Page 17 of Defending A Promise
He takes a second to think about it, “Eggs! With cheese.”
“You are in luck. Cheesy eggs are my specialty. We need to feed Bella, too. Will you help me?”
He nods.
“Okay, then we need to go wash our hands first.” And I have to pee like a racehorse.
We wash our hands and then I show him how to pour food into Bella’s bowl. It is kind of a mess, but Bella’s not complaining. She’s gonna love having him around.
“Ready to make breakfast for us and your mom?”
“Yes!” He pumps his little fist into the air, and it melts my heart.
I’m in big trouble here.
Nicholas and I decided not to wake up Riley since she was still sleeping when we finally finished making cheesy eggs and bacon. Instead, we ate out on my screen covered patio so that we didn’t have to whisper anymore. Also, because Nicholas isn’t really good at the whole whispering thing.
In order to get him to eat, I had to first use the old phrase, ‘if you want to grow up to be big and strong like me, you need to eat all your food’. He then gobbled it all up. The incentive to go in the pool once he was finished helped, too.
With Riley still sleeping—I suspect she really needed it—I’m sitting here watching Nicholas splash around on the steps in the pool while I sip my coffee. I refuse to take my eyes off of him.He claims he can swim – but he’s four and also thinks he’s a superhero. So, there’s that.
“Hey,” Riley says as she comes out to the patio through the sliding glass door with a cup of coffee in her hands. I had made a fresh pot before Nicholas and I came out here figuring she’d want some once she woke up.
“Hey.” I stand up and pull out a patio chair for her. “Want some breakfast? We’ve already eaten.”
“Hi Mommy! I’m swimming!” he calls from across the pool.
“Hi sweet boy. I see that. Are you having fun?”
“The best!” We both watch him jump onto the second step and splash around.
“He claimed he knew how to swim, but I swear I haven’t taken my eyes off of him the entire time he’s been in there. Neither has Bella.”
She smiles at me. “He’s taken a few swim classes but no, he does not know how to swim.” She takes a sip of her coffee and then raises her cup. “Thank you. Nectar of the gods.”
“You’re welcome. Figured you could use it. Do you want some breakfast?”
“Um, no, but thank you.” She looks hesitant. “You don’t have to cater to us, Declan. You should have woken me up when he got up.” She points her coffee mug towards her son.
I’m watching him play in the pool mostly, so I don’t sound defensive. “I don’t mind at all. We’ve been having fun.”
“I see the disaster in the kitchen. He must have helped you,” she laughs.
I nod, “He did, but it was fine.”
“I’ll clean it up once I finish my coffee.”
“Nonsense. We messed it up, we’ll clean it up.” I motion to Nicholas.
“Yeah.” She laughs, “Good luck with that.”
It’s good to see her smile – something I haven’t seen in a very long while.
We sit there in silence – her drinking her coffee as we both watch her son try to convince my dog to get into the pool without any luck. Bella has her limits and water is one of them. In her world, water is for drinking and that is it.
Finally, Riley breaks the silence between us. “I see you slept on the couch last night. Any particular reason why? We didn’t kick you out of your bed, did we?”
“No, not at all. My room is on the other side of the house. Since I don’t know what we are dealing with, I wanted to be close to you two in case you needed me.”
