Spring Break

"It's so beautiful here on the water," Kim said as they finished eating.

Trevor looked right at her then said, "Yes. It is very beautiful in here."

She tried giving him a look that said his comment was corny, but she liked hearing it so much she found herself breaking eye contact and using Khloe as an excuse to avoid responding to the way it made her feel.

"You almost done, kiddo?"

"Almost," her daughter said as she munched on the few remaining fries on her plate.

"So do you like the water?" Trevor asked, hoping to return to talking about Kim.

"I do. I love it. My dream has always been to be able to live on the water and have a boat."

Trevor loved the country and the beach and had never tried to decide which one he preferred knowing either would be fine.

"I could get used to that," he said in agreement, a smile on his face that made Kim shudder as she felt like he meant...with her.

But she shrugged that off as wishful thinking or confusion and told him that would be very nice.

"But I'd need to work three other jobs to do that, so..."

"Or you could find..."

Their server interrupted Trevor's comment as she came by with the bill and asked if they needed anything else.

"Dessert?" Trevor suggested.

"No. Definitely not for me, but you go ahead if you like," Kim told him.

"Me!" Khloe said as she ground up the last fry.

Kim went to tell her daughter she didn't need dessert, not because Khloe couldn't 'afford' it. She was thin as a rail. It was more to save Trevor some money because their meals cost more than she normally spent on groceries for three days for her and Khloe.

"You want some ice cream, Khloe?" he asked, getting a huge nod and a, "yes, please!" before her mother could object.

"Here's the most important question," Trevor said as he leaned in close as though this was top secret.

"Chocolate or vanilla?"

"Vanilla!" she said without hesitation.

"Yes!" Trevor told her as he held up a hand for a high five.

"Two vanillas, please."

"Ma'am?" she asked Kim just in case.

"Come on. You know you want some," Trevor teased.

"My mom likes chocolate," Khloe informed him.

"What? A chocolate lover? At our table?"

Khloe was already laughing at his antics before he puffed up and said, "This is...outrageous!"

Kim laughed, too, but mostly because she couldn't remember the last time her daughter had laughed like that, but partly because of who said it.

"Sorry," Kim said to Trevor and her daughter as she turned to the server and whispered, "chocolate for me, please."

As the young girl walked away, Trevor said, "Boo! Hiss!"

Khloe giggled when Trevor made the sign of the cross with his index fingers as though he was warding off an evil spirit.

"I'll have you know most people prefer chocolate," she replied, her chin held high in defiance.

"Can we even let a chocolate person sit with us, Khloe?"

"Well, I guess," she said.

"Yeah. I suppose. After all, she is your mom."

"Okay. She can stay!"

When her mom said, "Well thank you SO much!" Khloe giggled yet again.

Her mom was smiling until Khloe grabbed Trevor's arm. When she did, he put the arm around her and pulled her close in a way that made her laugh. But Kim stopped smiling, and the moment Trevor saw it he pulled his arm back so fast it almost scared Khloe.

"Sorry," he told the girl while avoiding looking at her mom.

Very little was said during dessert except by the happy girl who went on and on about vanilla ice cream and an endless number of other things.

As they drove back to Kim's she glanced at Trevor out of the corner of her eye. She felt so bad she thought she might die if she didn't apologize. His hand was resting on the gearshift, and without thinking Kim reached over and put hers on his.

"I'm really sorry, Trevor. Again."

"It's okay. I think I understand," he replied very quietly. "You saw the photo album and when I, you know, you..."

"I wouldn't blame you if you dropped us off and never came back," she replied just as quietly. "That's twice and I'm sure you think I'm incapable of trusting any man with my daughter."

He looked her way, smiled, then put his hand on top then squeezed hers.

"Trust is earned. You have every right to be..."

"Paranoid?" she suggested with a wince.

He smiled again then said, "Concerned."

"I really am sorry."

"It's okay," he said. "And the only way I'll never come back is if you tell me that's what you want."

Kim squeezed his hand, and while she couldn't explain it, being with someone so much younger suddenly seemed...right.

"I won't tell you that," she said. "But there is something I'd like you to tell me."

"Okay."

"Why...me?" she asked just above a whisper. "I mean, you barely know me, and I have a daughter, and...I...I'm a lot older than you."

Khloe was happily busy with her mom's phone and not really paying any attention.

"Why not you?" Trevor asked.

As Kim got ready to rattle off some of the reasons at the top of her list beginning with age he began listing other reasons.

"You're beautiful. You're smart. You're a great mom. I like being with you. Both...of you."

He looked over and smiled again then said, "Did I mention you're beautiful?"

"You did, but for the life of me, I don't know why. Unless you need glasses."

Trevor laughed and assured her he saw quite well.

"I've had 20/20 vision or better all my life."

"Then I'm...lost," Kim told him, causing him to squeeze her hand again.

When he smiled at her again, her tummy fluttered. But what he said and did made her entire body react in a way it hadn't in so long it made her ache with desire.

"You're not lost anymore. Not since I found you," he told her as he lifted her hand up and kissed it. That wasn't even cornier but Kim's heart skipped a beat when he said it.

"Are you guys in love or something?" Khloe asked, suddenly coming to life.

"What? No. We're...we're just..."

Trevor cut her off and said, "We like each other very much."

He saw the way Kim looked at him then said to Khloe, "Is that okay?"

"Uh-huh. We like you very much, too, right, Mom?"

She turned around enough to make eye contact, smiled, then said, "Right. Yes we do like Trevor. Very much."

"Yeah?" Trevor asked just to hear her say it again.

"Well, maybe."

"Maybe?"

"Let's just say, 'so far, so good', okay'?" she said more playfully that Trevor could remember.

He made a serious face then told her, "Works for me!"

After a short moment of silence Kim asked him where he was staying.

"At the base, right?"

"No. I have checked in yet."

"Checked in? As into a motel?" she asked, not sure if she understood.

"No. We use that term when we first report to a unit. When we leave after two or three years at a base, we check out."

He looked over at her then said, "You know, like when you leave a motel."

"Stop!" Kim said like she was back in high school and not caring.

"But no, I'm not at the base yet."

"So...where are you staying?"

"I kind of need to find a motel. And check in."

"There are a lot of them nearby. But anything near the water is going to cost an arm and a leg."

"Speaking of expensive things, I really need a new car. Or maybe a truck. Would you possibly be interested in doing some car shopping with me?"

"A new car? I wanna go!" Khloe said, suddenly aware of the conversation.

"Is this a rental?" Kim asked.

"It is. I sold my car when I left OSO duty. I had plans of buying one while I was home in Oregon, but..."

"You live on the West Coast?" Kim said, interrupting him but not intentionally.

"My parents do," he tactfully corrected her.

"Sorry. I didn't mean it that way."

"It's okay. But no, I live here now. Well, a few miles from here, but in North Carolina."

"And how long will you be stationed here? In North Carolina?"

"Should be at least three years. Four is more likely because less moves saves the Marine Corps money, and we are very tight with the dollar."

He smiled at her then said, "We're the skinflints. The Army, and especially the Air Force, have HUGE budgets. But not us. No siree. We try and give money back every year to prove that we are responsible stewards with the taxpayer's money."

He laughed then said, "If you don't believe it just compare the facilities our Marines live in with what's on an Air Force base."

Kim laughed then said, "I've kind of become a skinflint myself."

She looked over at Trevor and explained.

"Not because I like it. It's out of necessity. You know, single mom with a daughter and all that."

"We have to be very frugal," Khloe said, chiming in with a word she'd heard her mom use many times.

"There's nothing wrong with frugality," Trevor told her.

"Frugality. I just learned a new word!" she said before going back to her video game.

"It's always a challenge for us," Kim said. "Money wise."

Trevor chuckled then told her what his dad said about women looking for a man with a good job.

"And yet here I am spending time with someone in the military," Kim said with a smile. "And enjoying it."

It took Trevor a minute, but he figured out what she meant.

"You might be surprised at how well we do," he said without any hint of bragging.

"All I know is hearing about, you know, soldiers on food stamps and what not. But I don't really care about that."

She felt a little foolish but said what she was thinking anyway.

"Not when it comes to who I like. Or date."

He looked over at her smiled, then reminded her she'd already said that she like him.

"Very much, too, as I recall."

"Oh, right. I did say that, didn't I?" Kim teased back as she stole a real look at Trevor from the side. He was definitely young, but he was so handsome it was hard not to stare.

"I've only been in for five years, but I know there are a lot of families that love military life. Then again, the divorce rate is pretty high because we are gone quite a bit."

"I'm going to guess that a whole lot of those divorces are from those who married right out of high school and had no idea how much sacrifice was involved to make any marriage work."

Trevor was duly impressed by her insight.

"I agree. My parents have been married for 29 years, and they've often talked about the need to make compromises, be forgiving, and a whole lot of other things they never knew I heard."

"Well, I've got the apologizing thing down, and you seem to be good at forgiving, right?"

Kim had let go of his hand, but when she said that Trevor reached for hers and gave it a squeeze.

"You're not only gorgeous, you're very intelligent. And smart is very sexy."

"Sexy. Yeah, right," Kim said as another flutter flittered.

"I probably shouldn't tell you this, but every one of the Marines I was with said you were either hot, smoking hot, or..."

He leaned closer then said, "Hot as hell."

"I...I'm...flattered," she told him, not sure what else to say in response to something like that because she didn't see it. At least not the least five years or so.

She thought for a moment, then feeling bolder, said, "Honestly? That was nice to hear, but I really only care what one of them thinks."

Trevor smiled at her then told her he was happy to hear that.

"I don't know about the smokin' hot part at all, but it was very nice of them to say."

"It's all true, Kim."

"I...I have to admit I don't really understand," she replied. "But one thing's for sure. I don't have any money, so I know you're not looking for a rich, older woman."

She meant it seriously, but the way Trevor looked at her told her he thought it was ridiculous. Just the look on his face made her want to laugh, but she waited until he laughed before joining in just as they turned onto the street where the Kirklands lived.

"I'd invite you in, but I really do need to finish cleaning the house," Kim told him as they pulled into her driveway.

"No, that's fine. I'm just really glad we got to spend some time together."

"Yes. Me, too," Kim told him just before he got out to go open her door.

On the way, he got Khloe's and helped her out, something her mom noticed and also liked about this handsome, young Marine who really did seem to like her in spite of her being so much older than him.

"May I walk you to the door?" Trevor asked even though it was only ten feet away.

"Sure. That would be nice."

Kim unlocked it and told Khloe to tell Trevor 'goodbye'. He started to bend down to hug her and stopped.

"It's okay," Kim told him.

Trevor looked at to be sure and she both smiled and nodded.

"Bye, Miss Khloe," he told her.

"Bye, Sand Castle Man! And thank you for lunch and the vanilla ice cream!"

"You're very welcome, my fellow vanilla wafer!"

"Huh?" Khloe said, having no idea what that meant.

"Yeah, that was pretty bad, huh?" Trevor said to Khloe as he looked up her mom.

"I don't know. I thought it was kind of sweet," Kim told him.

Khloe put her arms around Trevor's neck and hugged him, and he hugged her back before saying he'd see her soon.

"Okay. Bye, Trevor!"

Once she went inside, he asked Kim if that was possible.

"Tomorrow's Sunday and I have the day off, so if you want to hang out with a 40-year old divorced mom again, I suppose it..."

Trevor leaned over and kissed her as she spoke surprising her so much her eyes opened wide and she nearly pulled away.

"Was it that bad?" Trevor asked.

"Um...no. I just wasn't expecting that. At all."

He moved a little closer then took her hands in his and said, "I wanted you to stop you from putting yourself down again, Kim. And...I've also wanted to kiss you since Miami, but didn't know if..."

Before he could finish she kissed him.

"Now I'm the one who's surprised," he said when she pulled away.

"I know where all of the car dealerships are if you really do want us to go with you," she told him as her eyes darted back and forth between his.

"I do. Very much so."

"Okay. Just let me know when and we'll be ready."

"Is noon too early?" Trevor asked.

"I'm up by 6am on weekdays and 'sleep in' until seven on the weekends, so noon isn't early at all."

"We could grab lunch again before we go."

"Trevor, you spent too much on us already. That's very sweet, but we can eat before you come over."

She smiled then said, "Or you could come over around 11 and eat with us."

"I'll see you tomorrow then. At eleven hundred."

"What?"

He laughed then explained military time.

"Oh. Right. Yes. Eleven hundred it is," she told him before thanking him again and slipping inside without any additional affection.

"Man, oh man, she's hot!" he said to himself as he backed out of her driveway and feeling on top of the world.

That evening Trevor went back online to look at new cars with 'car' meaning truck. He was hooked on the Toyota Tundra Limited with a V-8 engine in black. He'd been dreaming of driving one for the last two years and couldn't wait to own one. The $45,000 price tag didn't even phase him as he would put down over half that and finance the rest. Having a $500 car payment seemed more than reasonable even though it would likely cause his dad to have a stroke.

As he searched he thought about Kim. She was so unlike anyone he'd ever met, and he couldn't get her out of his mind.

The last time he'd obsessed on a woman, it wasn't a woman. He had a huge crush on a senior girl when he was a junior in high school, and after taking her to homecoming he wondered if they might one day get married. But the fantasy faded within a month of her leaving for college, and from then on he'd never once sought out anything but hookups.

But now, here he was, sitting in a motel room and wondering those same thoughts. He even took a look at minivans hoping that might help him break out from the spell he was under. But not even the thought of driving something as hideous as that had any effect on him. In fact, he seriously wondered if he should perhaps wait and see how things went before deciding what to buy.

That thought ended quickly when he consoled himself with the fact that the Tundra had an extra cab which would be more than enough for say...Khloe. He laughed, but did so mostly out of a sense of nervousness, when he imagined another child. One that was very small and wore diapers.

"Get a hold of yourself, Trevor," he said out loud before closing the laptop but not before he smiled again knowing there was still room for a carseat.

Kim didn't tell Khloe that Trevor was coming over until an hour beforehand because she knew their would be questions. Endless questions. Even so, the questions began as soon as the squeal of happiness subsided.

Kim did her best to answer the ones she could, and when she couldn't, she told her daughter she didn't know. Like when she asked her if she and Trevor were getting married.

The funny thing about it was that she'd briefly wondered that herself before going to bed. Since the divorce she'd had nothing short of disasters where dating was concerned and had begun wondering if she might be cursed. She knew that wasn't true, but the experiences she had with men were so bad she couldn't help but wonder if something supernatural was messing with her.

She'd laughed, albeit nervously, when a similar thought hit her right after that one.

"What if that same 'force' is setting me up for some kind of disastrous failure with Trevor?"

It was a reasonable thought in her opinion, because Trevor made no sense. Logically, sensibly, rationally, intuitively, and in several other ways, this was just wrong. But emotionally, Kim couldn't let go of the hope that maybe this was somehow meant to be.

The physical attraction was obvious, even though it made her wonder if she had some kind of mother-son attraction thing going on in spite of never having had a son. That thought also seemed fair as she tried to understand why else could she possibly even consider dating a man that much younger than her.

So as those and many other questions and emotions swirled around inside her head, she thought it was perfectly normal for her daughter to have questions that concerned a girl her age.

"I don't think Trevor and I are going to be getting married," she told Khloe.

"But don't you really like him? Like you said you did?"

Kim hated it when her daughter used her own words against her, but in this case, she had a valid point.

"Yes. I do really like him. But when grownups go out or go on dates, that doesn't mean they're in love."

"But you could be love. Someday. Right?" Khloe asked almost hopefully.

"Maybe someday. But not now, honey."

Khloe seemed satisfied with the answer then suddenly asked, "Mom? When will I be old enough to like boys?"

Her mom kind of turned her head sideways as her eyes opened a little wider then said, "You're old enough to like them now. But if you mean 'go out' with them, you have quite a few more years to go. I'd say maybe 14 at the youngest. And then it would only be with other friends and the boy you like. Like a...group...thing...more than a date."

"Okay," her little girl said, and with that, the questions stopped. For the time being, anyway.

The weather was still warm, it just wasn't Miami warm. With that in mind Kim picked out a very cute top she'd been saving for a special occasion. It was navy blue and had little cap sleeves with a square neckline that showed just enough to tantalize without being too revealing and had a thin, white border around the neckline and sleeves. It was perfect for a day like today and would look great with a pair of jeans or capri pants, and she had a pair of white capris that would look fantastic with the form-fitting top.

Kim put in some small, white earrings and grabbed a pair of white sandals, and after taking a look at herself felt really good about the outfit. She then pulled her hair back into a flat ponytail and put on a touch of mascara and pronounced herself ready.