A Missed Opportunity

19

❃𝙺𝚒𝚊𝚛𝚊❃

With every day that passes by, I can see the trust and admiration build up in Cameron's eyes as he looks up at Noah.

I've seen it all only once before. It's that look he gives to someone who just taught him something I for sure couldn't teach. Or even when he's scooped up like he weighs absolutely nothing and is thrown around some just for the hell of it. He loves it because I can't do it for that long.

I don't blame Cameron for already growing so attached to Noah in these past few months. It's been four, and he's already begging me to let Dad come with us to get a big tree. As if I hadn't already invited him to come with us because—annoyingly—I think I'm attached to him too. Less than Cameron is though.

It's hard not to get attached when I see him almost every day. And when I do see him, I see him grinning as he spins my son around the room and getting along terrifically with him. That's not all I see though, because he'll turn to me in the little breaks between making Cameron dizzy. Like that one day he gasped dramatically and declared that I must be jealous of Cameron getting spun around all day. Cameron was quick to agree even though I was shaking my head as fast as I could and taking steps back from them.

So, guess what Noah did.

If you said he chased me around the house to eventually corner me in my bedroom as I was trying to make the great escape into my closet then grabbed me and threw me over his shoulder like I was a sack of potatoes and then ran around the house to catch Cameron too to get him over his other shoulder so he could hang us both upside down until we got dizzy...then you're right. Bonus points if you added that his hands never left the backs of my thighs until my feet could touch the ground.

Needless to say, after all of that, Cameron and I were crushed when we went a whole week without getting scooped up in the air because Noah's stupid boss wanted him to stay late the entire time. By the time he was able to leave, it was almost Cameron's bedtime and we were all a little too tired to be thrown around. I kept telling him we were fine and that we'd see him during weekend when he'd call and ask how we were.

Cameron was more crushed than I was though, I'd like to make that clear. So, I was fine, but he kept asking when we'd see his dad again. He's been ecstatic ever since I told him Noah would be here bright and early Saturday morning so he could spend the whole day with us.

When someone knocks on the door at eight thirty, Cameron is the first to run over to the door. I'm a few moments behind him, still wrapped up in a blanket and with a warm cup of coffee cradled in my hands like I need it to survive the cold winter night.

My hair is a mess from bed still, and I'm in the middle of yawning when Cameron throws the door open excitedly like it's already Christmas morning and he just can't wait to see what he has under the tree. Noah grins back at the both of us like he's been up for hours just the way Cameron has. "You did it!" Cameron excitedly declares, throwing his hands up in triumph.

Noah laughs at that and leans down to scoop Cameron up in his arms. I watch as he steps inside without needing to be silently invited in. He absently shuts the door behind him too with his hand that he has a plastic bag in. Cameron's new little gifts, probably. "I did what, Cam?" He asks, still laughing.

I chuckle to myself. "He just learned what black ice was." I inform.

"I thought you were gonna die!" Cameron explains with a grin.