She was married and a mother to her job. It's okay, I wasn't planned, I get it, not every woman has that maternal instinct."

"She loved you. I know she did. I saw it myself."

"I don't doubt it. But her priorities were elsewhere. So I cling to the few memories that I have where she had made me feel special, important." Before Kelly could respond, Kyle started walking. "Come on old man, keep up."

"Old man?" Kelly said as he started to chase Kyle who had begun to run.

After walking around and playing hide and seek around the figures at the Boeing galleries they headed back to the car, cold and winded. It took Kyle all of one minute to complain that he was hungry.

"Didn't you eat earlier today?"

"Yeah at 9:00 this morning. Well I did have a peanut butter sandwich before we left."

"Well, I'm hungry too. Any ideas?"

"Veggie Grill, it's not far from home, cafeteria style and has my favorites and meat for you."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

After a good meal, they were finally back at Kyle's apartment. "Even though it was only twenty-four hours ago, that we were here, it feels like a life time." Kelly said.

"When is my dad coming home?"

Kelly looked at the clock that showed was after five. "Pretty soon. Gabby will be with him too."

"Huh?"

"You asked about when your dad was coming home, Gabby is coming home too."

"I know."

"Problems?" Kelly asked, his eyebrows raising.

"No, she's cool. She makes him happy, and that's a good thing."

"Does she make you happy?"

"Yeah. It's complicated though. But I love her."

"I know that she loves you."

"Let's play hide and seek," Kyle suddenly shouted not wanting to get trapped into a conversation about his feelings for Gabby. "You're it."

"But we already played that at the park," Kelly protested not wanting to get up off the couch.

"Yeah, but you can't really hide behind those things—it was more like an advanced version of peek-a-boo. Start counting."

Kelly indulged his godson and began to count. Two minutes later he saw movement behind him as Kyle slipped out from behind his bedroom door and made a break for home base also known as the couch. Kelly caught up with him three feet from the prize and lifted him high up in the air and tossed him on the couch. "Got ya," he teased.

"I was so close."

"Yes you were. What's that?" Kelly asked as he heard a key in the lock and the door swinging open.

"Hey guys," Matt said as he set two bags down next to the couch.

Kyle, who was standing on the sofa, bounced up and right into his father's arms. "Daddy, did you miss me?"

"Of course I did. Were you good for Kelly?"

"Of course I was," he replied.

"Gabby has something for you." Matt said, setting his son down.

"Check these out," she said appearing in the room. "We thought of you when we saw these." She pulled out three arrowheads from a bag in her purse.

"Are they real?"

"They are. They were found on the land where we stayed. See how they're all a little bit different?"

"Because they were hand made?"

"That's right."

Kyle put his finger on the points. "They don't feel very sharp. Did they have to be sharper to kill someone?"

"Maybe?" Gabby answered. "They probably were sharper before they used them."

"Don't sharpen them," Matt warned.

"Darn," Kyle said.

"Glad you're back. I'm tapping out dude. This kid is a tornado of energy. He goes and goes and then is totally shut down. He's like a puppy, on and then off."

Matt laughed. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

"He should sleep well tonight. And so will I."

"Well, I am grateful for that. Thank you so much for stepping up and taking him. We had a great time. We really needed the time away. I hope he behaved for you."

"He was great. I'll fill you in tomorrow at work. Hey, little dude, I'm taking off," Kelly announced as he moved towards the door where he left his coat. "I'll see you later."

"Wait," Kyle said as he ran to catch up. "Look at what I got," he said showing off his new souvenirs.

"Those are great."

"Which one is your favorite?"

"I don't know. That one has a little bit of color to it." He said pointing to the middle one in Kyle's hand.

"It's yours," Kyle said handing it to Kelly.

"No, these are for you."

"They were given to me as a gift and that means I can do whatever I want with it. And I want to give it to you."

Behind Kyle both Matt and Gabby gave looks just short of astonishment at Kyle's generosity.

"Well, if you change your mind and want it back, just let me know."

"Okay. Bye Kelly. Thanks for all everything. I had a lot of fun!"

"Me too kid. See ya later."

"Well, I'm going to take a hot shower and put my comfy jammies on." Gabby announced. "I can't believe I have to work tomorrow. Those two days flew by."

As Gabby headed towards the bedroom and then the bathroom, Matt pulled Kyle over to the couch where they both sat down. "So tell me all about your weekend."

"Well, I scored a goal in the second game in my tournament—five hole. I got a pass from Jack on the point..."

Matt just sat and listened to his son go over his weekend piece by piece and like Kelly knew these conversations, these moments were fleeting and he was going to enjoy every last second of them before they completely slipped away.

There may be a delay in the coming weeks as I'm putting together quite an adventure for Kyle and I want to make sure it comes out right. I am doing my best to keep on track, but if I don't post in the next couple of weeks don't give up on me.