Love by Love – 32
Barbra Jean picked them up from the airport two weeks later. The kids were excited that their parents were back, Cheyenne and Kyra wanted to go to the airport too, but they had to go to school. So Barbra Jean just took Jake along with Henry to pick them up. Jake missed Reba so bad. He wouldn't let her leave his sight again.
"I'm going to the bathroom honey." Reba told the boy who hugged her leg tight.
"No!" The toddler wouldn't budge. He ended up sitting in front of the bathroom waiting for Reba to come out and pick him up.
"I miss you too, baby. I won't leave you again, I promise." Reba pecked her baby lightly on his lips, making him giggled.
"So, tell me where did you go." Barbra Jean was still waiting to hear about the trip that should have been hers. Blake found cheap packages to Italy for two online, and he bought them with the intention of taking Barbra Jean. He later felt guilty that he never took Rebecca to Italy. It was the place she kept begging him to take her when they were married, but he kept putting it off. Since the packages weren't refundable, he sold them to Brock.
"Oh, we had fun. I wish we had more time though." Reba mumbled, sitting Jake nearby and giving him toys she bought for him and some for Henry. "Two weeks starting from Venice to Rome, Pompeii, then Sicily, ain't enough! We spent most of our time in the tour bus making comments like 'Oh look, here's the Colosseum!' Then we all rushed out of the bus, snapped a few pictures and rushed back in the bus. Almost seemed like we went to steal something and had to make a quick escape."
"You mean my trip to Paris next month would be something like this too?" Barbra Jean pouted.
"If Blake bought it from the same tour company, then be prepared for a 'sneak peak tour' rather than a real visit."
"Well, I think it's good. We got to see a lot of places in a very short period of time. So we can mark where we'd like to see more. When we go back next time, we could do our own tour." Brock squeezed her torso and kissed the top of her head.
"I guess you're right. We did toss a coin into the Trevi fountain. We'll go back to Rome someday," said Reba. "Here, why don't we look at the pictures we took."
"Oh you went on a Gondola ride?" Barbra Jean looked at the picture that Brock took of the man who operated the Gondola.
"Yeah, Reba really killed the mood for that one." Brock mustered.
Turning her head sharply at him, Reba yelled, "What did I do?"
"I was trying to kiss her and be romantic, and she burst out 'What's that smell?' And she asked what the heck I ate. She said she wouldn't let me into the hotel room if I didn't get rid of it all before we go back."
"I'm sorry, honey. I didn't know the water could smell that bad." Reba apologized guiltily for blaming him and for killing the mood. "But I did make it up to you, didn't I?" She winked naughtily. Brock smiled recalling the night.
"Who's this?" Rolling her eyes at the love birds, Barbra Jean flipped through pictures and stopped at one where Brock stood by some type of a woman sculpture with his hand placed at her breast.
"That's Juliet's statue," told Brock.
"I kept telling him to put his hand elsewhere, but he insist on grabbing her." Reba remarked looking at the picture she took of her husband.
"Everybody else does it." Brock piped up defending himself.
"And here we are, in front of the Tower of Pisa. Brock asked the tour guide to take our pictures." Reba showed Barbra Jean the picture of her leaning over to the side trying to be parallel with the towel. "And here I am, losing my balance and falling from leaning a little too much and Brock tried to catch me."
"Nice catch, Brock." Barbra Jean teased about where his hand was when he tried to catch her from falling.
"I didn't intend to, really. Although I must admit, hers felt better then Juliet's." Brock commented with a chuckle.
Grabbing the picture from Barbra Jean, Reba laughed, "I didn't even pay attention to where his hand was. Anyway, moving on." Reba told more about what she saw in Italy. "The town, the architecture, the buildings, they're all fascinating. Too bad we couldn't even stop in some of those cities. We poked our head out of the bus and quickly snapped the pictures. We did stay in Rome for couple of days, it is a very romantic city."
"Catacomb was my favorite part of touring Rome." Brock commented mischievously
"Why is that?" Barbra Jean looked at a few pictures he took from Catacomb that Reba refused to be in the picture except at the entrance. Barbra Jean didn't think she liked it either.
"Well, you know I tried to make Reba watch horror movies with me, or took her to theme park's haunted house, but she never afraid of those. But she's afraid of Catacomb. So she never left my side and held me close. And when a man and a woman stayed that close, it's rewarding." Brock told his reason with a playful grin, glancing at Reba.
"You didn't think it was the rest of the Rome that put me in the romantic mood?"
"Well... I guess, that's too."
"Anyway, what impressed us the most was Sicily." Reba continued telling the story.
"Isn't that the land of the Godfather?" Barbra Jean perked up.
"Well, it was the offer we couldn't refuse," said Brock with a chuckle.
Glaring at both of them annoyingly, Reba ignored them as she continued. "The places are beautiful, the people are nice and the food, gosh, I wouldn't be able to enjoy the food from Italian restaurant that has been 'Americanized' again. Especially seafood. And oh, Arancine, if you have chance to go there, you gotta try it! Made from rice, some type of pasta sauce, cheese... just to think about it made my mouth water."
"I like the spleen burger from the sidewalk vendor." Brock put in his two cents.
"Oh yeah, that." Reba snickered. "Brock and I saw a guy standing by the sidewalk eating a burger. And Brock wanted to try it. So we found a stand that sold them. Brock ordered one and I asked him if I could have a bite. Then I heard the vendor shouting. I was thinking 'did he just yell at me?' And Brock was looking back like 'Do I look like I can speak Italian?' It turned out the guy said 'why share, here take one, I'm giving it to you, beautiful lady, for free. Isn't he sweet? And it taste good by the way. Not like our regular fatty burgers at all."
"Wow, sounds like you two really had fun." Barbra Jean paid attention. Reba sighted, reminiscing about her trip, she was interrupt by Jake pulling at her blouse.
"Mommy, potty." The boy announced at the same time as Brock started to sniff the air around him.
"Phew… Jake, you have to tell us you need potty before, not after." Reba stated. "Brock can you please clean him up?"
"Awe man!" Cried Brock, but he stood up and took the boy by his hand and walked him to the bathroom.
Reba snickered watching Jake walked uncomfortably as she murmured. "There goes my appetite." Barbra Jean laughed at her comment. "Anyway, one time we were visiting the town near Cathedral of Randazzo, we saw a group of people were shouting at each other. And I though, oh God, any minute now one of them is gonna pull out a gun and start shooting people. But the tour guide said they were just discussing soccer. I guess people just misunderstood them because they could put so much emotion in their speech and their body language." Snickering, she continued, "And let me tell you about Sicilian men. They are so handsome. One of them hit on me, I was thinking 'man, I wish I wasn't here with my husband'. He was tall, tanned, with dark hair and blue eyes…"
"Who are you talking about?" Brock came back to join the conversation.
Startled just a little, Reba replied, "You, honey." Brock smiled. She then mouthed 'that was close' to her friend when Brock put his attention back to his son who started to yawn. Henry yawned too.
"Anyway, I'd like to sit and chat some more, but I gotta go put Henry down for his afternoon nap. Thanks for the souvenirs."
"You're welcome. And thanks for looking after the kids for us." Reba hugged her friend loosely, but Barbra Jean squeezed her tight.
"God, I'm glad you're back! I miss you, I miss you, I miss you!"
"Easy there, I'm still breakable." Reba cried for air. Barbra Jean finally left. Reba put Jake down for a nap.
"Vacation's over, now what?" Questioned Brock.
"Well… It's another two hours before Kyra and Cheyenne come back from School…" Reba run her hand along the hem of his shirt collar.
"Ooh, I like where this is going." Brock beamed.
"Yep, we could take a nap, 'cause the jetlag is catching up on me."
"Fine, we'll nap." Brock pecked her lips, taking her hand to their bedroom. Reba flopped down and sighed.
"It's good to be back home. I really had fun in Italy, even with a sneak peak tour. Thank you, honey."
"You're welcome. Next time we could go as a family, and tour on our own." Brock grinned and accepted her hot thank you kiss. And who could just roll over and take a nap after a kiss like that?