Ben helped her carry boxes and told her about his family. He was first or second generation Italian-American, depending on which side of his family you used to count. He told her his parents had an arranged marriage. “I know that kind of thing doesn’t happen much anymore. That is unless you’re one generation removed from the old country. My Father was born in America, but my paternal grandparents both emigrated from Italy. When it was time for Dad to get married, it made sense to them to get a bride from Sicily, and Dad didn’t know any different.” He had told her that he travelled to Italy once or twice a year to visit family. His maternal grandparents were still there. He told her he was a partner with his two uncles in a law practice, and that he practiced criminal law. “Kansas City is/was a mob town. I’m Italian. My family is from Palermo, Sicily. You do the math. I’m connected… at least that’s what a lot of people think.” Lane laughed and said she thought maybe some of them had seen either The Sopranos TV series or The Godfather movies one too many times.
She told him she was divorced. “Phillip came home from a business trip to Chicago, made love to me and then told me he didn’t love me anymore. That in fact he wasn’t sure he ever loved me. Of course, I asked if there was another woman. And, of course, he said no. He left me with two kids, Jake was five and Jess was almost two, and a third little surprise, Jamie, on the way.” Then he’d dropped the big bomb, telling her he was gay, but she hadn’t told Ben about that. Ben had asked where the kids were then and she’d told him they were in Omaha with her ex-mother-in-law, and friend Evelyn Parker and that they’d come home, to Kansas, a couple of weeks before school started. The kids hadn’t been thrilled about the move and she knew it would be easier for them to make friends through school after it started than to be stuck in a new place all summer not knowing anyone. So, when Evie had offered to let the kids spend the summer there, she’d agreed. As it had turned out, it also was giving her the opportunity to get the remodeling done before she had to cook for the whole family.
Ben had spent nearly every night that summer at Lane’s house helping her get it organized. On Saturdays, he’d given her tours of the city and shown her the best places to eat, get groceries, and shop. She had no idea that the whole time he was thinking she was recently divorced with three little kids. She hadn’t told him her age. It wasn’t that she was hiding anything from him; first of all he was just a friend, and secondly it just never occurred to her that he didn’t know. It all came to light one night in early August, when summer vacation was coming to a close, a couple of days before the kids were scheduled to move in. The kitchen remodel was finished and she and Ben were putting away the dishes and other kitchen items. Lane was talking about the kids and getting them enrolled in school.
“I’ve got an appointment at Notre Dame de Sion to visit and pay tuition for Jess and one at Rockhurst for Jamie tomorrow.” She’d told Ben.
He had stopped putting wine in the cooler unit and looked across the counter at her. “Lane, those are high schools. Just how old are your kids?”
She stopped emptying the dishwasher and looked at him. “Jake is 21, Jess is 17 and Jamie is 14.”
He looked at her. That was impossible. She couldn’t be a day over 30. “Look I know you’re not supposed to ask a woman her age, but just how old does that make you?”
Lane laughed. “I just turned 46 earlier this month.” And then she went back to emptying the dishwasher.
Ben just stood there, looking a bit stunned. Lane was 12 years older than he was. How was that possible? They had spent most of the past two months together. They had the same interests, the same taste in books, music and movies. How was she 12 years older with almost grown kids and how had it not come up before? Lane hadn’t noticed, she just kept talking about Jake going back to Kansas University and Jess starting her senior year of high school. Jamie was going to be a freshman and how the transition for him would be easier than for Jess, but that Jess would be fine.
“Evie offered to let Jess stay with her to finish out high school in Omaha, but Jess wanted to be with her mother. You know what they say, blood is thicker than water and we always say Parker blood is thicker than molasses.”
She was laughing as she looked over at Ben. He was standing still. Lane had reached over and given him a nudge. “Earth to Ben… are you going to finish putting the wine away?”
“What? Yeah, of course. Hey it’s late, we haven’t eaten. Let’s go grab a bite when we finish with this.”
“As long as we go someplace casual. I’m not dressed for fancy.”
That was another thing about Lane. She was truly beautiful. It didn’t matter what she wore, hair up or hair down, makeup or none; when Lane walked into a room, people noticed. And she had always been completely oblivious to it. They agreed to just run to Jason’s Deli. It was close, fast and they could eat light.
It was that first summer when Ben had begun to fall in love with Lane even though he hadn’t realized it at the time. He couldn’t imagine his life without her in it, but her kids would be home soon and he had been worried that she’d have no time for him, but that was when he thought the kids were barely out of diapers. Teenagers were a whole new ballgame. He never dated women who had kids. He was the oldest of five and came from a large extended family. He liked kids, he just wasn’t ready to play step-dad to any.
“Tomorrow is Thursday. I’m driving up to Omaha.” She had told him over salad and sandwiches at Jason’s Deli. “I’ll spend the night and on Friday, we’re going to form a Parker caravan and come home. Jake will go to Lawrence next Sunday. Do you want to meet us for Church Saturday?”
“Sure, I can do that, or you and the kids could come over to my house and have a swim unless you think you all need some family together time.”
Lane thought for a minute. “Let me give you a call Friday afternoon. We’ll be home before rush hour traffic starts. I don’t want Jake or especially Jess to have to deal with it on their first day here. We had a pool, their grandmother has a pool, so they are used to swimming every day. That might be a great idea, thanks for thinking of it.”
Lane had brought the kids to Ben’s that Saturday and they’d had a great day in the sun, ending with all five of them going to church and then dinner and a movie together. Ben was amazed at how easily he’d gotten along with the kids. He and Jake talked about KU. Jake talked to Ben about going right on for a Masters. Lane listened; fascinated that Jake would talk things like that over with Ben, who was a virtual stranger. Especially when he hadn’t mentioned anything to her about it. He talked to Jamie about going to Rockhurst. Ben was an alumnus and knew his way around the campus. He offered to go along with him and Lane for the tour. He’d talked with Jess a bit about Notre Dame de Sion – since it was a girls’ school, his only experience was that his younger sister had attended there. Jess talked about college applications, and that she wanted to study film and that meant the west coast.
Lane had taken a couple of days of vacation to get everyone settled in the house, showing them around the city of Leawood and the greater Kansas City metropolitan area. Making sure the kids got their drivers licenses and ID’s and getting the cars titled and licensed in Kansas. They drove by both of the schools. Jess could drop Jamie off at Rockhurst and then go the two and a half miles to Notre Dame de Sion. It was perfect. They got school uniforms taken care of, and they still had almost two weeks before classes started. Everyone seemed to be doing fine. Ben had given the Parker kids his garage and alarm codes and told them they could come over and swim every day. He did suggest that no one swim alone, even though all three of the Parker kids, as Lane put it, swam like fish, he told them he’d feel better if they came together.