Legacy
Chapter 4
"Hey."
"Hey yourself." Mark said coming in the door and grabbing her around the waist pulling her in close for a kiss. Suddenly he stopped the kiss short and pulled back. "Sorry."
"Sorry what?" Chelsea looked up, confused.
"Well, is that okay? I mean to do, now that he's back and well here. Where he can see us?" Mark asked hesitantly.
"Oh God you're right! That's the last thing I want my eight-year-old seeing! Me kissing someone! Especially in New York. You know he's never been exposed to anything like that at all!" She laughed at him.
"Well, I don't know. Honestly, I really don't know anything about kids. I've never really been around them, I mean since the time I wasn't one anymore." He could feel his cheeks getting hot.
"It's okay. Really." She took him by the hand and led him into the living room. "Adam, come meet Mark."
"Okay. Ew, ew, ew! I made it into Moltran's lair!"
Chelsea couldn't help but laugh at the confused look on Mark's face. "Video game." She explained to him as she sat them down on the couch. "So how are you?"
"You mean since I talked to you this morning?" He grinned. "About the same. Kind of missed you though." He kissed her cheek. "I mean I see you everyday for ten straight days, and then nothing for a week."
She laughed. "I know. I'm sorry. This was just my week to work four days, and with him being gone for so long, and school starting in just a few weeks I felt like I needed to spend some major time with him. But I did kind of miss you too." She kissed him.
"Good." Mark told her between kisses, which then got deeper.
"Ewwww. Teeth hockey!"
The kiss broke apart. Mark felt himself immediately start to blush, but Chelsea just laughed. "The word is tonsil hockey Adam. If you're going to learn crude things from your cousins, learn them right."
"Okay. Ewwww, tonsil hockey!" He started laughing.
"Oh behave!" She grabbed him and pulled him onto her lap. "This is Mark. Mark this is Adam."
"Hi."
"Hey. How ya doing." Mark said shaking his head. He hadn't remembered feeling this awkward in a long time.
"So I told Mark we'd do something with him today. That okay with you?''
"What are we gonna do?" He looked at Mark.
"Um, what do you want to do?"
"Go to a Yankee game."
"Um, um, we don't have tickets, but I guess we could try a scalper or something. I'd have to get more money I guess."
"Adam! He's kidding Mark." She turned back to Adam. "How about something that won't cost your first year's college tuition." She suggested.
"Okay," He grinned. It was a devilish grin, Mark could tell that already. "How about we go roller blading?"
"Um, I haven't roller bladed in about ten years, and unfortunately my blades are at my mom's house."
"Your blades are still at grandma's too sweetie. How about something else. Mark? Any suggestions?"
Think Mark, think. What else do little kids like? Food? Pizza? "How about we go for pizza?"
"That sounds good." Chelsea smiled.
"Depends. What do you get on yours?"
Mark could tell he was being sized up. A lot hinged on this answer. Oh well, go with the truth. "Meat. You gotta have meat on a pizza. No veggies. Veggies do not belong on a pizza at all." Mark watched a small smile spread across Adam's face. Apparently he gave the correct answer.
"Then what?"
Mark looked from Adam to Chelsea and back to Adam. He hadn't thought that far ahead. What did he used to do on Saturday nights? Back when he went out? Think Cohen. We went to bars and clubs. Well, that's definitely out. What else? Well, this could either fly or not, but give it a shot. "Well, they're showing a movie over in the park."
"A movie? In a park?" Adam asked somewhat skeptically.
"Well, it's kinda cool really. It's outdoors. They project it up on the side of a building. And cause your outside, you bring a blanket and lay on the ground and eat all the junk food and stuff that you brought."
"What kind of movie?"
"Well, you may not like it all that much, but the cool thing is, if you don't, that's okay. Because it's outside if you don't like it, you can play your game boy while it's going on, and no one will care."
"Really?" He looked to his mother.
"Sure." She told him.
"Okay, as long as I can bring my game boy." He stood up. "And we get junk food."
"Yeah, we can get junk food." Mark told him, and then quickly added, "um, if that's okay with your mom."
Chelsea couldn't help but laugh. She knew it was all a test on Adam's part. And Mark was kinda cute, not knowing what to say to Adam. "I suppose. Now go clean your room up some, we have awhile before we have to go."
"It is clean."
"Let's go for cleaner. That big square thing with drawers is a dresser."
"Really? What do you use that for?" Adam teased her.
"Not that you can tell from your room, but for putting things in!" She gave him a playful smack on his butt. "Now go work on that room, or it's veggie pizza, and at the movie all you get is an apple an a book!"
"A book? I'm going!" He took off for his room laughing.
Mark couldn't help laughing at him. "So did I pass?" He asked Chelsea.
She grinned at him. "I think so." She looked off towards his room before turning back to Mark. "So what do you think of him?"
"He seems great. He's a real smart ass thought isn't he?"
"Oh yeah." She agreed, smiling as she shook her head. "He's always got cocky comment, but not in a bad way. He just sort of tells it how it is. He makes me laugh all the time."
"That's good. So going back to our original conversation, kissing you while he's around is okay?"
"Yes, it's okay."
"Good." He leaned in and kissed her again.
**********
"Mark wake up." Chelsea shook him while kissing his forehead.
"I guess I fell asleep. What time is it?" He rubbed his eyes and stretched as she sat down next to him on the couch.
"Almost two. How was he?" She threw her legs over his lap.
"Fine. He's a great kid, really. But he had a stomachache before he went to bed. I gave him some of the pink stuff in the bathroom."
"What did he eat?"
"Nothing unusual. We got pizza for dinner, with soda. And then ice cream. A pretzel at the park. Another soda. And then we had popcorn and microwave so'mores and soda with the movie."
"Well no wonder he didn't feel good. I can't believe he ate all that. He knows he's not supposed to have soda with dinner. Or all that other crap."
Mark got a guilty look on his face. "But he said you always get him a pretzel, and soda with pizza. And let him have ice cream and all that with a movie."
She laughed. "He told you that huh? Sweetie, you got scammed! He knows he can't have all that and conned it out of you."
"Oh, sorry."
"Don't worry about it." She said still laughing. "However he and I are going to have a conversation tomorrow. But thank you so much for watching him. It was just crazy at work."
"It was no problem. It was fun. We had a good time."
"Well, I appreciate it, really." She kissed him.
"How long are you going to have to work this extra shift?"
"Well, luckily, it's only a half shift, and the nurse we are covering is only part time, so it's only for a couple of weeks till she's off medical leave. But it will be a nice bit of extra money. I'm going to just put it away till Christmas."
"That's a good idea."
"Yeah, I want to get him a new keyboard. The one he plays now is my old one, but it works, and was way easier than buying a piano or moving the one from my mom's."
"He'll like that. He's really talented. Apparently in more ways than one I guess." He gave her a little smile. "You're not mad are you?"
"At you? No, not at all. You didn't know any better. He did, but I guess that's what eight year olds do to unsuspecting babysitters." She laughed again. "I can't believe he conned you into all that!"
"Come to think of it, every time he asked me for something he got that grin on his face. You know the one I mean?"
"Oh yes. He gets that every time he's screwing with you. Just like his--, just like some people do." She looked down at her lap.
"Hey, it's okay. I know you were gonna say just like his father, and if you didn't because of me, don't worry about it. It doesn't bother me."
"I know. I'm sorry."
They sat there for a minute or two without talking before Mark spoke. "Does he ever ask about his dad?"
"Yes, I mean he has in the past."
"What do you tell him?"
"That his dad was a great guy, who had a few problems and wouldn't have been able to take care of him. But that doesn't make him a bad person."
"That's a pretty good answer." He told her, intertwining their fingers.
"I hope so." She sat there for a second before squeezing his hand and standing up. "Come on, let's go to bed."
********** "Mom?" Came the voice accompanying the knocking.
"What baby?" Chelsea asked sleepily.
"When are you guys getting up? I'm hungry."
"I thought we had a deal. I thought you were gonna eat an apple when you got up on a Saturday to hold you over till I got up and made breakfast?"
"I did. Two hours ago!"
"Oh."
Mark rolled over and pulled Chelsea closer to him. "What time is it?" He asked groggily.
"9:47." Adam answered.
"Sorry baby, I didn't know it was getting that late. I got home from work late last night and Mark and I sat up talking. I'll get up in a few minutes and make you waffles. Okay?"
Adam made a face. "Okay, I guess."
"What's the matter?" She rolled to look at him. "You love waffles."
"No, I love grandma's waffles. Her's come out of a waffle thing, yours come out of the freezer and the toaster."
Mark sat up, leaning on his elbow. "How about we have my kind of waffles. I'll make them."
"What kind are yours?" Adam asked him.
"The kind you get at the Life Café. Go get dressed, I'll take us out for breakfast."
"Cool!" And he was gone, headed to his room.
"You don't have to do that sweetie." Chelsea told him, running a finger along his chest.
"Yes I do. I need coffee. Besides, Adam's right, your waffles come out of the freezer! I want real waffles!"
"Oh you are so bad Cohen!" She smacked his arm.
"But that's why you love me, cause I'm so bad!" He started to tickle her.
"Oh, oh, oh, stop!" She tried to fight him off. When he did stop a minute later she tried to catch her breath. "I do you know."
"What?"
"Love you I think." She paused to look up at him. "That gonna scare you off? Woman with a kid who you've only known for a few months telling you she loves you?"
Mark ran a finger down the side of her face, pushing a piece of hair away. "Nope. Not in the least. Makes me feel better."
"What do you mean?"
"Cause I love you too." He leaned in and started to kiss her. The kiss went on for a moment before Adams voice yelled down the hall to them.
"I'm ready. And hungry."
The kiss ended in giggles. "I guess we better get up." Mark told her.
"I guess." She said hesitantly.
"But first I'm gonna kiss you again, then tell you I love you again, then kiss you again. Then we can get up." And he did just that.
Chapter 4
"Hey."
"Hey yourself." Mark said coming in the door and grabbing her around the waist pulling her in close for a kiss. Suddenly he stopped the kiss short and pulled back. "Sorry."
"Sorry what?" Chelsea looked up, confused.
"Well, is that okay? I mean to do, now that he's back and well here. Where he can see us?" Mark asked hesitantly.
"Oh God you're right! That's the last thing I want my eight-year-old seeing! Me kissing someone! Especially in New York. You know he's never been exposed to anything like that at all!" She laughed at him.
"Well, I don't know. Honestly, I really don't know anything about kids. I've never really been around them, I mean since the time I wasn't one anymore." He could feel his cheeks getting hot.
"It's okay. Really." She took him by the hand and led him into the living room. "Adam, come meet Mark."
"Okay. Ew, ew, ew! I made it into Moltran's lair!"
Chelsea couldn't help but laugh at the confused look on Mark's face. "Video game." She explained to him as she sat them down on the couch. "So how are you?"
"You mean since I talked to you this morning?" He grinned. "About the same. Kind of missed you though." He kissed her cheek. "I mean I see you everyday for ten straight days, and then nothing for a week."
She laughed. "I know. I'm sorry. This was just my week to work four days, and with him being gone for so long, and school starting in just a few weeks I felt like I needed to spend some major time with him. But I did kind of miss you too." She kissed him.
"Good." Mark told her between kisses, which then got deeper.
"Ewwww. Teeth hockey!"
The kiss broke apart. Mark felt himself immediately start to blush, but Chelsea just laughed. "The word is tonsil hockey Adam. If you're going to learn crude things from your cousins, learn them right."
"Okay. Ewwww, tonsil hockey!" He started laughing.
"Oh behave!" She grabbed him and pulled him onto her lap. "This is Mark. Mark this is Adam."
"Hi."
"Hey. How ya doing." Mark said shaking his head. He hadn't remembered feeling this awkward in a long time.
"So I told Mark we'd do something with him today. That okay with you?''
"What are we gonna do?" He looked at Mark.
"Um, what do you want to do?"
"Go to a Yankee game."
"Um, um, we don't have tickets, but I guess we could try a scalper or something. I'd have to get more money I guess."
"Adam! He's kidding Mark." She turned back to Adam. "How about something that won't cost your first year's college tuition." She suggested.
"Okay," He grinned. It was a devilish grin, Mark could tell that already. "How about we go roller blading?"
"Um, I haven't roller bladed in about ten years, and unfortunately my blades are at my mom's house."
"Your blades are still at grandma's too sweetie. How about something else. Mark? Any suggestions?"
Think Mark, think. What else do little kids like? Food? Pizza? "How about we go for pizza?"
"That sounds good." Chelsea smiled.
"Depends. What do you get on yours?"
Mark could tell he was being sized up. A lot hinged on this answer. Oh well, go with the truth. "Meat. You gotta have meat on a pizza. No veggies. Veggies do not belong on a pizza at all." Mark watched a small smile spread across Adam's face. Apparently he gave the correct answer.
"Then what?"
Mark looked from Adam to Chelsea and back to Adam. He hadn't thought that far ahead. What did he used to do on Saturday nights? Back when he went out? Think Cohen. We went to bars and clubs. Well, that's definitely out. What else? Well, this could either fly or not, but give it a shot. "Well, they're showing a movie over in the park."
"A movie? In a park?" Adam asked somewhat skeptically.
"Well, it's kinda cool really. It's outdoors. They project it up on the side of a building. And cause your outside, you bring a blanket and lay on the ground and eat all the junk food and stuff that you brought."
"What kind of movie?"
"Well, you may not like it all that much, but the cool thing is, if you don't, that's okay. Because it's outside if you don't like it, you can play your game boy while it's going on, and no one will care."
"Really?" He looked to his mother.
"Sure." She told him.
"Okay, as long as I can bring my game boy." He stood up. "And we get junk food."
"Yeah, we can get junk food." Mark told him, and then quickly added, "um, if that's okay with your mom."
Chelsea couldn't help but laugh. She knew it was all a test on Adam's part. And Mark was kinda cute, not knowing what to say to Adam. "I suppose. Now go clean your room up some, we have awhile before we have to go."
"It is clean."
"Let's go for cleaner. That big square thing with drawers is a dresser."
"Really? What do you use that for?" Adam teased her.
"Not that you can tell from your room, but for putting things in!" She gave him a playful smack on his butt. "Now go work on that room, or it's veggie pizza, and at the movie all you get is an apple an a book!"
"A book? I'm going!" He took off for his room laughing.
Mark couldn't help laughing at him. "So did I pass?" He asked Chelsea.
She grinned at him. "I think so." She looked off towards his room before turning back to Mark. "So what do you think of him?"
"He seems great. He's a real smart ass thought isn't he?"
"Oh yeah." She agreed, smiling as she shook her head. "He's always got cocky comment, but not in a bad way. He just sort of tells it how it is. He makes me laugh all the time."
"That's good. So going back to our original conversation, kissing you while he's around is okay?"
"Yes, it's okay."
"Good." He leaned in and kissed her again.
**********
"Mark wake up." Chelsea shook him while kissing his forehead.
"I guess I fell asleep. What time is it?" He rubbed his eyes and stretched as she sat down next to him on the couch.
"Almost two. How was he?" She threw her legs over his lap.
"Fine. He's a great kid, really. But he had a stomachache before he went to bed. I gave him some of the pink stuff in the bathroom."
"What did he eat?"
"Nothing unusual. We got pizza for dinner, with soda. And then ice cream. A pretzel at the park. Another soda. And then we had popcorn and microwave so'mores and soda with the movie."
"Well no wonder he didn't feel good. I can't believe he ate all that. He knows he's not supposed to have soda with dinner. Or all that other crap."
Mark got a guilty look on his face. "But he said you always get him a pretzel, and soda with pizza. And let him have ice cream and all that with a movie."
She laughed. "He told you that huh? Sweetie, you got scammed! He knows he can't have all that and conned it out of you."
"Oh, sorry."
"Don't worry about it." She said still laughing. "However he and I are going to have a conversation tomorrow. But thank you so much for watching him. It was just crazy at work."
"It was no problem. It was fun. We had a good time."
"Well, I appreciate it, really." She kissed him.
"How long are you going to have to work this extra shift?"
"Well, luckily, it's only a half shift, and the nurse we are covering is only part time, so it's only for a couple of weeks till she's off medical leave. But it will be a nice bit of extra money. I'm going to just put it away till Christmas."
"That's a good idea."
"Yeah, I want to get him a new keyboard. The one he plays now is my old one, but it works, and was way easier than buying a piano or moving the one from my mom's."
"He'll like that. He's really talented. Apparently in more ways than one I guess." He gave her a little smile. "You're not mad are you?"
"At you? No, not at all. You didn't know any better. He did, but I guess that's what eight year olds do to unsuspecting babysitters." She laughed again. "I can't believe he conned you into all that!"
"Come to think of it, every time he asked me for something he got that grin on his face. You know the one I mean?"
"Oh yes. He gets that every time he's screwing with you. Just like his--, just like some people do." She looked down at her lap.
"Hey, it's okay. I know you were gonna say just like his father, and if you didn't because of me, don't worry about it. It doesn't bother me."
"I know. I'm sorry."
They sat there for a minute or two without talking before Mark spoke. "Does he ever ask about his dad?"
"Yes, I mean he has in the past."
"What do you tell him?"
"That his dad was a great guy, who had a few problems and wouldn't have been able to take care of him. But that doesn't make him a bad person."
"That's a pretty good answer." He told her, intertwining their fingers.
"I hope so." She sat there for a second before squeezing his hand and standing up. "Come on, let's go to bed."
********** "Mom?" Came the voice accompanying the knocking.
"What baby?" Chelsea asked sleepily.
"When are you guys getting up? I'm hungry."
"I thought we had a deal. I thought you were gonna eat an apple when you got up on a Saturday to hold you over till I got up and made breakfast?"
"I did. Two hours ago!"
"Oh."
Mark rolled over and pulled Chelsea closer to him. "What time is it?" He asked groggily.
"9:47." Adam answered.
"Sorry baby, I didn't know it was getting that late. I got home from work late last night and Mark and I sat up talking. I'll get up in a few minutes and make you waffles. Okay?"
Adam made a face. "Okay, I guess."
"What's the matter?" She rolled to look at him. "You love waffles."
"No, I love grandma's waffles. Her's come out of a waffle thing, yours come out of the freezer and the toaster."
Mark sat up, leaning on his elbow. "How about we have my kind of waffles. I'll make them."
"What kind are yours?" Adam asked him.
"The kind you get at the Life Café. Go get dressed, I'll take us out for breakfast."
"Cool!" And he was gone, headed to his room.
"You don't have to do that sweetie." Chelsea told him, running a finger along his chest.
"Yes I do. I need coffee. Besides, Adam's right, your waffles come out of the freezer! I want real waffles!"
"Oh you are so bad Cohen!" She smacked his arm.
"But that's why you love me, cause I'm so bad!" He started to tickle her.
"Oh, oh, oh, stop!" She tried to fight him off. When he did stop a minute later she tried to catch her breath. "I do you know."
"What?"
"Love you I think." She paused to look up at him. "That gonna scare you off? Woman with a kid who you've only known for a few months telling you she loves you?"
Mark ran a finger down the side of her face, pushing a piece of hair away. "Nope. Not in the least. Makes me feel better."
"What do you mean?"
"Cause I love you too." He leaned in and started to kiss her. The kiss went on for a moment before Adams voice yelled down the hall to them.
"I'm ready. And hungry."
The kiss ended in giggles. "I guess we better get up." Mark told her.
"I guess." She said hesitantly.
"But first I'm gonna kiss you again, then tell you I love you again, then kiss you again. Then we can get up." And he did just that.
