*****
When Dar opened his eyes, his mother was lying next to him smiling. Her hand rested on his chest and her leg was draped over his. He kissed her forehead.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Morning,” she replied.
He turned to her and stroked her cheek. “Wanna fool around?” he asked.
“Can you finish in three minutes or less?”
“In a hurry?”
“Our son will be knocking on the door any…”
Knock, knock, knock. “Mommy, your door is locked,” JJ called.
Cathy grinned, sitting up. “Every morning, six-forty on the dot,” she said. “Coming, sweetheart,” she called to JJ.
She got out of bed and slipped on her robe, then opened the door. JJ seemingly flew across the room and just shy of the bed became airborne, landing directly on Dar’s crotch.
“Umph, ohhh,” Dar grunted doubling over.
“Hi daddy,” JJ said grinning, his face inches from his father.
Cathy started laughing. “Welcome to fatherhood.”
“Good morning, big guy,” Dar groaned.
Cathy crawled onto the bed with JJ between her and Dar. JJ sat up and looked at them.
“Mommy can I take daddy for show and tell?”
“Ask Ms. Tolliver at school today if that’s allowed.”
“Tommy and Marissa brought their dads.”
“Ask her first. If she says okay, then ask daddy,” his mother said.
“Will ya, daddy?”
“If it’s okay with Ms. Tolliver I will.”
“We have two brown kids, and three kids that speak Spanish. Everybody else talks regular.”
“Wow! That’s really cool. Do you like school?” Dar asked.
“It’s fun. I like Julie. She’s five.”
“Is Julie your girlfriend?”
“I’m going to get married to her and mommy when I’m big.”
“Sweetheart, I’m pretty sure you can only be married to one person at a time,” his mother told him.
He thought for a minute then smiled. “Okay, Daddy you marry Mommy and I’ll marry Julie. Then we’ll go to Disney World.”
Dar looked at Cathy. “His brain moves at the speed of light, huh?”
“Yep. Coffee helps.”
“The last thing he needs is coffee,” Dar said grinning.
“I meant for us,” she replied. “Go get dressed. I’ll fix you guys’ breakfast.”
“Pamcakes?” JJ asked.
“Pamcakes,” she replied.
He was gone in a flash, nutting Dar for a second time as he climbed over. Cathy was laughing again.
“Breakfast in fifteen. Leave for school in one hour. I drop him off on my way to work.”
Dar got up and dressed. “I’ll get cleaned up after you guys leave. Are you going to put in for retirement?”
“I’m hoping they’ll let me do terminal leave. I’ll call Mr. Brewer today too. Dar, you’re sure this is what you want?”
“I’ve never been more sure of anything.”
She grinned and headed toward the kitchen. Dar followed a moment later after emptying his bladder.
*****
With JJ off to school and Cathy at work, Dar went out to his car and brought his things in. He cleaned up and dressed then walked around the home he had left six years before. Not a lot had changed. He looked into his old room, assuming it was now a guest room. To his surprise, it was much as he had left it; cleaner, and missing the four Ninja Turtles, but still the same. His old phone was laying on his desk and plugged in. He picked it up and entered his passcode, 1114, his mother’s birthday. The phone had no service, but still worked. He put it back on the desk then took out his current phone. Opening his message app, he sent his mother his phone number. Her reply was immediate.
‘Last day is Friday!! Taking terminal leave. Mr. B wants the house. Made a great offer. I accepted, verbally. He says we can close next week.’
‘Fantastic! What can I do to help?’
‘Get rid of anything you don’t want in your room. Gotta run. TTYL. I love you, husband. See you abt 5.’
‘I love U2 wife.’
Dar began going through things in the room. Within an hour he had the bed piled full of things to get rid of. Around noon, was sitting on the back porch eating a sandwich when Mr. Brewer walked into the back yard. He saw Dar and grinned.
“Well, I’ll be damned. It’s about time you turned up,” he said, offering his hand.
Dar took it. “Way past time. How are you, Mr. B?”
“Older than shit. Where have you been?”
“In the Air Force. I’m out now and live in Georgia.”
“Your mom said her and Curly head were moving there. They coming to stay with you?”
“Yeah, mom’s retiring.”
“Curly’s something ain’t he?”
“I wish I had his energy.”
“Don’t we all. He was a godsend for her. I don’t think she’d have made it if he hadn’t come along. When you left…well, let’s just say it was hard on her.”
“Yeah, it was a pretty shitty thing for me to do.”
“I’ve been tryin’ to get her to sell me this place for years. She told me that until she found you, she wasn’t leavin’. She wanted you to know where she was. Boy, she’s tickled you’re back. I ain’t heard her this bubbly in years.”
“She seemed pretty happy.”
“Did you two work out whatever it was you were feudin’ about?”
“Yes, we did.”
“Good seein’ you, Dar. I’ve gotta go meet with the closing company. You can leave whatever you don’t plan to take with you. I’m gonna rent the house out.”
“Okay, I’ll let Cathy know.”
Brewer nodded and left.
*****
Cathy and JJ got home shortly after five. JJ was on top of the world since Ms. Tolliver had approved of his request to bring his dad for show ‘n tell the next morning.
JJ never left his father’s side from the time he got home until he was tucked in the bed that night. Dar got a good romping in three straight games of Candy Land, once by Cathy, and twice by his son. He wasn’t sure but suspected Cathy had moved his marker a couple of times when he was distracted. At bedtime, Dar and Cathy had another round of lovemaking.
Tuesday began just like the previous morning, except Dar, anticipating JJ’s moves, managed to not get nutted. He drove his son to school and enjoyed being the center of show ‘n tell. JJ introduced him to Julie too.
On his way home, Dar picked up packing boxes and tape, then began packing the things that Cathy had set aside to keep. By Sunday, with everything packed, they were living out of suitcases. When Thursday rolled around, both cars and the U-Haul trailer were packed, the closing was done, and in late afternoon the three began their trip to Georgia. They stopped for the night in Jackson, Mississippi. Friday, in mid-afternoon they arrived in Valdosta and their new home.
Cathy loved it. As Dar was showing them around, Keisha came running in.
“Mr. Gene, where you been?” she screamed.
She and JJ saw each other and in minutes, left for the swing set in her back yard.
“Mr. Gene?” Cathy asked.
Dar explained the name change when he had joined the Air Force. Cathy accepted it but told him he would always remain Dar to her. Shirley came over to help unload, and that was done in less than an hour. Dar left to return the U-Haul, leaving Cathy and Shirley alone together at the house.
“Glad you two fixed thangs up. He be a lot happier now,” Shirley told her. Cathy looked at her in a non-committal way. “He been troubled. Missin’ his momma. Come back with a wife now.”
“You know, don’t you?” Cathy asked.
“I know he love you, you love him, and that boy look jus’ like both y’all, and you a family. That’s what I know. Don’t nothin’ else matter, do it?”
Cathy smiled. “No, nothing else matters.”
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