Play Date

"You're not going to be in trouble are you?" She said with a grimace.

"No, I don't really answer to a single boss, and as long as my projects are done on time I don't get any grief. If I'm behind I catch up after Harry goes to bed. The beauty of my work is that I can do it practically anywhere I can get online."

"Lucky you. I'm tied to my studio most of the week, I only come into the city a few days. The benefit is that my studio is in my home so I have all the creature comforts of working in sweats if I feel like it."

We haggled over the tab arguing who was going to buy, I won. We left the pub and made our way to the garage. As we rounded the corner of the building a cold blast of wind caught us and Michelle reached out and grabbed my arm for balance. I snaked my arm around her waist quickly steadying her. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, thanks. It was just a surprise, that's all." She laughed nervously. I let go of her, my hand slipping from her waist, but before I was completely clear she wrapped her arm in mine. We started walking again into the brisk wind towards the car. She deposited me at the front of my office a few minutes later. She waved before pulling into traffic for the commute home.

I loosened my tie as I slid into the car for my commute home. I hadn't completed as much as I'd hoped to in the afternoon, my mind kept wandering to lunch and how the time flew by, and when I kept her from falling. Taking her into my arms like that was a surprise reaction, but she fit so well, my arm around her waist. I shook my head, romantic thoughts creeping into my mind before giving way to a flood of guilt as I thought of my wife. I sighed and looked into the rear-view mirror, my eyes staring back at me. Platitudes people had been giving me started floating through my mind. "You'll never forget her, but you will start living again and you will love again." That one was my sisters, damn her. I pulled into the daycare parking lot and noticed that Michelle's Jeep was there as well.

"There he is." She said to Harry and Penny when she spotted me. She had changed and was sporting jeans and sneakers and a thick flannel shirt. She had let her hair down and it cascaded around her shoulders. She looked up with the warmest smile I'd seen in a long time and set down the crayon she'd been drawing with. Harry ran towards me and hit my leg like a charging rhino and I leaned down and ruffled his hair.

"You waited for me?" I said with a smile.

"Well I was running a little late anyway, I had to get through a little extra work since I had a late lunch." She said her smile getting bigger. I smiled back at her, but I must have dropped it too quickly because I saw hers waver slightly as it disappeared.

"I hope I didn't ruin the surprise." She said turning the drawing around, there was a big apple tree in the center of the page, and a guy with a boy on his shoulders reaching for an apple.

I smiled again. "No it wasn't going to be a surprise. Are you excited Penny?"

"Yes, I want to make a pie!" She squealed.

"You hear that little man? We're making pie this weekend." I said as Harry started jumping up and down. "Maybe we could make a day of it, invite the ladies to dinner too?" I said to Michelle, my eyebrows rising in question.

"I don't know. Do you have any plans Saturday night Penny? A hot date you forgot to tell your old mom about." Penny shook her head quickly. "I think we have one now." Michelle said looking up at me from the little chair and gave me a wink. She directed Penny to gather her gear and get her jacket on and walked towards me. I gave Harry a little push asking him to help Penny pick up the crayons.

"Are you okay?" Michelle asked me under her breath.

"Yea, it's just that I had a great time at lunch today, and at the zoo." I trailed off. "I started thinking about Linda, my wife." Her hand gripped my forearm tightly.

"I'm not trying to replace her, I know I couldn't, but if you need somebody to talk to you have my number." After a pause she added. "It'll never be easy, but it will get better."

"After all that time, I think it's already starting to get better." I smiled and covered her hand with mine bringing back her smile. "Do you want me to pick you up on Saturday? I figured if we get an early start we can get a hayride in and see what else they might have going on before we come back and slave over a hot oven, baking pies."

"Well by the time we're up, fed and ready to roll let's say nine. Is that too early?" I let her know that would be fine and we'd pick her up at home and go from there.

Saturday arrived and we pulled up to the front of a small house on Davis Street. Michelle answered the door with a coffee cup in her hand. Her smile was bright in the morning sunshine. "Come on in, I'll grab the keys." We got Penny's seat situated in the back of my car. She proceeded to tear out of the house and across the lawn and I intercepted her on the run to the car, picking her up her feet kicking.

"You know not to run into the street, right?" I said and tickled her. "Do you need a pit stop before we get going?" She shook her head.

"Yes you do." Her mother said from behind me. I set her down and pointed her back to the house, the two of them emerged a few minutes later, Michelle with a good sized shoulder bag. "Mind if I put this in the trunk?" She asked.

"Not at all." I hit the button on my remote and the trunk popped.

"Looks like you thought of everything." She said noting the picnic basket and blanket.

I smiled. "Planning is what I do."

We made our way to the orchard, and chatted about nothing much at all. We passed under the highway the suburbs gave way to the stone walls and fields New England is famous for, the trees were starting to turn, green mixed with patches of red and gold. I found myself reminiscing about going up north for the foliage. She talked about family trips to the beach in the summer. We were catching up, filling in the parts of our lives we'd been apart. It was so good that I almost felt sad when we arrived at the orchard. We gathered the kids and headed to the barn to find out where we'd be picking. The woman at the bench gave us a welcome as we made our way through the early crowd. She let us know that the hay wagon would be along again in a moment, set us up with picking sacks, and pointed to a chalkboard with the varieties that were ready. We made our way out and the tractor was pulling up along side the barn. The man driving waved at all the kids who started cheering and yelling. We climbed into the wagon which had two bench seats along the sides and sat down. The kids were bouncing around like jumping beans and it was all we could do to get them to sit. Michelle took time to get pictures of me lifting the kids up to get to the apples up high. I snapped a few of her as well. The tractor had made a few passes at the end of the row to see if anybody needed a ride back to the barn. We caught up with it, with two loaded sacks and two rosy cheeked kids into the back before climbing in ourselves. After weighing in at the barn and making a few other purchases we were at the car around lunch time. We loaded the apples and pulled out the basket and blanket and went to the picnic area. It was a perfect fall day, sunny, and just warm enough to have our picnic. I'd gone all out and packed kid friendly, with one exception. I handed Michelle a container to open. When she did she smiled and pulled out a pitted ripe olive and popped it into her mouth. When Penny saw what they were her eyes went wide and she asked for one.

"The fruit never falls far from the tree, does it?" I said chuckling. We did a number on the basket, and I wondered where they put it all.

"Did you have enough?" I said.

Michelle just made a gurgling sound and fell back on the blanket. "Roll me to the car when we're ready to go." Penny mimed her mother and fell back beside her holding her belly too.

I looked down at Michelle laying next to me on the blanket, her blonde hair splayed out around her head, the low sun making her skin glow a shade of pale gold. She pursed her lips slightly before she turned to look at me. A smile spread across her face for a moment before her expression changed. Her eyes opened further as the smile relaxed. Her eyes darted towards the kids ever so quickly and back before her expression turned into a smirk. She knew what I was thinking, and it appeared that our little non-conversation went well as I joined her in a little smirk. Given a simple boost of courage I would have leaned down and kissed her, and by the look that she gave me, she wouldn't have turned it down. The look simply said, wait a bit.

Both kids passed out cold on the trip back to the house. It was just as well, some days still took a toll on Harry if he didn't get a nap in. I'm sure Penny was no different. Michelle slipped her hand under mine and gave it a squeeze. "Thank you." I stole a glance at her and she was looking at me, her eyes brighter than before. I smiled. "This past week has been terrific. It's been a long time since I've had this much fun."

"Really?" I responded softly. She leaned over to look in the back at the kids, presumably to see if they were still asleep.

"Yea, my marriage was what you would call, rocky. If it hadn't been for Penny we probably wouldn't have even married. Marrying because I was pregnant wasn't the best decision we made." She said with a soft chuckle. I gave her hand a squeeze in return.

I was curious about the circumstances but I felt now wasn't the time to ask. It sounded like the feelings were fresh like a healing wound. You don't poke at it to open it up again. "You know what a friend of mine told me? It'll never be easy, but it'll get better." I felt her hand tighten against mine. We stopped at a red light and she leaned over, pulled me to her and kissed me. I looked into her eyes and kissed her more deeply our lips brushing softly at first, then more firmly. A car horn from behind brought us out of our reverie, we both started giggling as I proceeded through the now green light.

We got back to the house and carted the sleepyheads in and laid them out like cord wood on the sofa. I propped a stuffed animal under each of them and covered them with an afghan before we unloaded the rest of the car. We lined up the apples and our other purchases on the counter and began preparations for the pies. We worked quietly, peeling and slicing the apples, knowing that we had to let the kids complete the assembly. Michelle and I stole glances at each other while we moved about, neither one of us bringing up what happened in the car. Once all the prep work was done I turned to reach up and grab the pie plates out of the cupboard and set them on the counter. I turned to see Michelle watching me, her lower lip between her teeth and her hands behind her holding the edge of the counter.

"What?" I asked smiling.

"I was just thinking." She said. "Do you believe in fate?" I knew where this was going but I played along to find out what she was thinking.

"I don't know." I said.

She was biting her lip again. She swallowed and took a deep breath. "It was fate that we knew each other before, but not the play date. That had a little outside help." She admitted sheepishly. "Cindy is a friend of mine from college. She's the one who kept pushing me to come later to pick up Penny so I would bump into you." She added, making air quotes with her fingers. "She said you were a nice guy, and you were sweet as hell when you came to get Harry. She also mentioned you were hot." She giggled.

"Really?" I said, I felt my cheeks warm at that. "I should thank her."

"Oh heck no! She'd kill me if she knew I'd told you that." She said with a smile. "If she weren't engaged she would have made a move on you herself."

"So, do you think fate had something to do with us meeting again all these years later?" I asked leaning on the counter. She looked at me keenly before nodding.

"I think so. Chance just doesn't fit the bill here. I moved a hundred miles away, went to school, grew up and got married, had a family," she added glancing towards the living room, "that's just too much coincidence."

"Where does that leave us now that fate has taken a hand and crossed our paths?" I said.

She didn't say anything for a long moment, then with a look of resolution she stepped forward and kissed me again. "I don't know, but I'm game to find out." I leaned into the kiss, my arms reaching for her waist as she stepped closer. Our lips met softly at first, when I felt the tip of her tongue glide across my lower lip, I returned the favor. She tasted sweet and tart like the apples we'd been nibbling a few minutes earlier.

A small cry of "Mommy?" came from the other room.

She leaned back a bit and called out. "Right here babe." Before her eyebrows shot up and she covered her mouth. "Oh shit." She whispered into her hand. "That was Harry, wasn't it?" She closed her eyes and put her head on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, that was purely instinct. I feel like an idiot. I'm not crazy, honest." She said with a nervous giggle.

"It's okay," I said kissing her temple, "he still calls out for her sometimes when he's half asleep." I sighed. "It tears me apart some times, but I take a deep breath and let it out, and find out what he needs. Sometimes I'll just lie down with him and cuddle and he slips right back off to sleep." I looked down to see tears running down her face. "Hey, what's the matter?"

"I was just thinking how much it must suck to lose your mother that young." She said wiping her cheek with the back of her hand. "It must be so hard for you both."

"We have our moments. Marta has been a lot of help since she got here. She says that because he was so young that he'll transition to me as his main caregiver over time naturally. She says he's already a good part of the way there.

"And you?" She asked.

I sighed. "It's going to take a lot longer for me. I have more memories of her than he does." I rubbed her lower back as she settled against me again. "It'll never be easy." I said as I looked down at her.

She looked up at me and with a slight nod, "but it will get better." She sighed. "We should probably wake them up or they'll be up all night. I'm going to wash my face first. She doesn't need to see me all red and tear streaked." We woke the kids up to make the pies which ended up in the oven a little while later. After cleaning up from the pie making I started on dinner preparations.

"A guy that can cook, be still my heart." Michelle said with a wave of her hand to cool herself.

"And now, I will amaze you with my ability to prepare a fine, and hopefully edible, supper without the use of a grill." I said laughing. Before I started, I opened a bottle of wine and Michelle sat opposite me with a glass, and watched me work.

She watched as I peeled and sliced and piled, when I was done I had a large sheet pan full of sweet potatoes cut into french fries, and a pork roast lightly dusted with a spice blend I'd made.

"You're making this look way to easy."

"It's not hard, it's mostly about time management. I'm going to blow you away with green beans sauteed with a little bacon and shallots then finish them off with balsamic vinegar. This will amaze you because it will look simple, and it is, when you've done most of the work already." I said with a smile as I opened up the refrigerator and pulled out the already cut ingredients and placed them where I could reach them as I needed them. "We call it, mise en place, in French. You hear it all the time on the cooking shows on TV." I added with a French accent and a grin.

"Good wine, my own French chef, a girl could get used to this." She said grinning as she leaned forward resting her chin in her hand.

"You're welcome here any time." I said grinning back at her. In a flurry of activity we took the pies out of the oven to cool. A few adjustments and I had dinner under way. As I cooked I pointed to the cabinets and drawers as Michelle asked where to find things as she set the table. We improvised a booster seat for Penny with a stack of books from the bookcase. Dinner was delicious, thankfully the kids didn't fuss much, the sweet potato fries were one of Harry's favorites, and it looked like Penny was enjoying them too.

"Oh, the maple syrup glaze is so good. I would never think of something like that." Michelle said rolling her eyes in bliss.

"I believe in the KISS principle in the kitchen." I said smiling.

"I like that principle, maybe you could teach me more about it another time." She said with a mischievous grin.

"I'd like that." I said grinning, and with a small nod towards the kids. "I'll talk to Marta, maybe we could try for next weekend."

Michelle insisted on helping clean up before we took them home. I wrapped up one of the pies and took her things out to the car before bundling up the sleepy tots and got them in the car as well. We dropped the girls off, Michelle thanked me profusely for a wonderful day. I just smiled.

As Harry and I walked back to the car for the ride home, I realized that I had had a wonderful day too. I thought about that kiss and how nice she felt in my arms. I looked up at the little home, lights coming on as the before bed activity began and thought about her reply when I mentioned the KISS principle. "I'd like that a lot Michelle." I said softly as I climbed into the car. Harry was asleep before we made it home.

"Adult play date sounds so naughty the way you say it." I chuckled at Marta over pancakes the next morning.

She just smiled. "I have no plans, we can hang out and find some fun things to do. Right Harry." She said combing her hands through his hair. He nodded.

That evening I called Michelle and let her know that we had a babysitter. I could feel the warmth radiating from her voice. "Since it's my turn to pick the activity I think I have an idea."

"No it's not black tie, but a tie would be a nice touch. You look good in a suit." She said. She had called me to tell me that her plan for Saturday. I tried not to groan when she said we'd be going to a haunted mystery dinner theater. "Oh it'll be fun. Don't be a stick in the mud." She added laughing. "A friend of mine from college is one of the directors for the group, and it's not run as a drama, it's more of a comedy."

We met at daycare a few times over the week, I noticed that she was coming later to pick up Penny. We even went out for pizza one night rather than go home. We were finding reasons to be together and it seemed pretty obvious that I wasn't the only one enjoying it.

Saturday arrived and with Marta's help we planned a sleep over for the kids. Michelle arrived a little early because we had a little drive ahead of us to reach the restaurant. When I opened the door to let her in I stood there for a long moment looking at her. She looked stunning in a short black dress and knee high boots. Her hair was loose around her shoulders, the color of an autumn field of ripened grain.

"Are you okay?" She said, noticing my reaction.

I shook my head and grinned. "Sorry, it's not every day a super model shows up at my door."

"Oh, please!" She chuckled as I open the screen door, Penny tearing her way through the house to find Harry. I took the coat she had draped over her arm and hung it up.

"I feel woefully under-dressed now." I offered, standing there without my tie or jacket.

"You could probably skip the tie if you wanted to, and just wear a jacket."

"Not on your life. I wouldn't want anybody to think you've lowered yourself to consorting with vagabonds!" I said in mock disdain.

Her smile broadened, lighting up her face. Her beauty radiated from her like warmth from a fire.

"Don't worry, it won't smudge." She added softly.

"Let me put that claim to the test." I felt my grin widen as I leaned forward and kissed her.