Page 19 of Forever Flirting

How could such an innocent, sweet, young boy be so…destructive? His earnest question had only brought on another round of laughter and tears with his grandmother, resulting in him feeling even more inept.

“Oh my gosh… Alex… this is… the funniest… thing I’ve ever… seen,” his Nana roared with laughter, staring at him with one hand on her chest and the other holding her belly. “I’m… gonna… wet myself…”

“I’m not changing your diaper, Nana…” Alex said abysmally, looking at his filthy hands to his son who was smiling – only to see Caleb curl his hands several times, waving.

“Poohey?”

“Ewwie Poohey is right…” Alex muttered. “I need a shower – and not your kind either, Caleb. I cannot believe you literally peed on me the second I got your diaper off.”

Nana got up and stumbled back towards the bedrooms, still laughing and stopping every few minutes to cross her legs, before continuing. It was a good thing he loved that crotchety old woman and wanted to be here, because he hated being the object of someone’s entertainment.

… But he understood, too.

There was a pile of dirty baby wipes in front of him, the folded toxic diaper, another failed diaper where he ripped the tab off by mistake, and yet one more where Caleb had squirmed to get away, causing him to crumple the tab, and sticking to the wrong spot.

He didn’t even have a diaper on his son yet!

Nana returned holding an old T-shirt that looked like it had seen better days and held it out to him, before looking at Caleb.

“If you want that cookie, boy? You go see your Daddy, and cover that bottom before you mess up my carpet.”

“Cookie?”

“Daddy,” Nana said pointedly, extending her finger towards Alex, who felt like he’d been put through the wringer already. “Alex, grab him, hold him, and tape that thing on him like you are mudwrestling a pig – am I clear?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Caleb got up and smiled at him sideways, like the toddler was sizing him up for another round of ineptitude to be shoveled on him… and that wasn’t happening.

Alex reached out lightning fast, and wrestled his son down to the floor, causing Caleb to laugh riotously as he shrieked with joy, before taping the diaper over his son’s backside.

“You are a stinker, aren’t you?” Alex whispered, grinning at Caleb – and instinctively blew raspberries on his neck, making the boy squeal in delight. “I think you might like wrestling and doing little boy things, don’t ya…?”

“Just keep those ‘boy things’covered,” his Nana laughed knowingly, winking at him. “Go wash up, Alex Kendall Wilcox, change that filthy shirt, and I’ll do a load of laundry. I can’t have my favorite boys rolling around when they could be eating cookies… and I think I should save a few for my sweet ‘Reese’s pieces’. I do love a man in uniform.”

Alex grinned.

She was obviously still hung up on harassing a few firefighters in town as her latest crush. His grandmother never changed. She pretended to be innocent, but that sweet old lady façade held a lioness on the prowl for most of the male community.

Hot Kendall blood, indeed…he smiled.

Nana held out a gnarled arthritic hand towards Caleb, who immediately scrambled upwards, grabbing it.

“Cookie?”

“Yes, Sweet-pea… Nana has a cookie for both her boys,” she said, leading his son into the kitchen. Alex watched in amazement, smiling openly, and shaking his head in disbelief at how easy his grandmother made it look.

Gathering up all the wipes, ruined diapers, and cleaning up his mess, he grabbed the trashcan from the kitchen.

“I’m going to take it out for you,” Alex volunteered swiftly at her stern look, causing him to laugh as she pressed ‘brew’ on the coffeemaker. “Love you, Nana.”

“Go on, you flirt,” she chided – but that tell-tale smirk was there.

* * *

Several hours later,Alex was grateful for his grandmother as she encouraged him how to ‘coerce’ Caleb into behaving, instructing him how small the food needed to be, and warning him about a few things he never imagined.

Yeah, he would have been lost today without his Nana… and told her as much as he sat beside her on the loveseat, flipping through the photo albums, and seeing pictures of him when he was little… realizing Caleb looked almost identical to him.

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