“Right, like how Vera didn’t want to be a mommy, so she left me with you because you wanted to be my daddy and that’s serious business.”
Grinning, I nodded. That was close enough. “So to be sure that we all want to be a family, we can get to know each other better, right? And to get to know someone, you go on dates.”
“Family dates!” And there he was, my smart as hell kid, making all the right conclusions.
“Yes, exactly.” I lifted the notepad. “For the movie date night, Crew did all the work, right? He planned the whole thing for us. So what do you think we should do now?”
“We need to plan a date!”
“That’s right.” I leaned to him to smooch the top of his head. “So on that website, there’s a list of places that are fun for both kids and adults. I want us to think about what we might want to do with Crew one day soon when we all have a day off, okay?”
“Okay!” He immediately concentrated on the photos.
“There’s only one rule for starters: it needs to be about an hour and a half away, okay? We can’t make it an overnight trip and if we leave early, we’ll be back for dinnertime, because it’s likely that you’ll have daycare the next day and we’ll have work.”
“Okay!” he repeated. “What’s this one about?” He pointed at a picture with some neon lights on it.
“Let me see….”
In the end, I projected the iPad to the TV screen, and operated the iPad while we chatted.
It took us about an hour to get to a point where we had some ideas, but we still needed to narrow it all down.
“Okay, bud, it’s bathtime and then bed. We can continue this tomorrow.”
I also needed to go see Jenn, because I needed a co-conspirator especially if we were to go on a hike like Payton suggested as one of our options.
A couple of days later, Payton and I had a solid plan. I’d also instructed him that this was a surprise, which meant no telling Crew in advance. He’d zipped his lips and snickered, and then snickered again the next time he saw Crew in person.
Payton was at daycare when I finally had a moment to talk to Jenn.
I was late coming in to lunch, which was partially by accident, but mostly because I needed the house a bit emptier.
“Hey, are there any scraps left for a straggler?” I asked as I walked into her kitchen.
She grinned. “I wondered where you were. Of course there is. Take a seat.”
Soon, I had some quesadillas with guacamole and red salsa. I sipped my coffee and then took the first bite. I might’ve whimpered, which was definitely better than moaning, because holy shit.
Jenn took a seat across from me with her own coffee and grinned knowingly. “Good, huh?”
“This is all so damn good. Oh wow.”
“Thanks. I tend to think cooking for this family for thirty plus years has given me some solid skills.” She dusted off her shoulders, and I laughed.
“Hey, want to be my co-conspirator?” I asked, and as I’d known would happen, her eyes lit up.
“Ooh, what do you have for me?”
She sounded so much like Payton at that moment, that I chuckled. “Well, Payton and I have planned a family date for us and Crew.”
Jenn let out a squeaky sound, then nodded rapidly, again reminding me of Payton. “Uh-huh. Tell me more?”
I outlined our plan, and she checked the schedule for the whole family she kept more or less organized. Of course, everyone had their own systems and calendars, and she didn’t control every minutia, but she still kept an eye on things and overruled anything that needed it.
We coordinated, and she marked Crew’s schedule with a big “Mom needs you” tag for the whole day on Tuesday after the coming weekend.
“Thank you.” I smiled as I finished my lunch.
