Page 38 of Vegas Duology

ChapterNine

Lexi

June2010

There's nothing quite as satisfying as crunching up a bag of potato chips.I took a strange pleasure in feeling them splinter beneath my hands before sprinkling them on the top of the prepared casserole.Ben liked it best that way.

Finished with the topping, I popped the dish in the oven and started on the cleanup when I heard the back door open.

"Mommy!"Ben's voice rang out, followed by his little body.Hurtling down the hallway, he crashed into me.

"Hey, buddy."I scooped him up and planted kisses all over his face."How was the zoo?"

"Awesome," Ben said and wriggled in my arms, already wanting to be put down.He was getting too big for the hugs and cuddles I still wanted to give him."We got ice cream and Papa said the bears were sad."

"Oh yeah?"I said and looked to Uncle Ray, who had just come into the kitchen and dumped Ben's backpack on the table."And why are the bears sad?"

Ben looked up but it was Uncle Ray who answered, "I told him the bears would be much happier if they were rugs on my living room floor."

I threw a dish towel at him."You didn't."

"I was kidding," he said and bent down and ruffled Ben's hair."You know I was just kidding, right, Ben?Animals are better left in the wild, aren't they?"

Ben nodded and Uncle Ray shooed him into the living room.

"I wish you wouldn't do that," I said after he was gone."You know Ben believes everything you say.He thinks you hung the moon, for God's sake."

"Don't worry about Ben.He's a smart kid.He'll be alright.Even after the public school system is finished with him."

Growing up, it was only Uncle Ray and me, and he was the only grandparent figure Ben had unless you counted Andrew's parents, which I didn't.Jeanette and Edward had seen their only grandson twice.They lived on the East Coast, and despite the fact that they had endless amounts of disposable income, they never could find the time to come for a visit.I was thankful Ben had Uncle Ray, and thought of him as his grandfather and when he'd started calling him Papa, no one corrected him.

"You know I like spending time with Ben," Uncle Ray said."I've been to the zoo with him more times this year alone than I think I've ever been in my whole life.That kid cannot get enough of the animals."

"He loves it there."I turned back to the sink as Uncle Ray settled into a chair."Thanks for taking him.It was nice to have some quiet time."

"I love it," he said."Do you know what he told me?"

"What's that?"I let the warm water run over my hands while I scrubbed the mixing bowl.

"He told me Andrew has never been to the zoo with him."

I turned the water off and busied myself with the washing.I knew what was coming next.

"How could a boy who goes to the zoo as much as your child," Uncle Ray said, "never has gone with his father?How is that even possible?"

There it was.

"Andrew's very busy," I said and put the last dish in the drying rack.

"Lexi?"

I wiped the counter down, stalling."Uncle Ray, I don't want to talk about it.He works very hard for us.So sometimes he doesn't get a chance to go to the zoo."

"Sometimes?Or never?"

"Sometimes."I turned around.Uncle Ray had his arms crossed over his thick belly.

"Ben says he's never been."