Standard disclaimers apply.
Second Chance
Gary walked onto Kaitlyn's porch with his parents. He looked at them and whispered. "Remember what we talked about. Don't mention the paper." Lois and Bernie looked at each other and then back at Gary and shook their heads in agreement.
Gary opened the front door. He could see Kaitlyn standing in the kitchen at the sink her back facing him. Casey was on her step stool standing beside her Mother. Kaitlyn was showing her something.
He closed the door behind his parents Bernie said, "Hey, I heard somebody is cooking dinner hear tonight."
Casey turned around, jumped down off her stool, and ran to greet him. "Grandpa Bernie!" When she reached him he picked her up and gave her a hug.
"How's my girl doing." He said.
"I'm fine except Jessica and Amy won't let me play with them. They said I'm too little." Casey pouted.
"Oh they did, did they. Well I'll just have to have a talk with her later." Bernie said as he tickled her.
Kaitlyn came out of the kitchen wiping her hands on a dishtowel. She had on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Her hair was pulled up in a clip. She smiled when she saw Bernie holding Casey. She kissed Gary and said. "Looks like you've been replaced." She gave Lois a hug.
"Gary, we were cleaning the broccoli. I told Mommy to make it cause its one of our favorites." Casey smiled.
"Kaitlyn, can I help with anything." Lois asked.
"Oh, no please come on in and make yourselves at home." She started for the kitchen and said, "Gary do you wanna grill the steaks?"
"Gary grill the steaks?" Bernie asked. "I think you picked the wrong man for that job." Bernie teased.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Gary said defensively. He looked at Kaitlyn. "This coming from a man who one time burnt all of the hair off of his face. I mean all of the hair, eyebrows, eyelashes…" Lois cut him off.
"Oh, Gary that was a long time ago. Your father learned his lesson about using too much lighter fluid." Lois teased. Casey took her hand and led her into the kitchen.
"Well we don't have to worry about that happening anyway, the grill is gas with an automatic start." Kaitlyn laughed.
"Oh sure, she's got the fancy stuff." Bernie said.
"How about you and your father grill the steaks together." Kaitlyn said diplomatically.
"Yeah, I guess that would be alright. Hey where's Jess." Gary asked.
"She's outside playing with Amy." Kaitlyn said.
Gary had already headed for the refrigerator and pulled out two beers. He handed one to his father.
"Lois can I get you anything to drink." Kaitlyn asked.
"No, honey, I'm fine." Lois smiled. She started to help Kaitlyn with the salad.
"So Gary tells us we might get to meet this famous brother-in-law of yours." Bernie took a drink of his beer.
"Yeah, the Mets are finishing the regular season here in a few weeks. It will be on the weekend you and Lois should come in then, we can all go to the game." Kaitlyn smiled.
Bernie turned towards Gary. "Gar, I hear this guys got an unbelievable fast ball. We are gonna have to make sure we don't take a peek at that sports page so we can enjoy the game."
Kaitlyn was engrossed in fixing the salad. Gary shot his father a look. Bernie looked at him and mouthed "sorry."
"Will your sister be coming to town?" Lois asked quickly.
"Yeah, she usually comes in a few days before Greg." Kaitlyn said. "Gary, you and your father wanna go and light the grill. I'll make sure the fire extinguisher is handy." Kaitlyn joked.
"Very funny." Gary turned to his Dad. "Dad, you see what I gotta put up with."
"I know, I know. Gar, it doesn't get any easier you know." Bernie headed out the door Casey followed behind him, "Hey, messy Jessie. What are you up to?" He screamed.
They had a nice dinner. The girls filled Lois and Bernie in on all the things that they had done since the last time they had talked to them. Jessica talked excitedly about school. She had started 1st grade last week. Casey tried to impress Gary's parents with the fact that she too was in school, even if it was just for a few hours a few days a week.
Gary's parents and Kaitlyn's parents got along very well. Much to Kaitlyn and Gary's dismay, they spent the night laughing and trading stories about their children. It was such a nice night everyone ended up on the front porch. Kaitlyn asked Gary if he would help her with coffee and dessert. He willingly followed her into the house.
When they reached the kitchen. Kaitlyn found out that getting dessert was the last thing on Gary's mind when she ended up in his arms and they started to kiss. She pulled away. "You're supposed to be helping me with dessert." She smiled.
"You taste better than any old pie." He teased and continued to kiss her.
They were quickly interrupted by Jessica's voice. "Ooh they're kissing again." Jessica squirmed. Casey smiled and Kaitlyn buried her head in Gary's chest and began to laugh.
"You know," Gary said very seriously as he pointed to Jessica. "I want you to remember what you just said when you get older and I catch you kissing a boy.
Jessica made a disgusted face and said, "Not me, I'm never kissing a boy."
"Those words could come back to haunt you." Gary teased. "I'm gonna remember that." He made an exasperated face and looked down at Kaitlyn.
"Promise." Kaitlyn smiled giving him a quick kiss.
"I'd kiss a boy." Casey beamed.
"Well, you little miss, I definitely don't want kissing any boys." Gary picked up Casey and she kissed him on the cheek.
"See you're a boy and I kissed you." Casey said.
"Well that's different. You can kiss me as much as you want." Gary smiled as she began to pepper his cheek with kisses. "All right, all right." He said as he put her down.
"Mommy, Grandma said that since I don't have any school tomorrow, we could spend the night? Can we please?" Jessica pleased.
"We'll see." Kaitlyn said and started to make coffee.