Lillie definitely had to get out more.
* * *
CRAZY AS IT seemed, Jon had never been to a zoo. His foster mother until he was twelve had not been one for extracurriculars with the kids she took in. The money she made from the state was for their health, their well-being and for her pocket. Not for fun.
After that, he’d never spent enough time in one home—or one school—to be present for a zoo trip.
“Look, Abie baby!” Kneeling beside his son, he pointed to the monkey hanging from a branch in a landscaped enclosure. “See the monkey?”
Abe’s gaze followed Jon’s finger and the toddler nodded. Turning, the boy looked for Lillie, who was standing right beside them. He pointed.
“See?” she said. “You want me to see?”
Abe nodded. Lillie focused on the boy. “Say, ‘look.’ Llloook. You say ‘look’ and then I will see. Use your words, Abraham.”
The monkey had switched trees and was no longer hanging. But, God love her, Lillie had a job to do and she was doing it.
“Llloook,” she said again. Jon was looking. At her.
In a pink sweater that hugged her full breasts, jeans that encased long, perfectly shaped legs, pink patent leather tennis shoes and her long luscious hair held back with a clip, the woman exemplified femininity. His body responded. Her open-eyed gaze and hint of a smile while she talked to his son hit him someplace else. Someplace much deeper.
“Llloook,” she was saying.
“Ooook.” Abe’s voice was loud, excited, as he finally gave her what she wanted.
“Good, son!” If his tone mimicked his son’s overstimulated emotions, he hoped their companion put the response down to fatherly encouragement.
That was all it really was.
That and the fact that everyone was looking at them as though they were a family. And more than just about anything else at that moment, Jon wished it was true.
CHAPTER TEN
THE ZOO WASN’T all that crowded that late on a Sunday afternoon, but still, there were enough people around that Jon was conscious of hanging on to his son every second they were there.
And as much as he liked the place and wished he could explore every exhibit, every cavelike structure, he was glad when it was time to head for the gate.
His tummy full with hot dog and ice cream, a clean-faced and freshly diapered Abraham promptly fell asleep in the car seat as Jon entered the on-ramp to the highway that would take them home.
“We made it through without a single tantrum.” Might as well put it right out there. His son was fine. Lillie’s presence that afternoon, while nice, had not been professionally necessary.
He was a good dad.
“You never put him down unless you were kneeling down with him.”
“He’s two years old. He’d have been trampled.”
“That’s what strollers are for.”
“He doesn’t like strollers.”
&n
bsp; “You were afraid he’d throw a tantrum if you put him in one.”
More like, Jon knew he would have.
“I wanted him to have fun.” He’d been having fun.