Drive and School

Doe chooses to use her car as that’s the one that has the safety seat. The fifteen minute drive to the school is mostly small talk about what the two of you had been up to.

“…so after the situation with Hank I decided to move back into the old neighborhood permanently. I’m renting a place about a half mile from your parents.” She says.

“And your personal life?” You ask.

She shrugs, “Eh. Between Courtney, and work…I’ve not really thought about it. I mean…my next guy will be someone that loves Courtney as well. And having a kid is a useful excuse to get out of dates. And you?”

“In the past four years I’ve only had one relationship that lasted more than five months. And she was a flight attendant, went away a lot. Just…I’ve not felt a real connection.”

“Mmm. I understand that. I mean…in all honesty I didn’t ever feel a real connection with Hank. I mean he was handsome, and at first courteous, and I did love him but… I don’t know. If I was depressed he just was never able to cheer me up fully. I guess we didn’t have IT. You know?”

You look at her confused, “He couldn’t cheer you up? You aren’t that hard to cheer up, Doe. A corny joke always worked with me.”

Doe smiles, and flushes red a bit. “Not true. It wasn’t the joke that cheered me up. Not always anyway, some of them were really good. It was your earnestness in the attempt. You always really wanted me to be happy. Hank wanted me to be happy, sure, but not at the expense of his own happiness. You, I don’t know, it seemed you would do anything to cheer me up. Remember the time you purposely ran into a wall as part of a joke? You had a black eye, and cut on your cheek…but it didn’t matter. You wanted me to be happy.”

“Still do…when I saw you fidgeting at my parents door…I…”

“You knew exactly what to do…” She glances at you from the corner of her eye. “How long are you going to be here?” she asks, suddenly a little nervous.

“Planned for a week, but I have two weeks of vacation, with an open ended ticket.” You shrug. “Why?”

She brushes a stray lock of hair out of her face as she says, “W…Would you like to go to dinner on Wednesday?”

You raise an eyebrow, “Dinner?”

“Oh, nothing romantic. Just two old friends catching up on old times.” She says quickly, misinterpreting your raised eyebrow.

You stare at her as she stared out of the windshield. “And Courtney?”

“Your father would watch her. She enjoys herself there.”

“Was this preplanned?” You ask gently. Not that you mind really, you were just curious

“Oh, school’s letting out, hold that thought John.” She says, pulling up to the curb across the street from the school. You both undo your seat belts and step out of the car.

Crossing the street you see a teacher with a group of pre-kindergarteners with two aids milling about.

The teacher notices Doe and taps on a little girl’s shoulder and points at the two of you. The little girl looks over first at Doe and then at you. Her face breaks out into a wide smile and she starts running towards the two of you. Her hair was the same as Doe’s, and even her smile was her mother’s. But the shape of the face gives you pause. It’s very familiar.

You are also confused at the feelings you have towards this four year old girl. You’ve only just seen her, but you feel as though you would hurt someone severely if they hurt her. You convince yourself it’s because this is Doe’s daughter, though with difficulty.

Doe bends down to meet her daughter, and gives her a tight hug, which the girl returns. “Hey baby, how was school?”

“It was okay, mommy. We painteded today!” Courtney exclaims excitedly.

“Oh, that sounds like a lot of fun!” Doe stands up, holding Courtney, and turns to you. “Courtney baby, I want you to meet a very special person. John this is Courtney.” she says. Courtney turns in her mother’s arms and squints at you. She gives you a tentative smile, that fully blossoms when you return it.

“Hi,” she says quietly, shyly, brushing some hair out of her face.

“Hello yourself. You look just like your mother.” you say gently.

Doe smiles, “Courtney this is John.” She says, and looks as though she wants to say more, but decides not to.

Courtney continues to eye you, “Are you dating my momma?”

You chuckle, “No, we’re just really old friends.”

Courtney pauses to think about that. “Oh…that’s too bad…you’re nice.” she says, leaning her head on Doe’s shoulder, but continues to look at you out of the corner of her eye.

Doe laughs, flushing red. “Well, John, looks like you’ve passed the ‘kid test’. Hmmm, maybe that dinner will just have to be a romantic one.” She says winking at you.

It was just a wink…but your pants are definitely more constricting than they were a moment ago. “Soooo…I’m hungry.”

“Right, shrimp here we come.”