"Well, at least now I have a photo to commemorate our first meeting," Carter deadpanned quietly.
"Gavin, how about you just call him Carter," I said, looking to Carter with my eyebrows raised in question to make sure he was okay with that.
He nodded his head at me and smiled, then squatted down so we were both eye-level with Gavin.
"Thank you very much for my picture," he said with a smile.
Gavin wasn't big on strangers, mostly because I put the fear of God into him when we had the discussion about stranger-danger. In hind sight, telling him all strangers wanted to eat him wasn’t my finest hour. Having to explain to a bunch of crying children in line to see Santa why my kid was screaming “DON’T GO NEAR HIM! HE’LL EAT YOUR FINGERS!” was no picnic. Liz had to talk me out of taking him to the vet and getting a GPS chip put in his neck. Something told me though that anyone who took my kid would bring him back within the hour. They wouldn't be able to take the kicks to the nuts and the cursing.
Gavin didn't usually talk to strangers unless I prompted him to do so. The ease with which he talked to Carter surprised me.
"You're welcome, Carter. My papa is coming to get me so Mommy can give beer to people. Papa lets me watch movies that Mommy don't let me watch and I get to have pop and I wanna get a dog but my friend Luke has a jeep that he rides in the yard and I hurted my knee and it got cut and Mommy put a band-aid on it and told me to 'shake it off' so I wouldn't cry and did you know vampires suck?"
"Gavin!" my dad bellowed before I got a chance to.
He had walked into the store during Gavin's run-on-sentence and was almost to the kitchen when he heard him drop that bomb. I quickly stood up and faced him with my hands on my hips.
"Dad, I told you he wasn't allowed to watch that movie."
"Hey, Carter, I'm team Jacob, bitch!" Gavin yelled.
"Gavin Allen! Do you want me to put soap in your mouth?" I asked him sternly.
Gavin shrugged. "Soap tastes like Fruity Pebbles.”
My dad came around the counter and picked up Gavin before I could punt him like a football.
"Sorry, Claire, “Vampires Suck” was on cable the other night and there was nothing else on. You'll be happy to know that he covered his eyes during the s-e-x stuff," he explained.
"Super," I muttered.
"I saw boobs!" Gavin yelled happily.
"Okay, he may have peeked a few times," my dad admitted after Gavin's announcement.
Of all the times for Gavin to act completely like…well, Gavin, of course it had to be when Carter showed up. No wonder he hadn't said a peep in the last few minutes. He was probably stunned stupid.
I glanced behind me and saw Carter standing completely still, staring over my shoulder at my dad. I turned back around in time to catch my dad doing the whole two-finger eye-point to Carter that Gavin and Liz did the other day.
Oh for fuck's sake. It’s like we suddenly have a family salute.
"Dad, quit it. Carter, you haven't been formally introduced. This is my dad, George."
Carter stuck his hand out towards him, "It's a pleasure to…"
"Cut the s-h-i-t," my dad cut him off."
Somehow he didn't sound as threatening when he had to spell everything. This could work as long as Gavin was here as a buffer.
"I've got my eye on you. I was in Nam and still have shrapnel in my skin from the b-o-m-b-s. You like the smell of napalm in the morning son?"
"DAD! Enough!" I scolded.
I leaned over and gave Gavin a kiss on the cheek.
"I'll see you later, baby. You be good for Papa okay?"
He slyly reached over and tried to pull the front of my shirt down.
"Lemme see your boobs."
I grabbed his hand before he could give everyone a peep show and shot a dirty look to my dad who was just standing there laughing.
"Hey, I did not teach him that. He must be a boob man."
Carter laughed but quickly stopped when my dad looked over at him.
"Are you a boob man Carter?" he asked menacingly.
"I…well…um…I…don't."
I rolled my eyes at my dad and rescued Carter from him.
"Say goodbye to Carter," I told Gavin.
"Bye, Carter!" Gavin said with a smile and a wave as my dad turned and headed out of the kitchen.
"Papa, what's Nam? Is it a park? Can we go there?" I heard Gavin ask as they walked out the front door. With a big sigh I turned to face Carter.
"Sorry about that," I said sheepishly. "I will completely understand if you turn around right now and run far, far away. Really, I won't hold it against you."
"Claire?"
I stopped fidgeting with my apron and finally looked up at him.
"Shut up," he said with a smile.
***