“But not a lot of kissing. I can get past not a lot of kissing.”
“What about Ninja Turtles? We’re eating pizza and they eat pizza.”
“In a stinky sewer, yeah. That’s even grosser than kissing.”
“Emma, what would you like to watch?”
I whipped my head up at the sound of Ryan’s voice as I held a piece of pizza up to my lips. The kids all had their heads turned towards me, waiting for me to break some sort of tie or fighting attempt to watch all of their favorite movies at once. My eyes darted along the screen, taking in all the movies at their disposal to watch.
It was incredible. I couldn't even afford one streaming service a month.
“What about Fox and the Hound?” I asked.
“Oh, you really are a heartbreaker,” Ryan said.
“What’s that movie?” Zoey asked.
“One you guys are going to watch and adore before your heart breaks,” Ryan said.
“I don’t wanna watch anything sad,” Benjamin said.
“But I wanna watch something new,” Hunter said.
“How about this? Give the movie fifteen minutes, and if you don’t like it, we’ll watch Ninja Turtles.”
“Yeah! Let’s do it!” Benjamin said.
So we all settled back as Ryan started up Fox and the Hound.
I watched Ryan pick up a slice of pizza before he settled between the boys. He kicked his feet up onto the coffee table and lounged back, opening his body up so the boys could sink in. Zoey leaned against me and I lifted my arm, allowing her to drift her cheek along my chest. She settled in and took mindless bites of her pizza, and I could feel Ryan’s eyes glancing over at me during the entire movie.
I thought everyone needed to watch Fox and the Hound. The moral of the story was so important, especially with the growing tensions in our society. Two unlikely friends who tried to fight for their friendship despite the ever-mounting pressure that they had to be enemies. It was one of the deepest movies I’d ever seen, and it was delivered with a medium that appealed to children.
Every child needed to watch it, in my opinion.
Less than ten minutes in, the kids were entranced. And soon, an hour had gone by without them saying a word. I stole a glance at Ryan and saw him mindlessly stroking his fingers through Hunter’s long hair, and it was hard to rip my gaze from him. Benjamin’s head was laying on his lap and Hunter was pressed into him. He was just as intently watching the movie as they were, and there was something about that idea that tugged at my gut. I wasn’t staring into the profile of a playboy tossing back shots and covering himself in glitter.
I was looking at a man. Who had stepped up to take care of his family when they needed to be taken care of. His face turned to find mine and our eyes connected. I cleared my throat and turned away from him, but not without my cheeks blushing. Zoey nuzzled closer into me and I pulled her into my lap, my hand rubbing her back as she nuzzled underneath my chin.
“Thanks for coming over,” she said.
I craned my neck down to look at her before placing a mindless kiss to her forehead.
“Of course. I wanted to make sure you guys were okay,” I said.
I was trying to keep my guard up, but it was hard. Between feeling Zoey falling asleep against me, the movie tugging at my heart strings, and watching Ryan with his nephews, I was overwhelmed. There was such a calm and gentleness to the entire evening, and I started kicking myself. I had been an idiot. I had stereotyped Ryan to be one particular kind of man without any regard to the fact that he could’ve had another side to him.
I villainized him.
Judged him.
Did the one thing I tried to teach my kids at school not to do.
I felt a bit of guilt settle in my chest as the movie ended.
“Wow,” Hunter said.
I heard Benjamin sniffle as Zoey looked up at me.