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TK had the entire day to spend with Gwyn, but his tummy felt all twisted in the morning when he wandered into his dad’s bedroom and found Owen getting read for work. He knew that his dad was still going to be working while Gwyn was here while TK had revamped his schedule to get a few days off to spend with the woman, but TK didn’t like the idea of Owen leaving without him.
“Dada,” TK said, crawling onto the man’s bed and sitting criss-cross in the middle of it. “Do you hafta go to work?”
Owen appraised his son and the dilated eyes. It was a good thing they’d put TK to bed in the crib last night because he’d clearly woken up small.
“Did mommy let you out of the crib?” he asked his son warily.
“Uh-huh,” TK said. “She’s makin b’eakfast for TK. Do you hafta go to work?”
“You know that I do,” Owen said. “Why don’t you want me to? Aren’t you excited for a day to spend with your mommy?”
“Uh-huh,” TK said again. “But daddy, I won’t be there to help if you need.”
“I see,” Owen said. He sat down next to TK and put a hand on his back. “But I’ll have the rest of the team there and they all have my back.”
“But not like TK,” TK said.
“True, but they won’t let anything happen to me. And I promise that I’ll come home to you tonight.”
TK frowned. “Gotta wait all day?”
“Yes, but you’ll be with mommy,” Owen said. “I bet she’ll even take you to the park.”
TK’s eyes lit up and he bounced excitedly on his bottom. He jumped up and ran out of the room, shrieking excitedly.
“Mommy! Mommy!”
Gwyn turned from the stove and took several quick steps away from it when she heard her favorite name being called. The last thing she wanted was for TK to accidentally brush against a burner.
“Mommy! Mommy!” TK said, sliding into the room happily. “Park?”
“You want to go to the park?” Gwyn asked. “I thought maybe you wanted to stay home and clean it top to bottom?”
TK’s eyes widened frightfully. “No mommy. Go to park! Please?”
“What would we even do in a park?” Gwyn asked. “No, no. I think it is best if we stay here.”
TK’s green eyes filled with tears and Gqyn realized her little boy must not know that she was joking. Quickly she cupped his face.
“Baby, mommy’s just joking. Of course we can go to the park. But you have to eat breakfast and get dressed first.”
“Oh,” TK said, blinking his tears away and letting his smile reappear on his face.
He saved his tears for after breakfast when he had to say goodbye Owen. Gwyn hugged her boy close to her until the real tears faded to crocodile tears and then distracted him with getting dressed for the park. She cleaned him up, changing him out of his firetruck jammies and into overalls and a shirt with cookie monster on them.
“You can’t bring both Moe and Lou,” Gwyn said patiently as she attached a pacifier clip to him.
“Why?”
“Because you need one hand free to hold mommy’s hand.”
“Why?”
“Because little boys need to hold an adults hand when walking to the park.”
“Mommy can hold Lou,” TK said, holding the stuffed lizard to her. “And I can hold Moe and when at park, TK can hold Moe and Lou!”
“But if you have both how are you going to climb around? You need a hand.”
TK frowned a little bit and looked at his two beloved stuffed animals. “’Los is ‘fraid of Lou. So Lou can stay home.”
“Is Carlos going to be at the park?”
“Dunno,” TK said. “But if ‘Los is ‘fraid maybe someone else too.”
Gwyn smiled. “You’re a sweet boy, TK.”
“Lou can go ‘morrow,” TK said. “I can tell people ‘bout him so they’re ‘ware.”
Gwyn rolled her eyes slightly because of course TK was already making plans to go back to the park even though they hadn’t even been yet today. After a quick trip to the potty, they were on their way.
The park wasn’t packed for nine on a Thursday morning and regardless, TK wasn’t interested in playing with strangers. He ran to the climbing structure, tucking Moe into the bib pocket on his overalls and started climbing, grinning and waving at Gwyn when he reached the top. He went down the slide and then again and then once more for good measure before moving on.
TK had always loved the sandbox. Not every park had them, but when they did, he would spend substantial time making castles. There were two other little boys in the sandbox too, but they were busy throwing sand at each other.
“Stop it,” TK ordered when he got caught in the crossfire.
“No,” the older looking boy said. “You can’t tell us what to do.”
“Can too,” TK said. “Hit me with sand. Stop doin’ it.”
“Not gonna listen to a baby,” the other boy said, sticking his tongue out.
TK scrunched up his face and tried to tune them out, but then a glob of sand hit him in the back of his head. He let out an indignant yelp.
“Stop it!” TK yelled. “Meanie!”
Gwyn and another woman came running and Gwyn was unimpressed when the woman snatched both boys and smacked each on the bottom. Spanking she was fine with, but the horrible aggression and swearing at the little’s was not something she liked to see.
“Come on, TK,” she said gently to her boy. “Let’s go play with something else.”
TK sniffled and followed after her, his free hand rubbing at the back of his head and shaking sand out of his hair.
“’S dang’rous mommy,” TK said. “Can get eye ‘fection.”
“I know, baby,” Gwyn said. “Which is why you should never ever throw sand.”
“Jus’ play with it,” TK said, nodding his head matter-of-factly. “Or else hafta call 911.”
“That’s right,” Gwyn agreed. “But luckily for us, we didn’t get sand in our eyes and we can still play. Do you want to swing.”
TK nodded happily again, the mean little boys far from his mind as he ran to the swings, pulling Gwyn along with him. This playground had three different kinds of swings – regular ones, the netting ones that had taken over for tire swings in recent years, and the bucket swing with a chest harness. Sometimes TK could sit in the middle of a netted swing, but Gwyn placed him in the bucket swing and buckled him in. She had never actually taken TK to a park, but she wasn’t about to have him jump off a swing at the highest point – something he had done extensively as a child.
Gwyn pushed him gently, listening to TK’s happy little giggles and “whee’s” of delight every time he went the teensiest bit higher. He’d taken Moe out of his pocket and would hold him up in the air when they went up and hugged the dog to his chest when they came back down. Gwyn smiled and took a video, sending it to Owen before she resumed pushing him.
“Mommy?” TK said after awhile. “All done swing. More sand?”
Gwyn glanced over at the sandbox. Seeing that it was empty, she nodded, slowing the swing. “Of course. Are you going to build a big sand castle?”
“Real big!” TK said happily.
He wiggled out of the swing and ran over to the sandbox again. He sat down in the sand, Moe safely back in the bib pocket of his overalls, and he grabbed one of the buckets and started to shovel sand into it, content to build for awhile. He stopped only for a moment to pop his pacifier back in his mouth. Gwyn smiled and went back to the nearby bench and looked down at her phone and the text that Owen had sent her back. He’d recently learned about emoji’s and now she’d have to decode what he was trying to say. As a lawyer, Gwyn was used to having to decode nonsense, but this was something new.
Gwyn is pretty sure she cracks the code and is about to respond to Owen calling him an idiot and to please use words next time when TK screams. Gwyn is on her feet and at the sandbox in no time, yelling at the caregiver of the two little monsters who have started pelting TK with sand. He’s sitting in the sandbox still and curled up, covered in sand. The little boys are alternating between throwing the sand and dumping buckets on her son.
Gwyn grabs TK quickly, brushing the sand off him and he splutters, spitting sand out of his mouth. And boy but he cries.
“You need to control those little fuckers,” Gwyn hisses at the caregiver she passes who is trying – and failing – to control the little hellions. She doesn’t say it where they can hear, but she knows TK does because he nods into her. Gwyn gives the woman a few more choice words, but soon moves on, knowing TK needs her.
She is grateful that she is strong and can carry TK, moving him into a bathroom so she can help to brush him off the best that she can here. She pulls a paper towel out of the dispenser and discards it – you never know who has touched that – and then takes another two and wets them in the sink, wiping at his face gently.
“You’re okay, baby,” Gwyn murmured. “I got you.”
“Ow,” TK whined.
“What hurts, hm?”
TK shifts and holds his arm out to her and she sees a long gash on the inside of his arm, jagged and red, but thankfully not deep. TK holds his arm and looks up at her with his matching red eyes, tears falling down his face.
“I think we should go home and clean this up,” Gwyn said softly. “And then maybe we take a nap.”
“Want daddy.”
“Daddy’s at work,” Gwyn said. “But you’re in luck because mommy is excellent at patching up booboo’s too.”
TK frowned and leaned over the sink again, spitting up more sand and Gwyn winced. The kid also needed a bath. It was going to be like a beach in the bathroom. Maybe she should take him to Owen and then they can wash him there and the station can deal with the sand.
TK squirms a little bit and whines. He reaches out to press on the cut and Gwyn gently grabbed his hand.
“No touching,” she said. “Come on, let’s go and mommy will clean it for you. Can you tell me how you got it?”
“Shov’l,” TK mumbled. “Meanie scraped me.”
“That was not nice,” Gwyn said.
TK looked down at the scrape and shivered. He’d been so upset by the bigger boys and now he felt like he never wanted to touch sand again.
“See daddy?” TK whined again, looking up at Gwyn with wide eyes.
Gwyn sighed a little bit and pushed his hair out of his eyes, wincing as she saw more sand fall from his locks.
“Let’s go home,” Gwyn said. “And you can call daddy while we walk, okay?”
TK agreed, tucking himself into her side. He held tightly to her hand while Gwyn pulled out her phone and requested a FaceTime call with Owen, who luckily answered. If he hadn’t, Gwyn had prepared for more tears.
“Hey Gwyn, what’s going on?”
“Hey Owen,” Gwyn sighed. “TK’s a little upset. There was an incident at the park. We’re headed home now, but he wants to talk to you.”
She handed TK her phone and he took it, holding it very close to his face.
“Hi daddy,” TK said without any of his usual enthusiasm.
“Hi bubba,” Owen said. “What happened little man?”
“Meanies,” TK said. “Hurted TK. Threw sand and cut with shov’l.”
“What?” Owen said, panicking.
Gwyn leaned over, “It’s not even really bleeding. I threatened the caregiver within an inch of her life to control them and now TK and I are going home to clean up and take a nap.”
TK wrinkled his nose. “Daddy, tell mommy TK not need nap.”
“You don’t need a nap, hm?” Owen said. “I think maybe you should listen to mommy and if she says you need a nap, you need to take one.”
“Don’t need, daddy,” TK said. “TK needs ice cream.”
Gwyn rolled her eyes behind her son, putting a hand on his back.
“Is this why you wanted to call your daddy?”
TK bit his lip and looked up at Gwyn with his wide eyes and adorable pout. “Wanted see daddy.”
“TK,” Owen said, earning his attention back. “Daddy will bring home ice cream for after dinner, but you have to listen to mommy okay?”
TK nodded and then, much to his dismay, he let out a big yawn. He went to rub at his eyes, but Gwyn grabbed his hands, reminding him he was covered in sand and couldn’t touch his eyes. This proved to be a mistake because then the little boy started to whimper. They were so close to home.
“Okay, say bye bye to daddy,” Gwyn said.
“Bye bye daddy,” TK whimpered.
Owen had only just finished saying bye when Gwyn was sliding the phone back into her pocket and TK pressed his face into her chest. They stood on the sidewalk like that, Gwyn murmuring softly and rubbing his back. Some people passed by and gave them sympathetic looks. Finally, she was able to get him to begin walking again and made a plan for when they got home.
Once they walked in the door and the door had closed behind him, Gwyn got to work stripping her son. She’d shake the sand out of his clothes on the front porch once she got him down for a nap.
“TK, why didn’t you tell mommy you had to go potty?” she chided softly, seeing the wet pull-up.
“Acc’dent,” TK mumbled. “In ‘and box.”
“Oh, when those boys were being mean?”
TK nodded and sniffled, trailing behind her to his bathroom. He froze a little bit when Gwyn turned the bath on. He shifted awkwardly, jarring slightly in his headspace. His dad hadn’t even had to give him a bath yet.
“No thank you,” TK said.
“Good manners, but you have to take a bath to get clean, sweetie,” Gwyn murmured. “Mommy’s going to put lots of bubbles in.”
Now that TK was interested in and he easily stepped out of his pull-up and into the warm water. He didn’t have bath toys, so this was going to be a quick cleaning only. TK quietly patted at bubbles while Gwyn gently ran a wash cloth over his skin. It was kind of nice having someone else clean him up, though when she started washing his hair, he was less than pleased, but that was mostly because he worried soap would get in his eyes. But Gwyn was experienced and nothing happened.
“Alright, baby,” Gwyn murmured. “Let’s get out.”
She wrapped TK in a fluffy towel, drying him before pulling at his arm and rubbing some cream across his scrape. He didn’t even need a band-aid.
“Do you need to go potty?” Gwyn asked and, when he shrugged, she sat him on the toilet, praising him when he went.
“Mommy?” TK asked, finally able to rub at his eyes and he did so with vigor. “Mommy nap?”
“Mommy would love to nap with you.”
Gwyn put him in a new pull-up and some pajamas and brought him to his big boy bedroom. She’d been planning on putting him down in the crib, but she could indulge him in taking a nap too if that would make him feel better. TK curled up against her, shifting until his head was in just the right position to hear her heart beating and Gwyn started to sing softly in Hebrew, lulling him to sleep. She watched him for a long while, smelling the sweet baby shampoo she’d used in his hair and listening as he suckled his pacifier. She could have done without her kid getting hurt, but lying here watching him like this was something she never wanted to stop doing.