Nathan drove his truck to Fiona's house downtown Fall River. She lived in a subdivision where all the houses were very similar. Thankfully he had visited before so he knew which was hers. However, he hadn't met her son Jaden yet and she hadn't met his son Vincent.
Today was the day. They both had the boys that weekend so they were going to barbecue hot dogs for dinner and make s'mores in her fire pit in the backyard once it got dark.
"Vince, we're here. She's nice, bud."
Vince was a quiet kid, more so since Nathan and Renee divorced a few years back.
"I know. Are you going to marry her, Dad? I don't need another mom. I have one."
"Son, its early in our relationship. Right now, we are just dating. I know you have a mom and if I do marry Ms. Miller, it won't be to take her place."
"Promise?"
"Of course."
Nathan did love Fiona. He did plan on marrying her, but not tomorrow. They still needed time to grow closer, to work out certain things in their relationship. He wasn't going to rush because he knew the pain of marrying too soon and not working the details out beforehand.
"I don't want a little brother either. I already have one."
Yes, Renee had had a child, a boy, with her current boyfriend. He was now six months old. She had refused to have another kid with Nathan and that bothered him a lot.
"Vince, listen," Nathan said, parking the car and turning around. "The attitude needs to disappear. We are guests here. You need to be respectful to Ms. Miller and give Jaden a chance. He's little."
"Fine."
"Fine." Sometimes, being a part time dad to a moody ten-year-old was challenging to say the least.
They walked up to the door and rang the bell. "Come in, Nate!" Fiona yelled.
Nathan walked in the door and held it open for his son. "Whoa…is she rich?" Vince said, way too loudly.
"Hey, manners," he told him, his cheeks heating with embarrassment.
"Hi there," Fiona greeted wandering in the room. "You must be Vince." She offered her hand for him to shake.
"Who else would I be?" he muttered.
Nathan grabbed his shoulder, communicating with a firm hand of correction.
"Yes, ma'am. I'm Vince," he said, changing his tone.
Nathan kissed her cheek and grinned as a little boy hid behind her.
"Hey there. I'm Mr. Grant. Are you Jaden?"
Jaden peeked around his mom's hip and stared with big blue eyes. "Yes," he said quietly.
"Nice to meet you."
…..
"I'm so embarrassed," Nathan admitted to her later as they sat around the firepit.
"Its okay. Boys will be boys and I'm sure as Jay gets older, he will embarrass me just as much."
Nathan looked at Vince who was thankfully being nice to Jaden, helping him roast his marshmallow. He even caught a smile on his face when Jaden did something funny.
"I feel like I need to be with him more," he admitted quietly. "But Renee insists that I only get him for the weekend and one week a month."
"What does the court say?"
"We didn't go through the court."
"Well, maybe you should."
"Yeah, I guess, I just thought we could make the adult decisions ourselves, but he needs guidance, and he needs me to provide it or he's going to always act up."
"He needs consistency?" Fiona asked.
"Exactly."
She squeezed his hand. "Nate, you are doing the best you can. You are a good dad."
"I'm not sure about that."
"You are. When he acted up earlier, you put your hand on his shoulder and he changed right then. He listens to you, even if it takes a minute and he knows what's right, because you've told him."
"Thanks for saying that."
"Momma! Look! Vince helped me make it brown! He said it will be all gooey."
"He's right, bud. Where's your graham cracker?"
"I ate it."
She laughed and grabbed him another one. "If you put it between the two crackers, it won't get all over your hands."
"Okay, Momma."
"After you eat that, its time for bath and then bed."
"Awww why?"
"Because I said so, Jaden Michael."
"Can I show Vince my room? Please?"
"Of course you can."
"Cool. Can he stay the night? I have bunk beds, Momma."
"Not tonight. We have to drive to Gamma's tomorrow."
"Oh yeah."
While Jaden showed off his room, Nathan helped Fiona clean up and take everything to the kitchen.
He stepped up behind her, wrapping his arms around her with a sigh. "I love you, Fi."
She turned and smiled at him. "Well, I love you right back."
He dipped his head and kissed her twice.
"Dad?" Vince said from the doorway. "Can we go home now?"
He looked at his son closely. He looked upset. "I guess we should. Its getting late."
He gave Fiona a hug and kissed her forehead. "I'll call you later. Thanks for dinner."
She nodded. "It was nice to meet you, Vince."
"Dad? I want to go."
"Vince….."
"Bye, ma'am." Vince walked to the door and Nathan shook his head.
"Its okay," she whispered. "Love you."
"Love you."
……
The truck was silent as they drove except for sniffling from the back seat.
"Vince."
"You said you weren't going to marry her, Dad."
"No, actually what I said was we are getting to know each other and that if we did get married, she wouldn't be taking your mom's place."
"You kissed her, Dad."
"Yes, I did. She's my girlfriend."
"And you told her you loved her."
"I did, yes." He looked at his son in the mirror for a quick moment. "Why does that bother you? Your mom is seeing Tim. What's different?"
"Now you and Mom will never get back together. Its not fair."
Nathan drove into the parking lot of the ice cream shop. "Let's get some ice cream, Vince."
"We just had marshmallows."
"I know, but we never get ice cream together and I want ice cream."
Vince looked at his Dad and gave him a smile. "Okay. Can I get a sundae?"
"Why not?"
…….
"A picnic on the beach?" Elizabeth repeated. "That sounds perfect."
"Good, I'm glad."
Lucas had been searching for ideas online of all places for perfect first date ideas and he saw that one and decided it would work nicely. He wanted to treat her to some of her favorites, watch the sunset, stargaze and hopefully cash in on that first kiss he knew they'd both been thinking about. A lot.
"Are you ready to start your new job?" she asked, putting the phone on speaker so she could eat lunch.
"Yes definitely."
"What are you and Miss Aria doing tonight?"
"We are going to the movies. She wants to see the new princess movie."
"Oh my goodness. Lucas Bouchard, you are the best father."
"Nah."
"Not every dad would take their daughter to see a princess movie."
"Yeah, well, I'm sure that Clara would have done it if she could…"
"Luke, I'm sorry."
"No, its fine. I'm just doing the mom and the dad job. I'm getting somewhat used to it."
"Luke, if you ever just want time to yourself and don't feel like being the mom too, I don't mind taking her to do girly stuff. Obviously not as her mom, but as a girl."
"I may take you up on that. Thank you, Elizabeth."
"You are very welcome." Elizabeth's pager went off. "Oh, I need to go, Luke. Call you later?"
"Yep. Talk to you then."
…..
Later was late that night when Elizabeth was driving home.
"Lucas, I need you to distract me as I drive. I'm exhausted and I don't want to fall asleep."
"Okay, so tomorrow night I'm taking you to the beach."
"Yep. I know exactly what I'm wearing," she told him.
"Scrubs?" he teased.
"On our first real date? No, sir!"
"Just checking."
"What food are we going to eat?"
"I'd rather not say but it will be really good. I guarantee it."
"Are you cooking it?"
He laughed which made her giggle. "That would be how to guarantee it would not be good."
"Not a good cook?" She couldn't believe his cooking talent or lack thereof hadn't come up before now.
"I can make mac and cheese and pb and j. That's it, pretty much."
"So that's why you eat out all the time."
"Bingo."
"Lucas, I need to pull over and sleep. I'm so tired."
"Elizabeth, where are you?"
"Fraser Ave and Dudley. Stop light," she said, yawning.
"Turn right on Dudley. That's where we live. You can sleep here. 2349 Dudley. It's a cape cod, blue door. I'll turn the light on."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure I don't want you sleeping on the side of the street or in a random parking lot."
She didn't want to either so she put her blinker on and turned, searching for 2349.
It didn't take long to find it. She saw his black sedan and the lights were on.
He opened the door and walked towards her car. She felt relief that he was there and willing to allow her to nap to make sure she was safe.
"Hey," she said, grabbing her purse. "Do you maybe have some sweats or something? I want to get out of these scrubs."
"I'm sure I can find something. Have you eaten?"
"No. I really just need to sleep."
He nodded and led her inside by the hand. "You head into the living room and I'll grab some clothes for you."
"Lucas…"
"Hm?"
She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him. "Thank you."
He touched her cheek with his palm. "Are you feeling alright? Your face is flushed and warm."
"I don't know. I'm achy but I've been working for eighteen hours."
"Achy, exhausted, flushed. Sweetie, have a seat. I'll get our thermometer and some tylenol."
She walked over to the couch and sat down with a groan. She kicked off her tennis shoes and lay back, closing her eyes. She realized she literally hurt everywhere. Maybe she was coming down with something.
Lucas came back a few moments later with one of his t-shirts, a pair of athletic shorts, a thermometer and a pillow.
Then he headed to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water and some painkillers.
"I can't be sick," she mumbled.
"Why's that?" he wondered as he scanned her forehead with the thermometer.
"Our date. We need to go on our picnic."
"Well, Elizabeth, germs don't care about dates, I'm afraid. 99.9."
"Not too bad."
"Not great either. Here, take some of these and get some rest, alright? The bathroom is right next to the stairs and my bedroom is at the top of the stairs if you need me."
"Did I thank you, Lucas?"
"Yep." He turned off the light and kissed her forehead. "See you in the morning."