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Slowly I lowered myself to her side and sighed, my arm tucked around her waist, and I looked at her and the mess we made, realizing how much my life had changed and feeling excited about the future.
Chapter 22
Roseline
Ipressedmylipstogether in a thin smile, trying to stifle my giggles as I watched Aldric walk into our apartment. He stepped like he was physically walking on eggshells. Though I was terrified before about letting him into the apartment, considering how simply we lived compared to his massive condo. I felt I couldn't change it now, so I couldn’t stop hiding my glee at his obvious discomfort.
He shot me a look of anticipation over his shoulder, and I just waved him on. “He’s in the kitchen,” I murmured loud enough for my little man to hear. “I didn’t bring anything as a present; I wasn’t sure what he would like,” he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. I nearly laughed again, “He isn’t expecting anything, that’s not how I raised him.”
There was a softness in his eyes when he walked through the entryway to the kitchen where mylittle boy was playing. Ciro looked up from his coloring book, a smile wide on his face and a yellow crayon held tight in his tiny hand. I watched him as his hand slowly stopped moving, and his eyes darted from me to Aldric.
“Your friend?” he asked, looking up wide-eyed at the man beside me.
“Yes, Ciro, this is Aldric, the man I was telling you about,” I said, squatting a little closer to him. Aldric and I had decided not to drop the “Father” word on Ciro. We would ease into him gently so that we would answer when he came at us, guns blazing with questions.
“Aldric,” Ciro repeated slowly and scrunched up his face in awareness it wasn’t quite right. I smiled, “That’s right. We work together.”
Ciro looked harder at Aldric, sizing him up, and nodded firmly, “Hello, Aldric.”
He still stumbled over his name and could not pronounce the ‘D’ for the life of his little heart.
But Aldric seemed thrilled and in awe either way. However, he was also stiff and had yet to say a word. I stepped to the side, hoping it would shake him out of his stupor, and it did not. I cleared my throat, Aldric glanced at me, and I jerked my head at Ciro.
For a moment, the man still fumbled for what to say, and I could see the growing panic in his eyes until he finally seemed to decide.
“Hi, Ciro. It’s good to meet you,” he smiled and stuck out his hand. Having learned this from other men we’d occasionally met, Ciro placed his crayon down and shoved his tiny fingers into Aldric’s grip, doing an exaggerated arm pump for a shake. He considered the older man for a moment again and then squinted at him. He puffed out his little chest and asked,
“You work with Mommy?” Aldric laughed, “I am trying my best. She is a very good teacher.” He glanced over his shoulder at me as if asking if he was going about things the right way with Ciro, and I merely shrugged.
My child was plenty able to judge people on his accord, and I was merely here to make sure things went smoothly. “Can we go to the park?” Ciro suddenly turned to me and asked. “I suppose we could go, but how do you ask?” I corrected. “Park, please?” Ciro said with a nod and at once flew off the chair to grab his shoes and try to stuff his feet in the wrong ones.
“Aldric can come!” I looked at Aldric with a raised eyebrow, “Want to join us on our adventures today? Or do you have somewhere to be?” He shook his head, “I cleared my schedule. I’m all yours today.” At the last sentence, he turned to my son and offered to help him with his shoes, and of course, Ciro, the impatient boy he was and the rather social one at that, agreed readily.
When everything was ready, we walked to the park with Aldric pushing the stroller with one hand and Ciro between us, his arms stretched to the sides and his fingers tangled between us. It was oddly cozy and domestic, something I had never felt before with another person but my son.
This feeling of safety and calm that I thought would be popped once we let Aldric into our lives only seemed to stretch to cover him too. I tried to stop myself from basking in the glow, I tried to hide my smile, but I failed.
“You look happy,” Aldric pointed out once we stopped at the playground, and Ciro ran off, spotting some friends. “I…,” I paused, feeling the desire to deny it but unsure why I wanted to, “I am.”
“That’s good. I’ve been nervous all the way here, but if you’re happy, I must be doing something right,” he said with a nod.
I laughed, “I could tell you kept looking at Ciro in the beginning like he was a bomb.”
“Well, I’m not around kids a lot,” he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “None of my family has kids, my colleagues all have older children or don’t have them, or I just don’t interact with them, and I don’t have any of my own. Other than Ciro, of course.”
I felt warmth bloom in my heart and twist itself in my lungs, tugging tight until it felt wonderfully hard to breathe. It was odd, awkward, and good, but I wouldn’t trade hearing Aldric call Ciro his child for the world. I smiled secretively down at my shoes until I could look back up and track my son’s progress through the sandbox.
“Thankfully, Ciro is very forgiving with awkwardness. He generally loves people,” my smile turned fond as I spoke those words. “He will break you in nicely.”
“Since I have Ciro’s seal of approval, does that mean I have yours too?” I looked over with a curious scrunch between my brows, “What do you mean?” “You never answered whether you would be with me,” Aldric explained. “I did, too,” I said, completely surprised. “Not with words. I want to hear those words,” he said, turning to me.
“I’m a greedy man.”
I scoffed and looked to the side; suddenly, my stomach was flipping. What he asked for was easy; it should and would fall naturally from my mouth. But his asking me so bluntly made me nervous, and I wanted to crawl into a hole in that sandbox and bury myself under it for the years to come. Instead, I sighed and turned to give him my attention again. “I love you, and I want to be with you too. I’m ready to start dating you,” I said clearly and bluntly, and before I could see his reaction, I quickly turned back to watching Ciro hoping he couldn’t see the blush creeping onto my face.
There was the sound of relieved laughter as if he’d expected me to push him away again. I sent him a scowl and crossed my arms in a pout.
“Where do you want to go after this?” he asked. “Usually, that’s up to the little man, but he will likely be hungry,” I said. He nodded thoughtfully and asked, “Where do you two usually go to eat?”
