Oscar had gotten quiet, making Apple look for the child, and he discovered him in the hallway, his cheeks coated in tears as he looked at the images on the wall.Concerned, Apple raced forward, stopping short when he also spotted the images, especially seeing the one of Oscar and Mustang.Oscar focused on the image of him and Mustang making the desk.
“Are you okay son?”Mustang asked.
“I look so happy,” Oscar said.“I look like a normal kid making a project with his dad.It’s beautiful.Aunt Helen, did you take these pictures?”
“I did.”
“I don’t see one of you and Mr.Milton,” he pointed out.
“I haven’t chosen the one I want yet to go on this wall right here,” she said, pointing.“I do have a spot for it all picked out.Come on, let me show you to your room.Apple, yours is there, and Oscar you’re here.The bathroom is in front of you, so snap to.”
“Yes Ma’am,” they both said as Oscar walked into the room.
Disappointment hit him hard when he didn’t see any furniture, just a bed and a shelf with a few books.There wasn’t even a building block set in the room, but then he caught himself.“She is going to let me and Uncle Jay build the furniture for the room.”
He walked out, happier than a clam.
“Your house is awesome,” he announced as he went to the bathroom and washed his hands.“Even the soap smells cool.”
Apple didn’t have much to say as he took in all the cutesy shit with monogramming, matchy-matchy, and warm colors.All of it was fine, but for the damndest reason, he wanted to see her weapons cache and the craft room.
“I saw that,” Helen said to Apple.
“What?I didn’t say nuffin’,” he said, laughing.
“I don’t have a weapons cache yet; my 007 credentials only arrived a day or so ago,” she said.“I’ve only had one assignment which was a fetch and deliver, which paid squat, so no real ducks to help fill my pond.”
“If it is okay with your husband, I can gift you a few tools,” Apple said.
“Naw, I want to build the storehouse a piece at a time,” Helen replied.“There were two questions on your face; what was the second one?”
As dark as the man was, Helen saw him blush.“The craft room.Does it have bookcases with stacks of fabrics with hidden compartments to hold weapons?”
“Yes, it does,” Helen said, laughing.“I’ll show you after dinner though.I’m hungry.”
Mustang didn’t say much during the reunion.He noticed the ease Helen had with Apple, even more so than with him.It didn’t make him uncomfortable, more so the opposite.In this man, she’d made a friend, a person she could go to, a person she trusted.Therefore, Mustang trusted him as well.
“I can hear you thinking over there, Mustang,” Apple said across to the table.
“I can say it out loud,” Mustang replied.“My wife is at ease with you, which she isn’t with any man, not even her own father.It says a lot about you as person, but even more about you as a man.”
Apple watched his expression closely as he made the next statement, “Does it bother you I am batting for the other team?”
“You plan to batter up in my home?”
“Of course not,” Apple said, offended at his words.
“Then, we’re cool,” Mustang said.“Oscar and I will head out tomorrow for the weekend, and I can feel confident that while I am away, you and Helen will get a lot done on her office, which she can show you in the morning.”
“Good enough,” Apple said.
Oscar, eyeballing the steaks, asked, “What are we doing in the morning Uncle Jay, and what time are we heading out?”
“Noon,” he said.“We will reach the campground at two, set up the tent and cots, maybe get in some fishing for our dinner as well.”
“Are we gonna canoe?”Oscar asked.“I’ve been practicing.”
“Yes, we have to load all that up in the morning as well,” Mustang said, doling out the steaks.
