Tale The 58

Posted by Adminh, Released on March 4, 2025

58: Friday Firsts Part 1

Cole

“Your daddy is going to come by and see you when he gets done with practice? Do you want me to stay for a little while?” Luci is standing with me in Barrett’s Nanna’s kitchen. It smells like sugar and spaghetti. She already hugged me so big like a grandma does. Grandmother never did that.

“No I’m ok. I like Nanna.” I tell her.

Luci smiles and gets on her feet to be my size. She does that to talk to me a lot. “I do too. Watch them for real love.”

I nod at her before I hug her. “I love you Luci.”

“Love you Coco. Dream about a cookie war. Chocolate chip against Oreo’s. Instead of swords, they carry straws and shoot milk sabers.”

Barrett laughs with me. Mr. Banning does too.

“Luci Lou, you are something.” He says laughing.

“Yeah, a crazed rainbow rollercoaster. I can come get him tomorrow if you want.”

“I’ll call you in the morning.” He walks her to the door.

“Boys, do you want to go play for ten minutes?” Nanna asks, smiling at us.

“Yes Nanna.” Barrett grabs my arm and we run to his room here. “Did you use the mistletoe again?” He whispers.

“Only one time. He kissed her cheek. Not like the parade.” I frown hard. “And Luci picked a tie, but not the smelly cobone spray.”

“Baker is gonna help, right?” Barrett taps his fingers.

“Yes.”

“They have to go to eat Cole. At a restaurant like in the movie. And then he’ll kiss her again.” Barrett has a blue crayon and paper. “I’ll ask Aunt Sydney for help to get Luci to a surprise. You have to get your daddy there. We need a restaurant….”

“Chuck E. Cheese!” I tell him.

“No, that’s not romance. Has to have candles.” Barrett says, still thinking.

1/6

+3 Point:

58: Friday Firsts Part 1

“Pizza Palace has candles.” Little red ones in glass that I like to look into and try to blow out.

“No, it has to be fancy Cole. Like, like on those movies with the flowers and the big candles and waiters in ties. I’ll ask Aunt Sydney. She’s a girl. She knows romance.” Barrett is probably right. He’s in kindergarten.

“We need romance, boys?” Barrett’s Nanna stands in the doorway, smiling at us.

“Nanna, yes, we need a romance restaurant.” Barrett tells her.

“For Luci and your daddy?” Her eyes sparkle as she sits down next to us.

“I want her to be my mom. She loves me.” I tell her.

“Luci does love you. I know just the place. And with your Aunt Syd’s help, we can get them a

nice table.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Isabelle.”

She pulls us both in for a hug. “I think you can call me Nanna Cole if you’d like. Luci’s like my other daughter.”

“Ok Nanna.”

Easton

“You have fun and listen to Mr. Banning. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Ok Daddy. I love you. We’ll go Christmas shopping Sunday, right? Two days. I have to get Luci’s present, Daddy. It’s very portant.” He is extremely adamant about this shopping day.

“We will go. I promise. I love you.” I need to get her something too. Maybe I can figure that out tonight. After another hug, he’s dismissed me.

Banning walks me out and I’m sure he can sense my worry. “It’s not easy, is it? Leaving them with someone else. I promise I’ll take good care of him. They’ll have a blast.”

“I know. It’s just his first sleepover. Thanks for letting him come though. He loves Barrett. And I know I can trust you and your parents. You have Luci’s gold seal of approval.”

“Well that is better than gold then. Luci knows how to judge people with kids. Probably better than most. She saw enough bad ones growing up. I’d like to go beat the s**t out of some people for her.” He eyes me as my heart sinks. Luci hasn’t told me everything about her foster homes then. He nods slowly as his eyes turn to understanding.

“She will tell you. But Luci doesn’t like to prey on others‘ sympathies. Give her time to share. I’ve known her for ten years Easton and she didn’t share for a long time. We were her second

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58: Friday Firsts Part 1

ව

+8 Point

family. And seeing how she looks at you, she isn’t going to want you to feel sorry for her.

Barrett and Cole seem good for each other. See you at the game tomorrow.” He waves

goodbye and I leave. I drive to Luci’s missing my Cole, but anxious to see my sweetness especially after what Banning just revealed. I don’t understand how she’s not bitter or cruel. All

day I could hear her telling me she loves me. But the most perfect thing she said was she

loved all of me. I’m no ball of sunshine and the fact I’m a single dad are enough deterrents to

a relationship. Throw in my missing ex who abandoned my son to the whole laundry list of

crap, and most girls would run.

She answers my knock and folds her arms almost immediately. “What are those? I’m taking

you on a date.” She’s eyeing the flowers in my hand.

“Easy there sassy. They are a gift for you after this week and because I like the happy smile

you get when I bring flowers.” Honestly, after the first date, I probably wouldn’t have bothered for anyone else. But her eyes always light up with a little smile she tries to hide. Like she is

surprised by any small present she gets.

“They’re so pretty. Thank you. I’ll grab my coat and purse. We’re going to eat first, and then I

have a surprise for you.” She puts them in a vase and grabs her things. I take her into my arms

the minute she gets close enough and kiss her.

“Let’s start over instead of you growling at me for bringing flowers. Hi. I’m here for a date.” I

tease her.

“Hi. Thank you for the flowers. Would you like to go eat with me?”

“No, I’d like to eat you, but I guess I should go to dinner with you first.” That pretty face turns

pink as we walk out. “I’ll drive. You can tell me where to go.”

She plugs in the directions on the console and I begin following it. We stop near a food truck park. “Here?”

“Mmm hmmm.” She says, trying not to smile.

I let her lead me toward one and stop short. “How did you know?” I stare at my favorite tex–mex restaurant that closed down six months ago, but in food truck form.

“I have my sources. Three of them in fact. They decided a storefront wasn’t for them. They’ve been running this instead.” She pulls me to the line. I greet the owner who’s eyes light up. “Hey captain. I wondered if you would find us. You want your usual?”

“I do. I’ll have to bring my brothers by too.”

“Ah, I think the lady might have already taken care of that.” He smiles down at Luci who waves

ove

+3 Poires

58: Friday Firsts Part 1

to him. “What would you like, pretty lady?” This guy is a father figure, which is the only reason I don’t snarl at him.

She pays for our dinner after she fusses at me for trying to. We go sit at one of the tables in the middle to wait.

“That reminds me, Luci. Do you want a different nickname? I didn’t exactly call you sweetness at the beginning in the best way. It was sarcastic and to chase you off.” I picture myself those days and think what a f*****g moron I was.

“No. I like it.” She says calmly.

“You do?”

“Yes. It’s unique. I never hear anyone use that. It’s honey or baby almost all the time. Which is fine but it’s…it’s so something you would come up with. And I like hearing you say it. Do I get

to give you one?”

I chuckle lightly. “Then it’s yours for good. What would you call me?”

“Hmmm….hockey hottie, captain hottie.” She grins and I laugh hard.

“No.”

“Prickly, Frosty…” she offers up.

“No.” Now I growl a little at those.

“Elsa, Olaf, Mr. Freeze, Iceman….”

“Now you’ve gone too far. Elsa really?” I glare at her.

“Trying to give you lots of options.” She tries to be serious.

“Let it go Luci.” And now she collapses giggling. Which truly makes me smile. Her life hasn’t

been easy and she should get to laugh as much as she wants.

They call our name and I go grab our food. She takes her first bite and her eyes close with pleasure. “That’s delicious.”

“They make the best. I was not happy when they shut down. How did you find them?” I take a

bite of the brisket taco and savor the familiar flavor explosion.

“Jackson said it was your favorite and you were all surprised they closed because they were

so busy. I looked them up and found a social media post about the food truck. It’s not a fancy birthday dinner, but I figured it would make you happy.”

4/6

+8 Point:

58: Friday Firsts Part 1

“Fancy is always overrated compared to an old favorite you thought you’d never have again.

What’s next?”

“A surprise. I already told you.”

We finish eating and I see the owner hand Luci two huge bags. “Are you feeding Sydney tonight too?”

“No you’ll see.” She plugs in more directions. As we near the end, I glance over at her.

“The city’s older ice rink?”

“Yes.” I help her out and carry the bag inside. There are a few teenagers on the ice goofing off.

They are wearing regular clothes, but I see their hockey sticks. I stop looking around at the old

rink while Luci moves close to the ice.

“Luci!” One of them calls out as he skates in. He’s about her height with shaggy brown hair

and probably around sixteen or seventeen.

“Hey Joel. I brought dinner.”

Joel, the kid living with Janet that I got season tickets for waves to her. Janet had called me beside herself when she saw them. I’d been more than happy to do it. “Hi Luci girl. Hello Easton again.” Janet waves to me from the old bleachers.

Luci is setting food out on a table. The four boys come and each grab containers to start inhaling their food. Janet shakes her head. “I just fed them an hour ago.”

“They skated, they are starving again.” I whip my head, hearing Becker’s voice as he is walking closer with Jackson and Kingston both grinning. “Teenage boys eat a lot, Ms. Janet.”

“Here’s your food, guys.” Luci tells my brothers and Becker claps me on the shoulder.

“If you don’t keep her, I will.” He grins. “And I mean like we’ll convince Dad to adopt her before you beat the life out of me.”

“What are you three doing here?”

“Luci thought we might want to play pick up hockey with Joel and his friends. They do this on Friday nights.” Jackson explains. “You’ve been talking a lot about how you missed the fun times we get to play hockey. She thought you might enjoy this.”