Chapter 4: 03- I Like The Sound Of Bethany Better

03

Unlocking the door to my house, Liam hurries in waiting for Skittles and Bruce’s welcome, a Labrador retriever and a Shih Tzu, both males. He squeals in a mixture of delight and excitement as he hugs both dogs that were happy to see us.

“Hey babies.” I greeted them and placed my stuff on the desk.

I am a dog person and I love dogs.

I got Skittles and Bruce from the animal shelter. They were both puppies at the time and they got along so well since they shared a cage. They would play with each other nonstop. At that time I was just moving in and I wasn’t done yet so I visited them every day in the shelter telling the keepers that I was going to adopt them when I finished and even got my papers done already. I didn’t have the heart to separate the best of friends so I just decided in getting them both and I never regretted my decision.

Here they are a few years later, all grown up.

Liam sat beside them as I fed the dogs. He stroked their hairs with a smile.

A ring came from the door and I rushed towards to answer it. Last time Liam did it, he started an argument with the postman. Don’t know how, don’t ask me why. It just happened.

It was my sister, Reese and her husband Dominic with a shitload of stuff with them. I tilted my body to my side to take a peek behind them.

“Am I missing something?” I asked and looked back at them. “Are you guys like moving in?”

“Oh what are you talking about Beth?” my sister snickers as she steps in my house with Dominic. “It’s Liam’s stuff.”

“That’s a butt load of stuff.” I mutter. “Is he moving in with me? Why does he have a lot of stuff?”

“Only until we’re done with our honeymoon.” Dominic said and trudges the stuff in my house.

I do not own a mansion here. My house can only take so much.

“What on earth did you pack? Your entire house?” I looked at the things again. Damn this is a lot.

Reese helps out Dominic in putting Liam’s stuff in. “It’s his clothes, books, school stuff, pillows, blankets, toys-”

“Is the Wii there?” I cut her off and gained Liam’s attention when I mentioned ‘Wii’.

Reese sighed and nodded. “Yeah it is.”

“Awesome!” I grinned and Liam jumped up and down with excitement but I doubt he had any idea what we were talking about.

I helped them out with the things as Liam went back to Skittles and Bruce. They were done eating now and he had joined their wrestling game.

“Does he know yet?” I asked the couple as I carried the last box, a green one with Liam’s handwriting in blue crayon on the top with his name. “I do not want to comfort a crying kid.”

“He knows.” Dominic answers me and plopped down the couch with Reese.  “He sounded ecstatic even. Just don’t give him too much sugar Beth. I don’t want my kid having diabetes at twelve because of his aunt.”

“Speaking of sugar,” Reese bolts up. “Where are my muffins?”

I gestured to the dining room where a medium sized white box that contained twelve assorted muffins sat. Reese jumps to the dining room and inspects the box.

“I guess now I know where Liam’s sugar tooth came from.” I uttered.

“Yeah.” Dominic nodded. “From his mom and an aunt that just happened to conveniently be a baker.”

“Oh please.” I rolled my eyes. “You love my cakes.”

Dominic nodded. “Yeah I do.”

He glanced at his wristwatch. “Reese baby, we have to leave now or we won’t make it to our flight.”

Reese emerged from the kitchen with the box in her hand and Liam’s hand in the other. Skittles and Bruce wagged their tails beside them, awaiting for the muffins that were with Reese.

Dominic went to his son and carried him. “You’ll be staying with Aunt Beth for a while, okay?”

Liam gave a hurried nod and kissed his father and mother on the cheek. “Daddy get me chocolate? And toys!”

His father chuckled and nodded to his only son’s requests and kissed him on the cheek and Reese followed suit.

“You know what to get me.” I winked playfully at my sister.

She dismissed me with her well-manicured hands. “Yeah, yeah whatever. Liam comes first.”

I had an obsession-well not really but something like that, to one thousand to two thousand puzzle pieces. I had all of them framed and hung on the walls of my house.  And so far I have three, not much though.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The feeling of the bed dip every now and then woke me up. Liam was already awake with Skittles and Bruce beside him, wagging their tails as they waited for me to wake up.

I playfully peeked through one of my pillows and Liam giggled. He jumped on me, landing on my stomach. Skittles and Bruce tagged along with their little master and started licking my face.

“Wake up Aunt Beth! Wake up!” Liam started jumping, crushing my insides without knowing. I held him in place and tackled him to the bed, tickling him senseless. He started giggling like crazy. “Beth! Aunt Beth! Beth stop!”

“You little rascal.”

I continued tickling his little body for about a minute or so and when I stopped, he panted hard. Skittles jumped off the bed with Bruce and looked at me. They wanted food, as always.

I carried Liam off the bed and we went to the kitchen. I got out eggs and bacon from the fridge and toasted some of the bread in the toaster.

“What time did you wake up?” I asked Liam and helped him on to the kitchen bar stool. I poured some dog food in my babies’ shiny metal food bowls and dumped clean water in their water bowl.

Liam stared at the, intently. “At…” he looked at the clock and back on his fingers. “Eight.”

I glanced at the clock hung on the wall. It was already eight thirty. “You could wake me up when you wake up too kiddo.”

When I was done cooking, Liam and I started eating breakfast. I started asking him what he would normally do at home since every time he stayed with me it was just either a sleepover, just a short period, in the bakery or he had school, never the whole day.

Today was Sunday. Sugar Rush was closed and Liam had nothing on his agenda. Well he shouldn’t have. He’s a four year old kid!

He shrugs at me and swallows his mouth full of eggs and bacon. “I play.”

I sighed. Well duh of course he plays! He’s a kid.

“Can you pwease make me cupcakes?” he started jumping from his seat in excitement, his voice dripping with desperation. Oh gosh, so cute. “Or cake? Pwease? Mommy and Daddy aren’t around. Pwease?”

Tossing the dishes in the dishwasher, I wiped my hands on the kitchen towel and crouched down to Liam’s eye level. He was already smiling. I think he knows what I was about to say.

“Tell you what kid.” I messed up his hair. “Go take a bath and get ready. Let’s eat lunch out, and then you have to go with me to the grocery store to get all my ingredients for the cake.”

Liam pouted at me. “But why don’t you have ingredients?”

“Kid, this is my house, not the bakery.” I carried him off the bar stool and set his feet on the cold tiled floor. “Well, I ran out of eggs and flour and basically everything. But I have my equiptment.”

“Pwomise me you’ll make one.” He stuck out his cute tiny chubby pinky in front of me and I hooked mine with his instantly.

“You got yourself a cake kiddo.”

He turned around and ran upstairs to my room. We currently share a room for now since I didn’t have the time to clean out the guest room or to unpack all of his stuff for that matter. Reese and Dominic practically stuffed the contents of his room into the bags and boxes that were still in my living room as if he was moving out.

“Aunt Beth I don’t have a towel!” Liam cried out from upstairs.

I rushed up and found him naked with a sheepish grin in the middle of my room with his clothes neatly piled beside him. I gave him a ‘why?’ look but he just grinned at me. This kid, I swear.

The bottom drawers in my closet held a light blue fluffy towel- the one he always liked using because it’s blue and it was his favorite color. Tossing it to him, well he didn’t catch it. It landed right on his smiling face.

“Toothbrush?” he grinned cheekily at me.

“Your toothbrush is still in the bathroom Liam.” I gestured towards the bathroom. “You just had a sleepover a few days ago. It’s still clean.”

He nodded and scurried to the bathroom. I managed to unpack some of the bags last night which contained his clothes so I just laid it on top of the bed.

Bruce walked in the room, followed by Skittles. They hopped on the bed and lied down with me. See? This is why a single girl like me who lives alone with dogs needs a king sized bed. Yes, for my dogs.

But I wondered how it would feel like sharing my bed with someone else, of course Bruce and Skittles are also on the bed. They practically own half of it.

“Oh my sweet vanilla.” I sat upright looking at Bruce and Skittles. “You two babies need a bath.”

They looked at me with their heads tilted to one side. Bruce was smiling and Skittles had his usual innocent looking face. Their tails wagged with excitement. Skittles loves water and Bruce, not so much.

“What?” I muttered at them. They tilted their heads to the other side. “I know I need a bath and I am taking one right after Liam.”

They tilted to the other side again. “No Skittles you can’t join me.”

I might sound crazy talking to dogs but I find it healthy for me. I love dogs therefore I treat them as equal. I talk to them and even reply back especially when I’m alone or when I’m watching movies on the couch with them beside me. Oh god, I sound crazy.

A few hours later we were in the mall and Liam was dragging me to the candy store, skipping with joy, his eyes twinkling with an ear to ear grin. Did Reese and Dominic ban sugar from their house? Because Liam acts like he hasn’t have had any sweet treats for centuries.

“Pwease?”

“No.” I muttered and scooped him up from the ground. “It’s either a cake or candy.”

He looked at his hands for a bit then looked at me again. “Can I both have cake and candy?”

I shook my head and sighed and uttered “I want cake.”

“Good boy.” I messed up hair and we walked away from the sweets stall. We walked around aimlessly waiting for our stomachs to grumble for lunch when something caught my eyes.

The vast number of teddy bears and clothes with yellow and blue colors in the front of the store was Build-A-Bear Workshop. Kids were coming in and out of the store, a gleam on their eyes as they held on to their parents. Some were carrying more than one bear and some carried naked bears.

“Liam?” I called out his attention. “Do you want to build a bear?”

His sad appearance instantly turned to joy as he searched for the Build-A-Bear Workshop. When his eyes landed on it, he started nodding vigorously.

“Yes!”

I placed him on the floor and he ran towards to store leaving me behind. I caught him staring in awe at the place. It was well lit showing off its various displays of unstuffed toys and clothes. I crouched down to his level and stared around too.

“Pick an animal.” I said to him. “But don’t go with anyone or out of the store. I’ll just get my own animals to stuff.”

He nodded slowly and swallowed. “O-Okay Beth.”

I smiled and stood up, my eyes scanning at the displays until I found what I wanted. Dogs. And they have ones that looked like Bruce and Skittles!

After picking out two toys and clothes that would match them, I went on my search for Liam who was is the bear section, his fingers tapping on his cheeks, thinking and squinting his eyes on the display rack.

“So, what did you find?” I asked and bent down. “Anything caught your eye?”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “Can I make one for Al-ee? She’s having her birthday party this Saturday and I want to give it to her.”

“You can build two bears if you want.” I shrugged at him. Looks like someone likes Allie. “Which one is yours and which is Allie’s?”

He pointed to two bears on the top shelf. A pink and a blue one.  Tipping my toes, I grabbed the bears and we started stuffing them.

Two hours, four bears and two full stomachs later, we were in the grocery store putting ingredients in the cart. Liam refused to sit on it claiming he was already a big child.

I had candy sprinkles on my hand and debated whether to get the rainbow ones or the chocolates.

“Liam?” I called out and turned around. “Which would you- Liam?!”

My heart raced instantly as I searched around the aisle. Liam ran off and was no where to be found.

“Liam?” I cried out and left the aisle. “Liam? Liam?”

I chanted over and over again, calling out his name until I spotted his back. With my cart, I pushed it to where Liam was standing.

“Christ Liam do not run off like that again.” I said and he turned around. He was with Allie. “Your mom is going to kill me.”

He blinked a couple of times. “I’m sowry Aunt Beth. I wanted to play with Al-ee.”

“I told you you shouldn’t have run off like that.” A new voice joins us from behind, startling me. “Hello Bethany.”

“Blake!” I should have expected Blake to be present since his daughter was present. He was in jeans and a plain white shirt which gripped his arm muscles. Oh god, I think I am blushing.

Stop it Beth! He’s a married man with a child!

I surreptitiously peeked beside and behind him, waiting for Mrs. Greene to appear. “I told you, call me Beth.”

He shook his head at me, his gray eyes captivating mine. “I like the sound of Bethany better.”

I shrug. “Suit yourself.”