There was a good part?

“Sorry bud, we don’t want to scare the animals do we?” Lucas asked as he rolled down his window to get his parking ticket.

“Yeah, you’re right. Your car is really loud. I like it!” Aiden gushed from the backseat as Lucas grabbed his ticket.

“Thank you,” Lucas said to the guy before driving off. “Cool, I’m glad you like riding with me.”

“Mommy would, too. She likes her music loud, even though she won’t do it when I’m in the car, but I always here when she comes home. AA always says that Mommy is gonna blow her eardrums out!” he said with a giggle. It made Lucas smile.

There wasn’t a time in the car when his and Fallon’s music wasn’t ear-splitting loud. They both liked it like that, the feel on the bass shaking the car or the way it tickled their chest. Even though he still rode with his music loud, it was the best when he had Fallon’s hand in his.

Boy, how he missed those times.

Lucas parked the truck and got out, letting Aiden out too. They walked beside each other and when Aiden’s hand slid into Lucas’, he couldn’t breathe. He looked down at Aiden, and he was looking ahead of them, a smile on his face. A wide smile went across Lucas’ face as they crossed the road and went to the ticket booth. While Lucas paid, Aiden grabbed them both maps and was basically bouncing with excitement beside Lucas.

“Where to first, bud?” Lucas asked as he put his card back into his wallet before sliding it in his back pocket.

“Um, monkeys!”

Lucas laughed as Aiden practically pulled him through the walkways towards the monkeys. He had to admit, the monkeys had always been his favorite too.

“Mommy doesn’t like the monkeys, her favorite is the elephants. She usually sits on the bench while I watch,” Aiden said after 10 minutes of watching the monkeys be monkeys.

Lucas shrugged his shoulders. “I love the monkeys and the elephants.”

Aiden face broke into a grin. “Awesome.”

They watched some more before Aiden directed them to the elephants. The Nashville Zoo was beautiful, each exhibit was done perfectly and Lucas loved that he was sharing his first time there with his little guy. As they walked in silence, taking in the beautiful scenery, Aiden looked up at Lucas.

“Do you work?”

Lucas nodded. “I do. I am a professional hockey player for the Nashville Assassins.”

“Really!” Aiden gushed, bouncing up and down. “AA loves that team, and the Predators. She just loves hockey altogether. Mommy hates it though.”

Lucas scoffed. “I doubt that. I remember when that was the only sport your mom liked.”

Aiden looked confused as he said, “She says she don’t like it.”

“Maybe she doesn’t. I really don’t know your mom now.”

“You used to know my mom?” Aiden asked with his eyebrows drawn in together.

“Yup, we used to be… friends,” Lucas lied, and hated it, but he didn’t know what to say. Fallon and he should probably discuss that.

“Oh, that’s cool.”

“Yeah.”

“So do you leave a lot? Mr. Shea does, and Mr. Jakob.”

“I do. I play with them, but right now I’m on break,” Lucas said as they passed some really fat-looking pig. He wanted to stop and look at it but it seemed that Aiden was on a mission to get to these elephants.

“Why?” Aiden asked.

“Um well, I just moved here and I needed some time to get used to things,” Lucas said. It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the truth. Truth was, he had had a break down in front of his team and Elli told him to take a week.

“That’s cool. Do you like living here?”

“I do, do you?”

“Yeah, my mommy and AA are cool. So are my Grandpa and Grammie. I like my school and its way better than Shelbyville, that’s where the vineyard is.”

Lucas nodded. “Cool, I’ve never been there.”

“It’s really boring. Just a whole bunch of grapes and stuff. No kids for me to play with, but sometimes Grandpa will play with me, which is cool.”

“Yeah,” Lucas agreed. They both leaned against the gate, looking out the field at the four large elephants that roamed the grounds. “Wow, those are some big elephants.”

“Yeah, Mommy’s favorite is Rosy. She is that one,” Aiden said, pointing to the fattest elephant of the bunch. “They did a party here once and Mommy got to feed her.”

“That’s awesome.”

They watched the elephants some more before leaving for another part of the zoo. Lucas learned that Aiden liked to talk a lot. The kid jumped from subject to subject faster than Lucas could pass the puck. They had covered the best superhero, which they both agreed was Spiderman. Best food? Waffles, hands down. Favorite drinks? Aiden was a strawberry milkshake kid, while Lucas preferred chocolate. Lucas hadn’t talked so much in life and was surprised that he loved every minute of it.

“Do you have a mommy?” Aiden asked as they watched the zebras.

Lucas smiled. “I do. Her name is Molly.”

“That’s a pretty name. My mommy’s name is weird. No other mommies have her name.”

“I think her name is pretty. Plus, like you said, no other mommies have her name, so she is one in a million according to you,” Lucas defended. He loved Fallon’s name, always had.

Aiden thought for a minute before a grin came across his sweet flushed face. “You’re right!”