Story Time

Story Time

"Lynn? Hey, it's Cathy. I just got back from THE most fun thing ever!"

Her best friend silently rolled her eyes but asked, "Really? Do tell!"

"Okay. There's this guy--this really hot guy--who just happens to be single. Anyway, he reads stories in the most amazing voices you've ever heard. He does all kinds of accents and he's so theatrical. He had Mason spellbound. Like every other kid watching. And I gotta tell you, he kind of had me spellbound, too."

"I see," her older, best friend replied in that 'I'm sure' tone of voice.

"No. Don't do that! I know what you're thinking, but trust me. He's really that good. You HAVE to take Lucas. He will positively love Josh!"

"Josh. So you're on a first name basis with this...single dad? This...hot...single dad?"

"He is hot, Lynn. But I'm a realist. He's out of my league. As in way out. But you on the other hand...."

That was the first sensible thing Lynn Radliffe had heard so far from her childhood friend, Cathy Lincoln, who was a realist. Even so, Lynn had no interest in dragging her son to some lame storybook reading...thing.

Cathy hesitated then said, "Okay. He's probably a little too young for you, but who doesn't love a steamy, May-December romance, right?"

Cathy laughed then added, "Especially one that involves two very hot people!"

"Hot. Ha! Thank you, but this 'hottie' is 43 years old. And...lukewarm...at best."

She knew that was both true and not true. For women her age, she was definitely still hot. Some might even say smoking hot. Or so she'd been told many times and as recently as within the last two days. But when younger, attractive women were added to the mix she didn't believer herself to be hot or even semi-hot, let alone 'smoking'. And since her husband's untimely death two years ago, her interest in men--hot or not--was close to non-existent. Lastly, were she to start dating--a word that made her shiver--it wouldn't be with someone whose claim to fame was reading stories. Even if that was done in an entertaining way, and especially if he was ten years younger than her.

Cathy changed tack and approached the subject from a different angle.

"Forget about the attractiveness. I promise you Lucas will love this guy. I watched the kids, and there were nearly 100 of them at the library. I mean, it was packed, and every single one was laughing and having a good time."

Lynn knew it was coming, and when it did, she didn't say anything.

"It's been over two years, Lynn. The worst that can happen is your son has a really enjoyable experience. How can that be a bad thing?"

Now it was Lynn's turn to try throwing a curveball.

"I do understand, but some of us have to work, you know," she said with a little laugh.

It wasn't her friend's fault that her husband was a doctor who made a ton of money that allowed her to stay home. It was more that her late husband hadn't had a power job, and it was Lynn's fault they didn't even have any life insurance. At least not beyond the $10,000 policy that came with his job, an amount just large enough to cover funeral expenses.

Nor was her fault that her five-year old son was pretty much the only thing in her life she cared about. She loved Cathy dearly, but it just took too much energy to work all day, be a mom before and after work, and have a close friendship. She felt bad about it, but there were days--a lot of days--where she was on overload and adding anything else to the mix was too much.

Cathy's voice softened even more when she spoke.

"I've tried to put myself in your shoes, hon, but I realized that's not possible. I admit I have no idea what it would be like if I lost Michael, but you can't be upset at me for wanting you to be happy."

Lynn followed suit and thanked her dear friend for caring so much.

"I do care. I love you like a sister. And just 'fyi' Josh does these readings at 7pm so that working moms can bring their kids and get them home and in bed before nine. So maybe just...think about it?"

Lynn sighed as she looked at her son who was watching a cartoon on television. It wasn't ideal, but getting him away from a handheld device was a good thing, even if it was for something as lame as cartoons. She was half listening and heard something that should have made a five-year old boy laugh, but Lucas didn't. In fact, he rarely laughed. She thought for a moment and couldn't remember the last time he had.

She sighed then told herself that if this 'reader guy' could help, maybe it would be worth a try.

"What day of the week does this...Josh...read stories?"

Cathy perked up immediately as she told her friend he read on Thursdays.

"Do I just show up?"

"Yes! It's totally free and no reservations are required. But the word is getting out, and his audience is growing, so I'd recommend getting there early."

Lynn knew what the long pause meant and waited for the other shoe to drop.

"If you get there early, who knows? You might even get to meet Mr. Hottie yourself!"

Lynn tried not to sigh, but she couldn't help saying, "By 'hottie' you mean the guy who's too young to date, right?"

"I didn't say he was too young to date. He's more than old enough for that."

The incomplete response told Lynn her dear friend was hiding information.

"Let me guess. He's a senior in high school."

"What? No! Eighteen IS too young, and I wouldn't even have mentioned it were he that young."

"Ah, okay. So is he a senior in college?"

Norfolk State University was just a few miles away, so that was a possibility.

"Lynn, he's not in college, okay? I'd say he's more like...30."

"Oh, wow. Thirty! I had no idea he was only 13 years younger than me. Why didn't you say so before?" Lynn said sarcastically, immediately feeling bad for doing it.

"Don't take it out on me, okay?" her friend said, the hurt showing through.

Lynn apologized immediately, and all was soon forgotten.

"Cathy? I really do appreciate you looking out for me. I know I need to 'get back out there', but just thinking about it makes me ill."

"Oh, sweetie! It's okay, and don't you worry. Whenever you're ready you'll know. I just wanted to give you an idea, and he really is extremely entertaining. And I have to think that the kids aren't just being entertained but actually learn something, and my sense is they'll remember it."

Lynn looked back at her son then said, "Okay. I'll do it. Lord knows Lucas could use some fun."

Cathy knew Lucas had been attached to his daddy until the day he was taken from him. And although he was just shy of turning four, his father's memories were still with him. She also knew that in time they would eventually fade, and while she didn't want that to happen, it was an inevitable fact of life. For now, though, he was mostly just sad. All of the time.

"I'd go with you, but we have that fundraiser for the hospital this Thursday."

"Oh, right. I forgot about that."

"I wish I could forget about it!" Cathy said with a laugh before wishing her friend all the best.

"Lucas, honey? What do you want for lunch?" his mom called out when she ended the call with Cathy.

"I don't know," her son replied with no enthusiasm.

"Peanut butter and jelly?"

"I guess."

Lynn fought back tears as the conversation with Cathy brought back the loss of her husband and the father of her only child, a child she'd had when she was 37 years old. That, in turn, made her think of the drastic change in her son's life from the moment she told him his daddy couldn't come home again. Ever. That scene still made her choke up every time she thought of it, and she'd thought of it hundreds of times, just as she'd thought about the chief of police coming to her door with her late husband's partner and a chaplain.

She nearly collapsed just from seeing them. When she learned that her husband had been shot dead in an ambush on him and his partner, a part of her died, too. She knew that police officers were being targeted all around the country, and while she tried not to mention it too often, she'd dropped hints here and there about him possibly finding another line of work.

But that was all to no avail. David Radliffe was the son of a police officer, and it was all he'd ever wanted to be, and nothing was going to change that. In fact, the reason they met was due to him pulling her over for doing 50 in a 35mph zone. From the moment their eyes met something happened. Maybe that's why he let her off with a warning, and probably the reason he wrote his cell number on the back of the warning citation.

It took her a couple of days to decide to call him back, but when she did he asked her out within the first 30 seconds. She hesitated then agreed, and from that moment on they became virtually inseparable. And handsome? David hadn't just been handsome, he was downright...yummy...and his smile still made her heart skip a beat.

"Daddy! Can you read me a story?"

Her father was exhausted. He'd been underwater welding a new Navy ship for 12 hours, and the last thing he wanted to do was read a story. But he understood the importance, especially for a child her age, and called back, "Be right there, honey!"

Mia Lucas was four years old, and as sweet as a girl could be. Her father, Josh, was 28, and had been a widower for two years. Mia had been just two years old when her mother and twin sister, Olivia, had been killed by a drunk driver who was so out of it he had no idea what happened when he woke up in a jail cell the following morning.

Josh Lucas, and his late wife, Emma, met when they were in the Navy. He was a SEABEE, and more specifically, an underwater diver who specialized in welding. He'd been assigned to Underwater Construction Team 2, and loved his job.

Emma had been a an SK or Storekeeper, the Navy's term for a supply clerk. They met onboard an aircraft carrier when Josh was sent to pick up supplies for his first dive on his (and her) first-ever deployment.

There was a connection from day one, and the two of them began eating together on occasion which progressed to watching a movie now and then to what became a full-blown romance for the seven months they were at sea.

Emma told him he looked like an actor on a show called New 90210. It was a spinoff from the original Beverly Hills 90210, and the character she had in mind was named Liam, played by Matt Lanter.

Josh had never heard of the guy, but when he looked him up that evening he saw the resemblance and laughed. He scrolled through the cast and laughed again when he 'saw Emma'. The next day he told her she looked like Lori Loughlin who'd gotten herself in a big old heap o' trouble in a college admissions scandal. Before he could get out, "When she was our age," Emma playfully punched him and said, "So I'm old. Gee. Thanks a lot!"

The truth was Loughlin was still a very attractive woman, and while Josh was looking at her he wondered what it would be like to date someone that age. Or just...be with her. The thought was short-lived, though, as Emma completely captivated him from then on.

Seven months later they married in a local church, and the two of them them qualified to be stationed together after that. They didn't have to be at the exact same base, just within a certain number of miles from two different Navy jobs. That became a moot point when both of them ended up at Naval Station Norfolk, in Virginia.

They saved up a modest amount of money, and at they six-year mark for both of them, Emma left active duty so that they could start planning a family. Two years later their twin girls were born, and both of them were on top of the world.

For the next 20 months or so, life seemed like a dream. Josh had remained on shore duty with just one 90-day deployment to South Korea since their initial cruise. He was looking at another six-month stint at sea when tragedy struck.

His world fell apart that night, and after just a month of dealing with the aftermath he let his master chief know he was leaving the Navy. The master chief was a veteran of 28 years and had seen it all. He tried to lay out the pros and cons to see if he could convince Petty Officer First Class Lucas to stay in, but he knew childcare and lengthy deployments were huge issues. He also knew that Navy divers with a welding certification were in high demand and made good money. In the end, Josh left the Navy.

He had no trouble finding a job in the Norfolk, Virginia, area, and was soon making more than he and Emma had made together on active duty. Able to do the most difficult jobs, he often made $120 an hour or more. He was home nearly every night and had most weekends off. Those he worked paid time and a half, or on holidays, double time.

He and Emma began reading to the girls even before they could talk. Emma was convinced that it would pay dividends, and while Josh wasn't as sure, he was happy to sit them on his lap and turn the pages of some child's book.

After Olivia's death, reading became even more important as a special way of bonding with his only remaining child. He'd even started volunteering at local libraries where he read to young children.

Josh had always been good with accents, and he loved to use them to make the stories even more fun. He could go from being a pirate to an Australian in an instant or from someone with a French accent to German or Russian or be Curly from the Three Stooges just as easily. Woop, woop, woop!

The kids loved it, and making them laugh made him feel good inside. Or at least...better. Nothing could fill the void of losing his wife and daughter, but this helped, and the more he did it, the more he enjoyed it. The added benefit was that his little girl loved it even more than her father.

Mia called for again, so he forced himself to get up and went to his daughter's bedroom.

"This one, okay?" she said as soon as he walked in.

She was holding up The Cat in the Hat, a book he'd read so many times he had it memorized. He sat down on her bed, patted his lap, and waited for her to climb up and open the book. Mia also had it memorized even before she could read but still loved hearing it.

He used his doofus-sounding "Hugo the Abominable Snowman voice" he got from a very old Looney Toons cartoon where the snowman grabbed Daffy Duck and said, "And I will name him George, and I will love him and squeeze him, and hold him forever."

As always, Mia laughed the whole way through as she pointed out the same things over and over again.

"One more! Please?" she begged when he was done.

"Okay. But just one."

"Yay! she said as she slid down and grabbed another favorite.

Ten minutes later Josh was in bed at 8:45 and out cold by nine. Other than the book readings he really didn't have a social life, and he had no interest in staying up when he was this tired, and TV and movies bored him to death. Work and Mia were his life, and between them he was busy all day, every day. Or sleeping.

Besides, he still wasn't ready to have an actual social life, especially one that involved a woman. Someday maybe. Just not today. Which was Tuesday. That meant that in two more days he'd be at the library again.

His last thought before he crashed was about "Story Time. Something to look forward to."

He was much too tired to think about how pathetic it was that something so simple was the one and only highlight of his week.

"What story are you reading tonight, Daddy?" Mia asked on their way to the library.

"I think it's called Patrick Picklebottom."

"That's funny!" Mia laughed. "He has a silly name."

Josh had skimmed through it and knew it was, ironically, a story about a little boy who showed up for story time but arrived an hour early. It seemed like forever before things got going, and he had to find a way to pass the time. He used art and music to make the long wait go by more quickly.

The library was packed when he arrived at a quarter til and people kept streaming in even after he started reading. As always, a couple of the woman got very chatty with him and let him know they were single after learning that he'd lost his wife. One of them was married and still flirted, something he found reprehensible whether or not she'd have followed through.

He was on the second page when he saw a very attractive older woman come in with a boy about Mia's age. It was standing room only, and she had to hold her son up in order for him to see. Josh was too busy to really get a good look at her, but his first impression was that she was quite possibly the best looking woman in the library, and there had to be close to a hundred of them.

Josh was 'on' that night and he switched voices at all the right times and made funny faces that fit with the voice changes. The kids were all laughing, and when he had time to glance at the audience, the moms--and the handful of dads--were enjoying themselves, too.

When he finished, there was a long, loud round of applause followed by a bunch of moms wanting a moment of his time. After talking to a half dozen of them, he was going to use needing to get his daughter home and in bed as an excuse to leave until he saw the older woman with the little boy.

He politely brushed off the three women ahead of her then smiled when she introduced herself.

"Hi. I'm Lynn. Radliffe. And this is my son, Lucas."

"Pleasure," Josh told her before bending down and saying hello to her boy.

"Hello," he said as he held his mother's leg.

"He's shy," his mom explained as Josh stood back up and introduced Mia.

"Hi, there," Lynn said to her. "You are so pretty."

"I look like my mommy," she said matter of factly.

"Oh. Is she here?"

"No. She's in heaven," Mia said just as seriously.

Lynn looked at Josh and apologized.

"I...I had no idea."

"It's okay. Really. And Mia does look like her mom."

"My daddy died," Lucas said, after hearing the exchange.

"What?" Josh asked as he bent back down.

"My daddy was a p'lice officer and he got shot by a bad man."

Josh instinctively moved closer and hugged the little boy who let go of his mom and hugged him back. Josh stood up with Lucas in his arms then told his mother how sorry he was.

"Looks like we're two peas in a pod," Lynn told him, a very small smile on her pretty face.

She looked at Mia who wanted her father to pick her up, so she scooped the little girl up and said, "Is that better?"

Mia nodded then looked at Lucas.

"I'm four years old," she announced.

"I'm five," Lucas told her.

"You wanna play with me?" Mia asked.

"Can I, Mom?"

"Oh, I don't know. Mr...."

Josh laughed as he said, "Lucas. Josh Lucas."

Lynn laughed, too, at the coincidence.

"We don't have to leave just yet," he told her, anticipating the question even though it was almost 8:30.

"Well, okay then. Just stay inside the library, okay?"

"Come on, Lucas!" she said as she took the boy's hand and pulled him the children's section.

"She really is a cutie pie."

"Thanks. And Lucas is gonna break some hearts one day."

"His father was very handsome," she told him.

Lynn had no idea why she said the next thing, but it came out of her mouth, so she owned it.

"So are you, by the way."

She felt ridiculous as soon as she said it, but when Josh played it off, she felt a little better.

"I...I wasn't flirting," she told him, feeling even more ridiculous for even imagining he could think that.

"Darn it all t'heck!" Josh replied with an Irish brogue.

Lynn laughed then told him she loved his voices.

"You have a real talent, and the kids love you."

He switched to French then said, "Ah, yes. Zees iz zee...geeft, no?"

Lynn laughed yet again then asked if there was an accent he couldn't do.

He stuck his thumbs in his pants, cocked his head, and became John Wayne.

"Well, I'll tell ya, little lady, there's probably a passel a them there accents I ain't no good it, but that ain't ever gonna stop this cowboy from tryin'."