As the moms came home, the kids gravitated to them to share their day. They went to the kitchen where Rosy was making sincronizadas as a quick snack. It gave him and his mother a chance to catch up.
Sincronizada is in essence a quesadilla. The only difference is that in between the two tortillas with cheese is ham. It was sort of like a toasted Mexican ham and cheese sandwich that you could put sour cream, guacamole, or pico de gallo on as mandatory toppings. His mom grabbed them a plate to share before the rug-rats discovered the goodies.
“Watching you with them today makes me think it’s time you got serious about settling down.”
Sometimes the filter got clogged, and instead of him firing back a witty comeback, David ran out of smartass responses.
“Uhm.”
“I talked to Tami today, and she told me that she couldn’t find any guys she wanted to date at school,” Mom elaborated.
Like he’d asked her for more details on how he should settle down. Better yet, with whom.
David stuffed an emergency sincronizada into his mouth because he had nothing.
His mom’s phone rang. She gave him a look that told David he should sit still because their talk wasn’t over.
“I bet your ears were ringing. David and I were just talking about you,” Mom said.
David reached for the plate so he could make his escape when she handed him the phone.
“Be nice,” she warned and grabbed the platter of goodies for the kids and went downstairs.
“What did you do?” David finally asked.
“What do you mean?” Tami asked with amusement dancing in her voice.
“I just got ambushed with it was time I should settle down. And, oh, by the way, my buddy Tami couldn’t get a guy to go out with her. I think she’s worried you’ll end up an old maid,” David said, finding his humor had returned.
“Do you really want to go there, stupid boy?”
Even though they hadn’t really hung out in a while, David knew that Tami had enough dirt on him that she could take him down.
“I was just trying to be a good friend and offer my help in finding you a guy. If you need some tips on how to dress or what to say, I’m here for you,” he chuckled.
“Someone’s in a good mood.”
“What’s not to like? I don’t have any classes or practices to go to; I spent the last two days with my kids; and I’m talking to you.”
“Nice save.”
“So, no guys, huh?” David asked.
“No time. Stanford is super competitive.”
“More like you finally find yourself surrounded by smart people, and you have to work to prove you’re the top of the heap.”
“Like you’re not competitive?” Tami asked.
There was no point in denying that.
The two of them fell into a familiar banter as they shared what was going on in their lives. They were finally in a place where they’d been apart long enough that neither of them felt the desire to push the romantic side of their relationship. They’d become friends who could be apart for extended periods, but when they saw or talked to each other, they easily picked up from where they had left off.
She finally had to go, or they might have talked all night.
David spent the evening basking in intimate conversations with different household members. By the time he staggered up to his apartment, he was drunk on family gossip, the shrieks of children, and a bellyful of chicken wings. David was asleep before his head hit his pillow.
◊◊◊
Day 3 at sunrise, David was awakened by shrieking children on the back lawn. He was with Ashley today. They, plus Duke, went to Tapia Park within Malibu Creek State Park. They spent the day hiking and playing in the creek. David was the best dad ever when he brought bubbles. He noticed that Ashley snagged the leftover bubble bottles so she could be the best mom ever sometime in the future.
When they returned home, the ankle biters were tuckered out and went down for long naps. That gave David and Ashley and chance to talk.
“That new system we’re using has made me a lot of money this summer,” Ashley shared.
Alyssa, the computer girl he’d met in Financial Accounting, had helped him with a stats project. It involved using public records to find potential buyers and sellers for his mom’s real estate business. Alyssa had worked for his mom this summer honing the predictive software, and by all reports, it was working.
His mom was currently looking for larger office space to house the new agents she wanted to hire to handle the number of leads. Ashley had been cherry-picking the ones that demanded immediate attention.
“My dad was telling me how well that was going.”
“I wanted to talk to you because I’m thinking about buying my own place.”
“And your first thought was about Allen and Dawson,” David guessed.
He’d known all along that having the kids all together for any length of time was probably impossible. With Peggy getting married, he figured that Dave would leave first, even though the psychic had said she would leave him with David.
“Fiona Beckham contacted me because she needs to sell her condo. And get this, Lexi gave her my name.”
David had to take a moment to wrap his head around the last comment. He wondered what Lexi was up to.
“I don’t know what to say about Lexi, but I’ve seen Fiona’s place. I absolutely loved it and remember thinking I could live there and be a happy boy.”
“You see my quandary,” Ashley said and then got serious. “What would you think if I bought it and left the boys here?”
“What are you thinking?”
“That I would split time between Beverly Hills and Malibu. I’ve decided I want to start dating again, and I don’t want to expose them to that until I get serious with someone,” she explained.
“You know who you have to talk to,” David said, referring to his mom.
“She said it was up to you.”
“Bullshit,” was David’s automatic response.
“I had exactly the same reaction, but your mom said that the boys were ours, and we had to work it out. She would be sad to see them go, but she was fine with it if that was what we decided. I just had to promise to bring them over all the time,” Ashley shared.
David felt better about having his mom be responsible for his kids while he was in college. Hearing that comment made him realize that it really wasn’t the burden he was afraid it was. Then again, he made sure there was enough help that no one got overwhelmed. If nothing else, that was one thing his money was good for.
“I’m the last one to tell you not to enjoy your life. If you find that you miss them too much, you can change your mind. I only ask that you don’t switch back and forth to the point it confuses them. And don’t be surprised if all five want to go with you,” David warned.
If his daughter, in particular, got it into her head, she would talk to her dad and get her way.
“Was it hard for you when you left to make movies?”
“At first, but being so busy made it easier. I also knew that you all were there with them.”
“I think I’m going to do it.”
“Can I ask why Fiona’s selling?”
“She signed a deal with a Chinese studio. I guess because they’re building a new studio that is touted as the most expensive project in film history, valued at just under seven billion dollars.”
Many major movies partnered with Chinese studios because China had a quota for the number of foreign films that could be shown in their country each year. So it made sense to co-produce a movie with one of their studios to have access to their 1.4 billion population.
“That’s probably a smart move on her part,” David decided.
◊◊◊
Day 4, Grandma Dawson was his partner, and David was getting worn out. They decided on arts and crafts and turned on the TV. Allen said he wanted to go to daycare in the afternoon, so David took them and dropped them off. He reasoned he was paying for the week and might as well take advantage.