A Missed Opportunity

24

✧𝙽𝚘𝚊𝚑✧

"Dad!" Cameron shouts from across the parking lot. He's grinning and running my way freely with Taffy clutched in his arms. Behind him, Kiara rushes after him, warning him about watching the lights on the back of the cars he carelessly runs past.

"Woah," I step away from my car to run over and meet him halfway before he runs past this one car with its red lights beaming. I lift an apologetic hand to them when they slam on their breaks before they end up hitting me. The guy in the driver's seat isn't happy, but he doesn't run me over and waits until I have my son in my arms to continue backing out.

"Cameron Stone," Kiara huffs, scolding him while she's out of breath and slowly catching up.

"That wasn't cool, Cam." I breathe as I look over at the angry dude peeling out of the parking space. "You could've gotten yourself hurt." I reason with a shake of my head as I turn some to show him the angry car heading down the street. Cameron frowns deeply at that, having let his excitement get the best of him. "C'mon, you scared your mom." I hint with a nod to her.

He takes the hint and looks over at Kiara. "Sorry, Mom." He mutters shamefully.

Kiara lets out a deep breath. "Please, just try to pay attention and listen." She urges. He nods quickly in response. When she looks relived by that, I nod to myself and lean down to set him back down on the ground. She tries to shake it off in the meantime and looks to me with a bit of a tired smile. "Okay, we're ready right?" She asks, leaning down to take Cameron's hand. He's not totally happy about it, but he just got in trouble for running around and seems to decide this isn't a battle he wants to fight.

I nod and happily reach over to grab Cameron's other hand. He blinks but starts to smile too. I guess it's only cool to hold two parents' hands and one just one. I kinda get it. "You excited, Nut?" I ask as we all start walking down the sidewalk towards the crosswalk.

"I don't know where we're going." He proudly admits.

Kiara sighs deeply. "Cam, I told you, like, ten times."

"I forgoted."

"Nice." I grin. "It's kinda like a mall, Cam." I remind. "We're gonna have lunch and walk around some."

"That's boring."

"A little." I agree. "But your mom likes it, apparently."

"It's not boring." Kiara huffs bitterly at us. She swings her and Cameron's hand absently in the air while we stroll across the street like a good ol' happy family. "Grammy used to take me here all the time when I was little." She adds. It sounds enough like a happy memory, but her little smile as she looks up at the big building has a bit of sadness in it. I blame it on the little bit I know about her childhood. She's only let a couple of details casually slip, but everything she's said has been enough for me to piece together that it wasn't a great one.

"That sounds boring still."

Kiara scoffs at that. I can't help my chuckle, a little amused by Cameron's grumbling tone. "Nut, this is a nice memory for your mom. How would you feel if someone said that about one of your nice memories?" I ask, leaning down some as if I could talk to him and him only. Not that I don't want Kiara to know what I'm saying.

Cameron frowns when I put it like that. He looks up at his mom. "It's medium boring." He decides, nodding with his pity.

Kiara hums dryly. "Thanks, baby." She sarcastically accepts. He smiles gently. I shake my head but figure I at least tried. Kiara doesn't seem all that offended anyway,

I let go of Cameron's hand just so I can step a couple of paces ahead of them to catch the door as someone's walking out. That family lets mine walk in first before they step outside, thanking me for unintentionally holding the door open for them.