Great Idea Part II

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Great Idea

Part II

An R.L. Mathewson Chronicle

“What do you think?” Haley asked only to be met with matching glares.

“I thought you loved me,” Cole finally said with a sad shake of his head and a shuddering sigh.

“I do, which is why I think this is a great idea,” she said, nodding as she gestured towards the vision board that she’d made this morning.

“How exactly is spending time with him,” Cole said, emphasizing “him” when he gestured towards Jason, who hadn’t said a single word since she’d finished explaining everything, “a great idea?”

“Because it will be good for you,” she said with a reassuring smile that was met with matching cold glares.

There was a heavy sigh and then…

“Veto,” Cole said, crossing his arms over his chest as he did his best to glare down at her.

He was just so damn cute, Haley thought as she pushed her glasses back up her nose. “Please don’t make mommy hurt you, sweetie,” she bit out with a warm smile because she’d be damned if she let him wreck this sweet father-son time that she’d planned for them.

They were going to bond or she was going to hurt them.

For a moment, her son stood there, considering her before he glanced over at his father, who was still glaring, nodded, looked back at her and said, “I’ll take the beating,” with a shrug.

“I don’t understand why you don’t want to do this. Doesn’t this look like fun?” she asked, gesturing to the board that she’d decorated with glitter to emphasize how much fun this was going to be.

“Look, I just can’t do this to Joshua. I mean, I don’t think I should keep Dad all to myself, not when Joshua has been dying to spend more time with him,” Cole explained with a helpless shrug only to reach over and slap his hand over his little brother’s mouth when Joshua said, “No, I haven’t,” as he focused on the video game in his hands.

“He really has,” Cole said, ignoring his little brother as he tried to slap his hand away.

“Joshua’s spending the day with me. I need his help,” Haley said, noting the calculating look in her son’s eyes as he glanced from her, down to his little brother struggling to push his hands away, and-

“Wouldn’t you rather have my help?”

“No, not really,” Haley said, gesturing for him to leave his little brother alone.

“What about Elizabeth?” Cole asked as he pulled his hand away and decided to try a different angle.

“What about her?” Haley asked, glancing back at Jason and…yeah, still glaring.

“I just think this is fair to her. I mean, shouldn’t she get a chance to spend more time with Dad?” Cole asked, sighing heavily only to curse under his breath when Elizabeth yelled from upstairs, “I’m helping Mom, too!”

“Oh, come on, woman! Why do they get to help you and I get stuck with him?” he snapped, jerking his thumb towards Jason, who was starting to look really pissed.

“Because she loves us more,” Joshua said, sighing dreamily as he relaxed back on the couch and continued playing his video game while Cole, who was a Bradford after all, decided to take a different approach.

There was a slight lip tremble and then…

“You don’t love me, Mommy?” he asked, adding a slight sniffle, a dejected slump of his shoulders, and just the right amount of lip tremble.

“Aw, of course, I do, baby boy,” Haley said, worrying her bottom lip as she reached up and cupped her son’s handsome face in her hands. With a warm smile, she pulled him down and gave him a kiss on his cheek before adding, “But if you try to ruin my plans that I took the time to glitter, then so help me god, I will make your life a living hell,” before releasing him with a satisfied sigh and once again focused on her vision board, wondering if she was missing anything.

“You know that you won’t get away with this, right?” Cole asked, folding his arms back over his chest as he went back to glaring.

“Probably not,” she mumbled absently with a sad shake of her head, wondering why she hadn’t used the green glitter instead.

“You’ll pay for this, woman,” Cole said in a huff as he reached past her, grabbed her vision board and stormed off towards the garage, leaving his father standing there, glaring at her for another minute before he turned around and headed towards the garage where he would be making wondering memories with his son that he would cherish forever.

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