Page 42 of Defending A Promise
“Well, my name is Gladys. Are you new in town?”
He nods, “Yep. Me and my mommy just moved here.”
“Riley Ashford is his mother,” I tell the ladies.
“What about his father?” Betty questions.
“I heard he died with River in that explosion.” Gladys whispers, a bit too loudly, to her and I just stand there like a fool listening to them go back and forth.
“That poor family. They’ve been through the ringer, haven’t they?” Florence says.
They all nod as Nicholas jumps off the swing. “Can I go play with those kids over there?” He asks me.
“Sure, buddy. Just don’t go too far, okay?”
“Okay.” We all watch as he runs over to another contraption to climb on.
“Now that he’s gone, is it me or does he look just like little River did at that age?” Betty asks the other women.
“A spitting image,” Gladys says.
“So, Declan. Are you now his father?” Joan asks me point blank, and I start coughing.
“Um, no. I’m just watching him while Riley is at kickball practice. We’re having a boys night out.” They all smile at me but don’t say a word. “What?” I’m confused.
Joan tilts her head and raises her eyebrows, “Oh, I don’t know… it’s just that it looks good on you.”
“What does?” I look down at my clothes. Jeans and a T–shirt – my normal wear.
All four ladies get back on the walking trail, but Joan calls over to me, “Fatherhood.”
“Bye Declan. See you around,” they announce as they walk away, leaving me with thoughts I’ve been too afraid to have myself.
Instead, I keep my eyes on anyone that is in the area that looks out of place, but I don’t see anyone. A part of me wants this fucker to show up and try something so I can put him down and end this nightmare for Riley, but no such luck. Just normal looking families hanging out in a park on a Tuesday evening.
As the sun is going down behind the trees, other families are packing it up to leave. I look at my watch and realize that it’s getting late for a four-year-old to be out playing. “Hey Nickels. Time to get going. Mommy’s going to be looking for you soon.” I call out to him as he’s playing on some contraption that has all kinds of activities on it like a slide and a rock-climbing wall.
“Okay.” He answers me and then turns to his new friends. “I’ve got to go. Bye.” He waves at them and then comes over to me.
“Did you have fun?” I ask as he takes my hand again. This feeling will never get old.
“Yeah. Can we come here again tomorrow?”
I laugh at his question. “We’ll see. Let’s go home and play with Bella. She’s probably lonely.”
“Maybe Bella can come to the park tomorrow with us.”
“Maybe. We’ll see.”
He climbs into his car seat and lets me buckle him in as the questions start flying. “Do you think space aliens eat vegetables?”
“If they want to grow to be big and strong aliens they do.”
“Do they eat broccoli?”
I shake my head as we maneuver through the traffic on the way back to my house. “I don’t know.”
“I think they do.”
