That Blue Gibson

CH 76

"So where was Travis off to in such a hurry?" Dave asked.

The boys ran ahead of them towards the little playground in the church grounds at the end of the road and Liz reached for Dave's hand. He was keenly aware that Liz hadn't mentioned anything to the boys about their relationship yet and the last thing he wanted to do was step over any boundaries, so he would let her be the affectionate one for once.

He had been nursing his hangover while Liz was at the studio when Travis and the boys showed up early, barging into the house like they had lived there all their lives. Dave had been nervous about meeting them and although Owen took an immediate liking to him, Jack seemed a little aloof. He dutifully shook Dave's hand and politely introduced himself, but the moment Travis and Owen were out of earshot, he started asking questions. 

*

"You have tattoos like my daddy," Jack said suddenly. 

"Yep," Dave crouched to his eye level and rotated his arm to show him the feathers. "And your mommy."

Jack looked him over with the assessing eye of someone three times his age, then nodded sharply. "Uncle T says you're taking care of my mommy, but she doesn't need taking care of."

"Yeah, isn't that the truth...," he laughed, marveling at how much Jack looked like Kyle. Sandy blonde hair, sharp blue eyes, and tall frame, even for his age. 

"So what are you doing here?" 

"Well...," Dave thought carefully about how he would state this. He didn't want to say too much but he also wasn't about to lie to Jack. "We're really good friends and we like spending time together so-"

"So you're her boyfriend?"

He might look like Kyle, but he was all Liz in the personality department. There would be no bullshitting this kid. "Yep."

Jack considered this a minute, sending Dave's anxiety through the roof before finally cracking a smile and he dug into his pocket to produce a shiny yellow toy car. "Do you like cars, Mr. Dave?"

*

"The Triumph dealer was calling his name," Liz brought him back to the present with a laugh and they dropped onto a park bench next to the play structure. 

"How's recording coming along?" he asked. She had offered precious few details about her time in the studio and he knew it was because she didn't want him meddling but he was curious.

Her smile made his heart lift in his chest "I finally got the piano piece down," she said. "I'm going to mix it back in LA once I find a place."

He knew just the place, but decided to save the offer of 606 until later. "Any particular reason you're doing this or is it just for fun?"

She sat back against the bench and he reflexively put his arm around her, "Paul took me on a tour of the studio and suggested I start writing another piece, so I went home and did just that. Then I thought about what you had said about the doctorate and ... well, I made a call to U-Dub, dropped a couple names and the address I was at and they got me in the program almost right away."

"There was zero chance of you sitting still here, huh," Dave chuckled. 

Liz raised an eyebrow from behind her aviators but smiled. "Did you sit still when you busted your leg?"

He shook his head almost leaned in to kiss her when Jack's whine rang out to them. "Mommy, I'm so hungry!"

"You just ate lunch!" she cried. "If you can convince your brother to leave we can go get something to eat."