The Boss Upstairs - Roya Carmen Page 0,93

off… they’re short and not sharp at all. They can’t sting you. Here watch…”

He bends down and stretches his arm. He gently pats one of the stingrays and it seems docile enough.

“What do you say?”

“Still no.”

He smiles and presses his mouth against my ear. “I will massage your back for thirty minutes,” he whispers. “Then I will brush your hair for another thirty.”

“Oh…”

“Then I will pleasure you, feast on you, make you come so hard, you won’t know where you are.”

I smile. “Well, that does sound pretty nice.”

“Tonight,” he says, “but only if you touch one.”

“You’re cruel. Playing on the things I like. You’re completely manipulative.”

His grin is impish. “I thought that was one of the things you loved about me,” he teases. “Come on. It’s a win-win for you.”

I inch closer and I study the rays carefully. I lean down slowly, my pulse racing. I reach out and squint my eyes. “Eeeek!” I finally touch it. It’s rubbery and cool.

Weston claps.

I turn to him, suddenly feeling very foolish. I motion Ethan over and encourage him to touch the stingray too. I’m a bit nervous as I watch him, but I really don’t want to transfer my neuroses to him. He smiles widely as his little chubby hand explores the texture of the stingray’s back.

I pull him away before long. “It’s like a squeaky toy, isn’t it?”

Weston takes my hand. “See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“No,” I admit.

“Let’s go disinfect our hands.”

We both follow him to the hand sanitizing station. “I can’t wait for my night of pampering,” I tease.

He smiles. “Me either.”

We’ve saved the best for last. The Oceanarium show.

We all scurry and take a seat on one of the auditorium benches, smack in the center, not too far away. We’ve shown up early at Weston’s insistence. We’ll have to wait for a while, but I don’t mind.

Weston is busy telling Ethan all about the sea animals he’s about to see; dolphins, sea otters and sea lions. I watch them quietly for a very long time. Weston is very animated, and I love this side of him. Ethan is attentive and completely riveted. “You really love children, don’t you?”

He smiles. “Yes, always have.”

I think about his two lost baby boys, and how painful that must have been for him. “You’re very good with him. He likes you a lot.”

“Well, it’s easy to be. He’s a great kid.”

I’m not sure what possesses me to ask, but the words escape my mouth before I can stop them. “Do you ever see yourself having more… children.”

He smiles again. “Well, I still feel young and healthy.” He studies me for a beat. “I suppose if the opportunity presented itself… yes, definitely.”

I like hearing that. I like the idea of us possibly having a child together one day. I like the idea of Ethan possibly having a little sister or brother.

“How about you?” he asks. “You’re still very young.”

“Yes… I would. Definitely.”

His face breaks into a huge grin. “Good to know.”

The show host arrives, dressed in scuba gear. He welcomes us and tells us that this is a low sensory show. We are encouraged to be quiet and not clap. We are told to do jazz hands instead. “Well, that’s different,” I say.

Weston does his best jazz hands, and I break into laughter.

The show starts, and Ethan and I love every second of it, from the synchronized dolphin leaps, to the funny sea lion doing jazz hands. Ethan is riveted, and I’m shocked that he’s capable of sitting and paying attention for so long. Weston is in his element too, like a kid at an amusement park.

If I hadn’t fallen in love already, I’d be in trouble right about now.

40

Following the oceanarium show, we head over to the Polar Play Zone to watch the beluga whales and the penguins. I’m mildly disgusted when we arrive at another touch station, and Weston bullies me again into touching a starfish.

Finally, we head off to the gift shop. Ethan is wild about the giant octopus on the ceiling. He goes crazy over all the stuffed animals. Weston and I nip at his heels, amused. The great thing about seeing the excitement in a child is that it reminds you to stop going through life on auto-pilot, and take a minute to enjoy the simple things.

Ethan spots a large stuffed sea turtle. He’s madly in love. I like it too. It’s one of those pillow type stuffies that you can lay on as you lounge and watch