Molly McAdams - Capturing Peace

Keegan no longer looked worried, or like the big, protective older brother. He looked shocked. “He said that to you?” he asked softly.

I nodded. “Why?”

He looked down, and a small smile crossed his face as he nodded softly. “Good for him,” Keegan said as he turned and walked toward the stairs.

I just stood there staring at his back, completely dumbfounded for a few seconds before I took a step toward him. “Wait, so you’re just okay with this now?”

When he looked back at me, he looked like he was trying to figure out what to say, and finally just shrugged. “Yeah, Ray. What he told you that night . . . that’s about as honest as he can get with what happened, and what’s going on with him. Knowing that he’s not keeping anything from you . . . and having seen how good he is with Parker. I think you’re just as good for him as he is for you.”

I was still staring at where Keegan had been when Parker came racing through the house. “Mom!”

“Hey, baby! Did you have fun today?”

“So much fun!” Parker launched into a play-­by-­play of their day, and I tried not to laugh when my mom walked in behind him and rolled her eyes before smiling.

“That crazy, huh?”

“Oh, it was nonstop today,” she said. “Did you want to stay for dinner?”

I shifted on my feet for a second before glancing down at Parker. “We can’t. Coen’s taking us to dinner tonight.” I’d barely looked up to see Mom’s reaction when Parker jumped up in front of me.

“Me too?”

I smiled widely at him. “You too, buddy.”

“No way! Come on, Mom, let’s go!”

“Okay, just a second, let me talk to Grandma first.” Looking up at my mom, my body tightened when I couldn’t read her expression. “Too soon?”

“We liked him.” She shrugged. “He does have an awful lot of tattoos, though. You don’t want Parker thinking those are okay.”

I suppressed a groan. “Mom. Really? Keegan has tattoos.”

“Not like that.”

“Mom!”

“Okay, okay!” She held her hands up. “We did like him. Despite the tattoos,” she threw in. “He seems like a wonderful young man. Keegan had a lot of great things to say about him when we asked him, but, I would trust his judgment on this.”

It was there, on that last bit that I realized Keegan must have told my parents his worries about Coen and his demons. Whatever they were. I could see it in my mom’s eyes. She was worried about this too, just as Keegan had been. But she didn’t understand, she didn’t know Coen. What was I saying? I barely knew Coen.

“I approve,” Keegan said as he appeared from out of nowhere.

I pointed at him. “He approves!”

“You do?” Mom asked, eyeing him warily.

“One hundred percent. I think he’d be good for them, and she’d be good for him.”

Turning, I sent him a thankful smile, and he winked at me as he opened the front door and walked out. Looking back at my mom, I saw her blink a few times before clapping her hands together once.

“Well, since I just put it all on Keegan, I guess that settles that.”

“It’ll be fine, Mom,” I said, hoping to reassure her. “You ready to go, buddy?”

Parker was studying his forearm intently, so he just nodded as he started walking toward the front door. “Mommy, do you think Coen will still have his stars?”

My eyes widened and I turned to look at my mom. “Uh, yeah, Parker. He will.”

“Because he’s old so his won’t wash away.”

“Right.”

“I’m gonna get old so mine won’t wash away, because I’m getting stars just like Coen’s.”

Mom groaned and rolled her eyes, and I tried covering my laugh with a cough, and failed miserably. Blowing her a kiss, I put my hand on Parker’s back and led him outside.

“Why don’t we wait a decade or so until we think about that, okay? Right now, let’s just go have dinner with Coen, sound good?”

“Cool!”

I smiled and followed my son to the car. The entire time I chanted to myself that this dinner was a good idea. That one day I wouldn’t regret letting my guard down for a guy like Coen and letting him into my son’s life.

Coen—­ September 2, 2010

“THIS IS THE coolest, ever!” Parker yelled. “Coen’s the coolest, isn’t he, Mom?”

I glanced over at Reagan and she rolled her eyes at me. “Yeah, he’s pretty cool, buddy.”

“And this one comes off because I’m not old like you?”

I barked out a laugh and kept pressing the wet paper towel down on Parker’s arm. “That’s right, bud. It’ll come off in a few days.”

I held the paper towel there for a few more seconds before removing it, and then removed the hard back for the temporary tattoo and watched as Parker’s eyes lit up.

“Cool!”

I’m positive cool was his favorite word, and the extent of expressive words at that. But I had to steal his word. This kid was pretty damn cool.

“What do you think?” I held out his arm so Reagan could see, and even though she shot me a look, a smile crossed her face.

“Mom, isn’t it cool?”

“So cool, Parker.”

“I can’t wait to show Jason!” he said excitedly before tearing out of Reagan’s kitchen to go back to playing in the living room.

My lips slowly curved up into a smile as Reagan fought and lost with biting back her own smile, and I pulled her close. “You mad at me?”

She looked up at me and wrapped her arms around my neck. “Mad? Are you kidding? I’m furious,” she whispered.

“You look it,” I murmured against her lips and she smiled against my kiss.

“That was really sweet of you,” she said when I pulled back. “He doesn’t even remember they’re called tattoos, but all he talks about are the stars on your arm. They’re the only ones he remembers. This was . . .” she floundered for something to say as she looked over at Parker. “This was fun for him. I already know he’s going to talk about that tattoo, and who gave it to him, until it washes off.” Looking back at me, she shrugged. “Thank you.”

“Not a big deal. He spent the whole night talking about it the other night, had to get one for him.”

Her hazel eyes held mine, and her lips tilted up on one side. “That’s just it. You didn’t have to.”

“Okay, I wanted to. Better?”

“Much.”

I leaned in, and had just barely brushed my lips against hers when we heard, “Ew, you’re kissing a girl?”

Reagan froze, and I held back a laugh as I turned my head to look at Parker. “Yeah, why, do you want me to kiss a boy?”

Parker made a face. “Gross! No! But girls have cooties!”

“Yeah? Says who?”

His mouth opened and his eyebrows pinched together for a few seconds before he sputtered, “Everyone.”

I unwrapped my arms from Reagan, and crouched down so I was his height. “Girls your age do have cooties,” I whispered loudly, and tried so hard not to smile when he nodded quickly. “But you know how I’m old so my stars don’t wash off?” Parker looked at his star, then my tattoos before nodding again. “Well, when you’re this old, girls don’t have cooties anymore. So they’re safe to kiss.”

Parker looked at me like he was trying to memorize every word I was saying. “How will I know when they’re safe?”

I glanced up at Reagan, and her face fell into a look of horror. “He’s six,” she mouthed.

“Just trust me on this, bud,” I said when I looked back at Parker. “You’ll know.”

“ ’Kay,” he replied, and looked up at Reagan. “It’s okay, Mom. You’re safe, you won’t give Coen cooties.”