“Company first,” Kevin said, holding his hand out for Hugo’s plate so he could dish up for him. “For graduation, your mom gave me several recipe cards with good comfort foods. Right on the card, she wrote that this was your favorite meal. I figured it had been a while since you’d had it.”
Hugo took his first bite and moaned out loud at how good it was. “Thank you. Eating now,” he joked as he took another bite and another. “It’s even better than Mom’s, I think.”
During the meal, the kids decided it was a good time to play twenty questions, and Hugo found himself answering all sorts of things, from his favorite color, to the favorite shirt he ever wore, to how many pets he had in his life and to please name them all. The kids were scandalized when he named off all the fish he’d accidentally killed over the years.
“I eventually figured out an aquarium just wasn’t something that should be in my life. The pH balance is so touchy, and then I’d finally get that all figured out and buy a new fish. The thing would just start getting acclimated to the aquarium, and I’d find out the blame thing had brought ick home and contaminated the rest of the fish.”
“Ick?” Finn asked in a delighted tone as if it were something cool.
“It’s a disease fish get. White spots show up all over their scales. They can be treated most of the time. But when the guys at several pet stores knew me by name and could guess what I’d done wrong without me even describing the symptoms I’d noticed, I decided it was time to give it up as a loss.”
“Didn’t you ever have a cat or a dog?” Brooke asked.
“Nope. I’m allergic to cats, so I can’t have one, and most of the apartments I’ve lived in until now only allow cats but not dogs. I’ve always wanted a dog. I’m just not sure if I can handle one with my work schedule because I’m gone so much.”
“Dogs are awesome,” Finn said around a bite of strawberry rhubarb crisp and was quickly reprimanded by Kevin and asked to talk when his mouth was empty, please.
“They are. Maybe someday I can get one. If I had a small dog, I could bring it to the theater with me.”
“Okay, guys,” Kevin interrupted as each kid took a breath to ask yet another question. “Let’s stop with the interrogation. I think Hugo might like to listen to the peace and quiet for a few minutes so he can digest his food.” Kevin smirked and winked at Hugo, and he couldn’t help but feel happy. “Load your dirty dishes and go get unpacked. I rented a movie for later.” The kids grumbled but put their dishes in the dishwasher and then took their bags upstairs to their rooms.
It had felt good to be asked so many questions because it made Hugo feel welcomed. He wondered why he’d been nervous about seeing the kids again. It was easy being around them, and it actually seemed to help make him feel more at ease with Kevin, if that were possible. Hugo liked the interactions they had together with the kids too.
“You’re good with them,” Kevin said.
“Thanks.”
“No, really. I don’t think you realize how good you are with kids. You talk to them as equals and treat them with respect. So many people talk down to kids. You just talk to them like you’d talk to me.”
“They are just like you. People.”
“But you use big words and don’t dumb things down,” Kevin pointed out.
“How else will they learn new vocabulary?” Hugo wondered, not quite getting the point of Kevin’s statement.
“Exactly,” Kevin said around his bright smile.
“I’
M
GUESSING
you don’t use training wheels on your bike anymore, right?” Hugo asked as he and Finn stood on the perfectly manicured lawn in the backyard.
“Are you crazy? I’m not a baby!”
Hugo chuckled to himself but didn’t take the bait and just moved along in his lesson. “So you already know about balance, about how you need to make sure not to tip too far to the left or right on your bike or you’ll fall over. This is the same, but instead of just worrying about left and right,” Hugo said as he took Finn’s shoulder in his hands and leaned him side to side, “you need to think about front and back and even diagonal balance. Think of a circle.” Hugo drew an imaginary circle in the air. “There’s only a teeny part in the middle where you can balance it.”
Kevin, who was sitting with Brooke off to the side on the stone patio, asked, “Do you want a Frisbee to illustrate your point?”
“Sure.”
Kevin lifted the lid of what Hugo thought was simply a large, cushioned ottoman and retrieved a Frisbee before casually throwing it. Hugo watched it sail toward him and reached out, grabbing it. Then he demonstrated his point to Finn, having him feel the center of gravity for himself.
“You have to think about your own balance like this. Too far in any direction all around the circle, and you end up falling.” Hugo placed his hands back on Finn’s shoulders and shifted him all around before letting go and looking to the lawn. “Luckily, you don’t have too far to fall, and we have nice soft grass to land on. The first step to walking on your hands is a handstand, and you’ll eventually do it like this.” Hugo demonstrated.
Ten minutes later, after many falls, Finn was up in a handstand on his own. Hugo stood close by, hands near Finn’s ankles while he encouraged him to shift his weight and try to take two steps on his hands. Finn fell again and again, but he was determined to succeed.
“Underwater is much easier because you pretty much float and don’t have to worry about gravity making you crash to the ground, but you can’t breathe there. You may have to practice to build up your stomach muscles.” Hugo patted his stomach and flexed.
“Can I see?” Finn asked.
“See what?”
“Your stomach muscles. Do you have all those bumps like Dad does or are you squishy like Charlie’s dad?”
Hugo looked to Kevin for help, but Kevin just smiled and leaned forward in his chair like he wanted to see too.
“Okay….” Hugo lifted his shirt, and Finn pressed his little hand right over Hugo’s belly button.
“Now make ’em really hard,” Finn directed with a dramatic grunt. Hugo flexed, muscles bunching into a respectable six-pack considering how thin he was. “Cool! I want muscles like that. But… I don’t have to have muscles that big to walk on my hands, do I?” He sounded genuinely worried.
“No. I was doing this long before I had muscles like these. Besides, walking on your hands won’t ever give you these muscles. I got those by doing millions of crunches.”
“What are crunches?”
Hugo laughed and saw Kevin and Brooke just smile at each other, talking quietly as they watched Hugo becoming a gym teacher. Hugo dropped to the ground and quickly showed Finn how to do various types of crunches, Finn following along as well as he could. He was so sweet Hugo wondered if he could possibly be getting a cavity just by spending time with this kid.
“Okay, that’s enough crunches. You can work on those in your own time. Let’s finish this lesson with a success. We’re going to get you up on your hands and walking. Your dad has a movie planned for us, and personally, I’d love to try some of the popcorn you guys were bragging about earlier.”
Hugo held on to Finn’s ankles and helped him walk, slowly easing up on his grip to allow Finn to take over more and more of the work. Eventually, he was able to let go for all of ten seconds before Finn started to tumble. He tucked his head, just how Hugo had taught him, and rolled into a somersault, finishing with a flourish.
“Lovely,” Hugo said, clapping his hands. “You were up on your own for at least ten seconds. And that dismount was great.”
“My head sorta hurts,” Finn announced, his face flushed.
“That’s normal. All your blood just rushed to your head. That’s why walking on our hands isn’t ever going to be our primary mode of locomotion.” Finn looked at Hugo like he’d just spoken Latin. “Okay, ready for that movie?” he asked, anxious to get inside again. “Or do you want to try one more time?”
As soon as Finn gave it one more go, increasing his time on his hands by at least another five seconds and landing on his feet rather than doing a somersault, he ran in the house, saying he wanted to have a slumber party in the family room so he needed to get his pajamas on. There was no argument from Kevin, and Hugo saw the little strawberry-blond boy disappear. Brooke stood up and walked over to Hugo and easily did a handstand, walking on her hands as if it were
her
natural mode of transportation.
“Great walking,” Hugo said, clapping his hands and feeling himself grinning from ear to ear. “Thanks for not doing that in front of Finn. I think he probably wouldn’t have tried so hard if he knew how good you were.”
Brooke just smiled at him and disappeared in the house herself.
“You just keep doing amazing things, don’t you?” Kevin said.
“No?”
“Yeah, you do. Stop denying it.”
“What did I do besides teach Finn something new?”
“You did it with the patience of a saint and then still somehow managed to make Brooke beam with a few words. And you got me to sit over there calm and relaxed.”
“Brooke is probably still crushing on me.”
“No, I don’t think so. I think she thinks you’re a cool guy who somehow makes her dad seem happier. She said as much while you were helping Finn.”
Hugo looked around, including upstairs toward the children’s windows, and when he saw the coast was clear, he stepped closer to Kevin and raised the few inches he needed to kiss his mouth. Kevin kissed back, but kept it short and fairly tame, even if he did allow a little sweep of his tongue.
“Let’s go set up the movie,” Kevin said, tugging on Hugo’s hand.
A
BOUT
halfway through the movie with Finn molded like a wet noodle to Hugo’s side and Brooke doing a pretty good imitation on Kevin’s other side, Kevin slipped his hand between his and Hugo’s thighs and curled his fingers. Hugo looked over at Kevin and raised his eyebrows in question. Kevin’s face warmed as he nodded.
Hugo slid his fingers between Kevin’s and smiled as Kevin gripped his hand tighter.
After the movie, Hugo said goodbye to the kids as they headed upstairs to bed. Kevin pulled him into a hug, kissing him gently on the cheek and then moving back in for a quick kiss on the mouth.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Hugo drove away with an entirely new vision of what his life could be if he would ever allow himself to have it.
He wanted it. He wanted a life with Kevin and his kids. Or at least he thought he did.
Not-So-Dirty Little Secrets
E
ACH
weekend after that, Kevin and Hugo spent time together, whether the kids were at Kevin’s or not. On those weekends Brooke and Finn were around, Hugo ended up helping with some running around, much like he had that first weekend, which resulted in Brooke being able to get from soccer to gymnastics while Kevin stayed to wait for Finn’s game to finish. He also made sure to disappear for a few hours each visit so he wasn’t stealing the kids’ time with their dad, easily using grocery shopping or a trip to the hardware store for parts needed to make something for the play’s sets as his excuse. Sometimes, the driving was the easiest way to give Kevin one-on-one time with each of his kids. Hugo didn’t mind acting as chauffeur to birthday parties, soccer, and the occasional shopping trip to Southdale or the Galleria so Kevin could hang with the other kid at home.
“You’re a saint. I’m just going to keep saying it until you believe it,” Kevin insisted after Hugo and Brooke had spent several hours at the American Girl store at the Mall of America looking at dolls, clothes, and miniaturized accessories for every walk of life, even waiting in line so Brooke’s doll could have her hair styled. They’d even gone on several rides in the center of America’s largest mall, a place Kevin avoided at all costs, it seemed.
“I’m not a saint. It was fun. And Brooke talks more when she’s one-on-one, so we got to know each other better. Again.”
Kevin just smiled at Hugo for a long minute before changing the subject. “Are you interested in getting out of town next weekend, going to the lake again?”
“I can’t. I have a show coming up with Gilbert. We’re gonna be swamped in the coming days polishing the script and rehearsing,” Hugo admitted. “Plus, there’s the Minnesota Fringe Festival.”
“That’s right. I got tickets to the Fringe, but I can’t believe I forgot about the other show. You really
are
swamped. Then again, you’ve hardly told me anything about the show with Gilbert aside from you being busy with it. Where is it? I’d like to come.”
“It’s nothing special. We’re just going to be on one of the stages at an area art fair, that’s all. Don’t go out of your way. It’s not worth it. Go to the Fringe performances. Those’ll be worth it, I promise.” Hugo hoped he discouraged Kevin from going to the Uptown Art Fair without raising his suspicions.
Kevin’s eyes narrowed, but then he relaxed, easily changing the subject.
“I’d like to take you back to the lake before school starts again. It’s always too hard to get there in September even if the weather is still nice enough.”
“Okay,” Hugo agreed. “I don’t see why not.”
“By the way, the week after the art fair, the kids will be with me the whole week. Monday through Sunday. I got the tickets for them for the Fringe Festival so they can see what you do for a living.”
“The kids coming is a new development.”
“Erin has a job interview down at Mayo Clinic. It sounded like it was at least her second interview, and she wanted to stick around for a day or so to visit some friends and get to know the community to see if she’s willing to move. If you ask me, she has the job already, but she’s being cautiously optimistic.”
“Does that mean the kids are moving down to Rochester?” Hugo worried.
“Sounds like it.” Kevin said with emotion poorly hidden in his voice.
“That’s rough. How do you feel about that?” Hugo suspected he already knew. Kevin had admitted several times how important it was to not lose the connection he had with his kids and shared how hard he was trying to nurture their relationships so he could be a good dad to them. He still had regrets for being so absent in their earlier years.