Chapter 18
Paul paced nervously around the airport as Montana and the girls sat and watched him. They had been waiting for Tasha to pick them up once they arrived from Youngstown.
“Will you sit down?” she finally asked him while cuddling Kira in her lap. “You’re making me nervous.”
“Sorry. I’m just…you know…kind of worried about how I’m going to come off to your dad and brother. And why didn’t you say something about them only living two hours from me?”
“You’ll be fine, trust me. Daddy’s excited about meeting you. As for them living so short a time from you, I didn’t think it was that important.”
“O-kay then.” He gave a deep sigh.
“Paul, really, just calm down. My family won’t bite; be assured of that much. If anything, I think Logan’s more excited about meeting you than Daddy is.”
“Who’s Logan?” Mac asked, eyebrows knitting.
“My nephew,” Montana answered. “He’s seven.”
“A boy?” Mac wrinkled her nose.
“Last time I checked,” Montana chuckled.
“Ewwwwwww!”
“Mac, geez, that’s kind of rude,” Paul said.
“It’s quite all right,” Montana smiled and nodded. “Most six year old girls have the same reaction to boys and vice versa. They aren’t all like you, checking the opposite sex out at a young age. You were probably one of those naughty boys trying to get peeks up a girl’s dress at the playground.”
“Ewwwwwwww, Papi!” Mac cried. “That’s gross!”
“I will have both of you know that I was a perfect gentleman that didn’t even get with a girl for anything naughty till I was sixteen.”
“Mmmm hmmm. And I’m sure if I talk to either of your parents one of these days, they will beg to differ,” Montana teased.
“Papi was bad,” Mac giggled. “He crouched on top of the refrigerator once and scared Grandpa.”
“Paul!” Montana cried. “What a terrible thing to do to your father.”
“What the hell is this, Gang Up On and Torture Paul Day? Jesus, I was a little kid. Honestly, do you think I could pull that off these days?”
“Come to think of it, the vision of a 190 pound man crouched on top of a refrigerator would be kind of funny. God, though, you boys must have been real hellions.”
“We had our moments,” Paul said, failing to hide a grin.
“You and your brothers probably made Sly look like a choir boy.”
“Probably. Speaking of which, where is he anyway?”
“At work. My sister in law is picking us up, provided if Tasha ever gets here.”
“Good. Let me take the girls to the bathroom in the meantime. Think you can stay here for a few?”
Montana nodded. “Sure.”
Suddenly, a voice shrilled in the air. “Aunt Moni! Mom, I found her!”
“There you are!” Tasha said happily, before embracing Montana. “My God, Logan and I have been all over the place.”
“Sly’s right about one thing,” Montana nodded, “you would get lost in the bathroom.”
“Oh, phooey on him too!“
Montana turned her attention to her nephew, giving him a hug. “Are you done with camp already?”
Logan nodded. “Uh huh. I came home last weekend.”
“Wow, this summer is going fast.”
“No complaints here,” Tasha laughed. “That means more days closer to school starting.” She then looked around. “So where is this man your dad and I have been hearing so much about?”
“He took the girls to use the bathroom.” Montana then spied Paul heading their way with Kira and Mac. “As a matter of fact, here they come now.”
“My God,” Tasha breathed at the sight of him, “he is a fine specimen of a man.”
“Down, girl,” Montana warned playfilly. “I saw him first and besides, you have your own man. My brother, to be exact.”
“Is that….” Logan began, not believing his eyes. “Oh man! Aunt Moni, you didn’t say nothing about —” He was cut off by Paul and the girls arriving back, and the boy looked up at him with large brown eyes.
“Wow. You’re even cooler than on TV,” he finally said.
“Thanks,” Paul laughed. “And you must be the famous Logan your aunt goes on about.”
“My Papi,” Kira said, hugging her father’s leg. “Mine.”
“Ewwwwwwwwwwww, a boy!” Mac cried, pointing at Logan.
“Mackenzie!” Paul cried, a little embarrassed.
Logan, quick witted as the dark girl in front of him, responded, “Ewwwww, girls!”
“Logan Sylvester Hayes!” Tasha scolded.
Montana cleared her throat. “Well, I see we are getting off to a running start. Shall we head to the house before Daddy thinks we were all kidnapped?”
Later:
“So you’re the fellow that happens to fancy my little girl,” Jack grinned widely at Paul, extending a large hand. “Jack Hayes.”
Paul shook the silver-haired man’s hand. “Good to meet you, sir.”
“Been in the company a good while, have you? Montana tells me you won some championships of your own.”
“I was tag champion twice. First time with Kidman in 2004 for a few months, and of course almost a year the second time with my best friend. We were just split up in the draft. And I had the old Crusierweight title for a bit back in 2005.”
“Quite a few accomplishments you have there,” Jack nodded. “So what have you been doing these days.”
“Not much, Mr. Hayes. Mostly jobbing.”
“Ehhh, everyone hits their slow times. Kind of like me when I started boxing when I was around your age. And what’s with this ‘Mr. Hayes’ and ‘sir’ bullshit? Makes me feel damn ancient, and I ain’t ready for the nursing home yet. Call me Jack.” He flexed his muscles. “I still got some left in me. I bet on a good day, I could take you down..”
“Daddy!” Montana said, walking into the room, “are you still on trying to challenge younger guys? One would think you’d learned your lesson from the post office incident.”
“I beat that smart ass mail carrier kid fair and square,” Jack reminded her.
“And you had a compound fracture to your wrist for your trouble,” Montana reminded him. “Now cut it out. Besides, Paul trained for many years for what he does.”
“Well, one thing about it, little girl, you got yourself a fellow that could kick the shit out of somebody that tried anything fresh with you. And I have to admit, he’s doing a better job of it than I did boxing.”
“I wouldn’t dismiss getting a bronze medal in the Olympics as not doing very well,” Montana said.
“Wait….you boxed in the Olympics?” Paul asked.
“He got the bronze for the US,” Montana said proudly.
“Who got the gold?” Paul wondered.
“Mexico,” Jack nodded. “He was pretty good too. Knocked some Russian fellow out. And some kid from Canada got the silver. That‘s who ended up beating me.”
The girls had bounced into the room, wondering what was going on. “Papi’s Mexico,” Kira spoke up.
“You don’t say?” Jack grinned.
“Actually, I’m Mexican on my mother’s side,” Paul clarified.
“Nothing wrong with that,” Jack nodded, then smiled at Mac and Kira. “And you have yourself some pretty little ladies here. What’s your names?”
“Mackenzie,” Mac said, extending her hand, “but people call me Mac. And this is my sissy Kira. She’s three.”
“And they have good manners,” Jack grinned wider, shaking Mac’s hand. “I’m Jack. I hear you met my grandson?”
“Um… Mac?” Paul began before she cut him off.
“Yeah, and I thought he was going to be some dumb boy at first, but then we climbed the big tree outside and he showed me the swing you guys made and his video games! Logan is the coolest boy I ever met!”
Paul leaned back in his chair, letting out a sigh of relief. Maybe this visit wouldn’t be so bad after all.
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