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Tony stood in the doorway silently watching her. She was folding laundry, not an uncommon sight in the laundry room of the apartment building but it was what else she doing that made him stare and smile. She was singing some country song to herself and swaying along as she folded. She was horribly off-key but she seemed to be in such a light-hearted mood that it just didn't matter.
He remembered something that one of his frat brothers had said to him at his bachelor party. He said that the best moments were the little ones. He told Tony that one of his favorite metal snapshots of his soon to be wife was when he had walked in on her scrubbing the tub wearing those bright yellow rubber gloves and when he teased her she stuck her tongue out at him. When Tony told his frat brother that he had finally lost his mind, his friend told him to wait, and that when Tony found the right girl that he would recognize the little moments when he saw them.
This was a little moment.
"Where's the video camera when you need it?" He teased from the doorway.
She looked back over her shoulder with a smile, "Be kind."
He stepped into the room and put his laundry basket down on one of the machines. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe Joshua needs some ammunition for when you start showing his dates his naked baby pictures in a few years."
"That's a mother's prerogative."
He stepped to her side and grabbing one of her clean towels started folding it, "Did I say hi?"
She gave him a little sideways look and saw that playful little look on his face, "Um, no actually."
He leaned in and with a hand on her back gave her playful kiss, "Hi."
"Hi, yourself." She teased back.
She decided that kissing Tony felt like coming home after a long day. It was comfortable and familiar, as if they had been doing it forever. His hand on her back did send little shivers up her spine and reminded her that she was very attracted to him, but it was also warm and made her feel safe.
He rubbed her back gently before moving off to load his dirty laundry into a couple of machines. "So when are you taking your certification test?"
"Next Thursday."
"So I bet between now and then your nose is going to be in a book, huh?"
"As much as I can, yeah. I really want to pass this my first try."
"I was thinking that once you're past this test that I could take you out for dinner and maybe a little dancing. I know this great Brazilian restaurant that has live music." He emphasized his words by doing some silly looking tango or rumba or salsa wanna-be moves.
She giggled as she watched him. "Dinner sounds great but I don't know about that kind of dancing. I wouldn't have a clue."
He surprised her by pulling her into dance pose and started humming some lively Spanish tune, he paused his humming to tease, "Guess I'll just have to teach you." He had way too much fun leading her around the laundry room and only had to grimace once when she stepped on his toe.
He finally stopped dancing but didn't let her go, "So it's a date then?" he asked with a little cock of his head and a squint.
"Yeah. It's a date."
She squealed as he suddenly dipped her and planted a smoldering kiss on her lips.
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Claudia's phone rang early on Saturday morning. She had gotten up early and had her head in one of her accounting books, her coffee off to one side being ignored and getting cold.
"So now that I have been threatened with cold eggs for the next year if I don't drag you and Joshua outside for some fresh air, would you like to go and have some fun?"
"Mmm, that is tempting, Jethro. But my test is coming up and I really need to keep reviewing. So you can tell Betsy you tried."
"Oh, c'mon. You haven't even heard my plan yet."
It was at that moment that one very whiny five-year old made an appearance in the kitchen. He had been feeling a little ignored the past few days with his mother's constant studying. He climbed up in his mother's lap and nuzzled her neck looking for attention.
She just couldn't compete with two of them, "Okay then what is this plan?"
He picked them up at noon and they headed for the baseball field. The local farm team was popular with families, the tickets weren't expensive and the little stadium put on a lot of fun things for the kids to participate in at the games.
Jethro bought Joshua a team ball cap from the vendor and plunked it on his head. They found their seats in the bright sun and got settled. Claudia dug around in her knapsack and found the tube of sunscreen and slathered some on Joshua then offered the tube to Jethro who smirked at Claudia and teased, "Joshua, I think your mom forgot a spot," and he applied the sunscreen to the back of Joshua's neck.
She laughed, "I always miss that spot, on me too."
Without hesitation he said, "Turn around I'll get it."
She gave him a questioning look and his exasperated gesture with his sunscreen filled hands made her chuckle and she just capitulated and turned around so he could reach her neck. He deftly rubbed in the sunscreen then surprised her when he kept massaging her neck.
Claudia would have sworn that every nerve ending in her body stood up at attention when he leaned in near her ear to say quietly, "How many hours a night are you sitting at your kitchen table? You're like one big knot." To emphasize his point he dug his thumb in a particularly tight area and she couldn't help but groan out loud. And his breath in her ear was just doing things to her body that had no business happening in the middle of a stadium full of families.
Seeing her blush he chuckled. And suddenly his hands weren't on her anymore. She turned back around to face front and he gave her a cat-ate-the-canary grin letting her know that he knew exactly what effect he had on her.
She shook her head and promised him, "I will get you for that."
Without missing a beat he teased back, "Oh, I'm looking forward to it."
The team mascot took the field with a flourish and Joshua's attention was captivated. Once the game got underway Jethro very patiently explained the rules of baseball to Joshua and answered the multitude of questions the little boy threw at him.
There were games on the field during the seventh inning stretch for all the kids and Joshua just about dragged Jethro on the field to participate. Claudia was glad she brought her camera and stood at the railing snapping pictures of the boys.
The game ended soon enough and Jethro brought them home. Claudia put Josh down for a nap, because had crashed in the car on the way home, while Jethro made fresh coffee. He stood there leaning a hip against the counter while it brewed. He looked over at her kitchen table and the pile of open accounting textbooks and notes covering it. She was so determined to do well on her test. He had felt the knots in her neck earlier and he recognized that she was killing herself to make it happen. He wished there was something he could do. He realized that she reminded him of Shannon in many ways, both strong, stubborn women.
He was smiling about that to himself when she came into the kitchen, "Mmm, that smells good. I really need coffee." She caught the odd little grin on his face and asked, "Uh, oh. What's that grin for?"
He shook his head lightly, "Nothing."
She gave him a raised eyebrow in disbelief as she opened the cupboard and took down a couple of coffee mugs.
Realizing she wasn't buying it he replied, "I was just thinking that you and Shannon are a lot alike."
She smiled sensing that he didn't talk about Shannon very much, she poured the coffee and prompted, "What was she like?"
His eyes softened, he was surprised by her question but not surprised at the same time. Claudia knew about Shannon and Kelly, and her question was asked out of genuine interest and not some jealous desire to compare herself to Shannon. He had been that route with other women in the past and it turned him off.
He sipped his coffee then said, "She was a strong woman. Tough. She took care of everything while I was deployed and then she took care of everything and me when I got home. She loved to laugh, at me mostly. She was stubborn and loved a good argument. Liked making up too."
He said the last with a little wag of eyebrows that made her giggle, "I bet she kept you on your toes."
"Oh, yeah. And then some." He dropped his eyes lost in a memory, and the expression on his face grew cloudy.
She reached over and took his mug and placed it on the counter next to hers and wrapped her arms around his middle in a tight hug, "She sounds like someone I would've liked to have gotten to know."
He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and buried his face in her hair, and just breathed in the scent of her. In the years since Shannon died sex had never been difficult to find but warm, caring touch was never part of it, even he realized to his dismay, in the touches of his three ex-wives. Claudia had efficiently, with one hug, reminded him how much he missed it.
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Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.