driven.

“You heard me.” She bit back, still smirking smugly as she caught his eye when he looked back at her. If she could get her own back and wind him up then she would happily do so. “You couldn’t be an average Joe no matter how hard you try.” Flora snorted her laughter as they all climbed in the elevator. “Five minutes without your expensive motor and you’d go crazy.” She continued to tease, glad that Finley’s innocence kept his attention fixed on the pricey car that his father had. She knew that Finley would be more impressed by the fact it was a fast sports car than by the huge price tag, but it was nice that he and Henry could bond over more than one thing in the short time they’d known each other.

“Never heard you questioning my taste in things before.” Her tone was dipped in sarcasm and before she turned to watch Finley again with a smile. He always liked to watch the floors illuminate as they flew by. The number of times she’d had to stop him from lighting up every floor was ridiculous – even now he was edging towards his teenage years he still did it. But her eyes soon widened at Henry’s words. Flora fought with herself to bat him on the arm, but then she didn’t want to make a huge deal about it, because then Finley would no doubt know it was something he shouldn’t be saying. And then he’d say it. Instead, she busied herself with glaring at Henry until he tried to rescue the situation. Finley continued to look utterly confused, tilting his head questioningly at his father. “But-” He began. “Never you mind,” Flora forced a laugh, “your dad just made a bad joke, that’s all.”

Flora was the last to leave the elevator, following behind the two of them as they made their way outside. It was a beautiful day, and she pulled her sunglasses out of her purse to slip on as they edged into the sunlight. Thankfully, Finley was completely distracted by the car and she headed for the trunk to put the bags she was carrying safely in the back. “Oh, she would.” Finley gasped his excitement, “really, Mom?!” “No sweetie, of course not. Let’s wait ‘til you’re old enough to drive before you decide you want to become a boy racer like your dad, mmkay?” She waited for him to climb in the back of the car before she followed suit. “It is a nice car though.” She directed at Henry as he climbed in to the driver’s seat.

“I never heard you complaining about the expensive hotels I brought you to way back when. Especially when it came to the mini bar. Maybe we should tell him about it.” A tight lipped smile pulled at the corners of his mouth, clearly he was getting a bit defensive at the dig about his vehicle of choice. Finley was too preoccupied to be tuned into their conversation, but Henry was sure he would get a kick out of some his mother’s antics from when she was younger. Of course he wouldn’t just blurt out details about their past because he knew Finley would start firing off questions and there was only so much they could actually tell him. “I didn’t think it was bad.” Henry mumbled to no one in particular. Finley was still looking up at him confused and he reach down to ruffle a hand through his hair. “Forget it, kid.”

Even though it was still mid-morning, the Florida sun was radiating down on them signaling that it was probably going to be muggy later on. Then rain, then clear up, and be a warm night. He was still trying to adjust to the Florida weather. Pushing his sunglasses off the top of his head, Henry closed the trunk after everything was packed in and walked over to the driver side to get in. “Don’t worry, Fin,” he waited for Flora to get in before he pressed the start button for the car. “I’ll take you driving around someplace when your mom isn’t around to act like an old lady shaking her cane. How’s that?” His grandfather had always let him drive his truck in Upstate New York so he didn’t really see a problem with it if they were in a controlled environment. “Okay! Does your car have bluetooth? Can I hook up my ipod?” Henry glanced over at Finley who was now practically climbing over the arm rest to get a better look. “Yeah, and put your seat belt on so we can leave.”

“Hey!” Flora shot a glance in Henry’s direction after his jibe about her height. “Good things come in small packages, did no one ever tell you that?” She warned him, obviously in a joking manner. Finley didn’t seem to notice the comments between the two of them, and gladly took the football back from his father as they all headed for the door.

“Uh huh. Sure.” She shrugged, pretending that she didn’t believe his protesting, all whilst wearing a smirk on her face. With the door locked, Flora followed behind them as they made for the lift. “Whoaaa you’ve got an Audi?” Finely gasped, sufficiently impressed by that at least. Flora couldn’t help rolling her eyes and the temptation to drag Henry for renting such a flash and expensive car was all too great. “You know what they say about- actually, never mind.” She decided to keep her mouth shut, only because her jibe wasn’t exactly suitable for Finley’s ears, although she was sure it would go straight over his head. Something about overcompensating… The lift doors opened and all three of them stepped inside. Finley quickly took over and punched his thumb against the ground floor button, grinning when the edges lit up as they always did. 

Flora snorted, amused by Henry’s tone. “Don’t worry. It’s a nice beach. Quiet, clean, plenty of space to sit. And we can rent a couple of lounge chairs if you want. No butts in anyone’s face.” She gently corrected his wording, at first hoping Finley wouldn’t notice, but then he started to laugh because of the fact she’d said ‘butts’. He giggled to himself before looking up at his parents. “Why would a butt be on a face? That’s not where a butt goes.” He asked, still amused by the word. 

While Finley rapidly shot off questions about the new car, Henry had caught part of Flora’s little comment and he glanced back at her with a challenging look. “I’m sorry, what was that? I can’t hear you when you’re way down there.” he quipped, having somewhat of an idea about what she was trying to insinuate. There was only one way that sentence could have ended. It wasn’t like this was anything new. Henry always threw down a lot of money when it came to buying things. He always had to have the nicest car and the biggest house. “Maybe I shoulda got a toyota or one of those hondas that everyone drives around in. I could be like every other average joe.” he remarked, following his son into the elevator. “No way! An Audi is so much better!” Finley replied, clearly not picking up the sarcastic tone Henry was directing at his mother. 

Obviously, Henry wasn’t used to censoring himself around kids. He had his nieces and nephews, but he wasn’t around them enough to get into the habit of consciously catching the things that he said. “Good. You have questionable taste in cars so I was worried about your choice in beaches.” A tight lipped smile appeared on his face as he gazed up at the floor numbers, the light moving past each floor as they descended. When Finley began to laugh, Henry turned his gaze down at the boy-- already forgetting about the whole censoring himself thing.  “You won’t be saying that to your girlfriend a few years down the road.” he laughed, turning to look at Flora and then down at Finley, who was looking back up at him with a confused look on his face. “Uh... don’t repeat that.” he quickly tried to recover. All he needed was Flora calling him up one day to tell him that their son was sent home from school because he told people a girl would stick her butt in his face when he was older.

Flora smiled as Henry came in, waiting for Finley to hopefully come bounding back into the room. The past few weeks had been far easier to navigate than she’d expected. Her worst fear had been Finley rejecting his father or showing some form of contempt towards him, but thankfully he didn’t. She supposed he was simply happy to have his father in his life - something he’d never experienced before, so it was all brand new. It made her feel at ease to know that she’d never raised him with a reason to feel any anger towards Henry. Finley had asked questions in the past, and Flora had always answered them as honestly as she could (within reason, of course). 

Busying herself with packing up the last few bits of food, Flora smiled to herself as they chatted to one and other. They had enough food to get them past lunchtime, and if Finley decided he wanted more to eat then they could always grab something else while they were out.  “Yeah, I can actually!” Finley replied to Henry. “I bet I can run faster than the ball.” At least the kid had high hopes for himself, even if they were a tad unrealistic sometimes. 

Flora glanced back at them when Henry directed his question at her. “Mmhm, everything’s packed.” A smirk tugged at the corners of her mouth when he mentioned the car. “You just keep pretending you hate the mini van. In five years’ time I bet you’ve got one of your own.” She teased.  Finley soon piped up at the mention of the mini van too, “eugh! Mom was gonna buy one of those. I told her not to because they’re not cool at all. What kinda car do you have?” He asked Henry as they all exited the apartment, Flora making sure the door was locked behind them.

The kid was confident in his abilities, Henry would give him that. It reminded him a lot of himself at that age and even now. The only difference was that Henry wasn’t going to be the overbearing father that his own father was. If Finley was interested in certain activities he would encourage him to pursue them, but he would never force his son to strive for perfection. That type of mentality had stressed Henry out as a kid and, although, it paid off in the end he didn’t want Finley to go through the same ordeal. 

“Listen, if you can outrun this ball faster than I can throw it, I’ll buy you whatever you want.” He pressed the tip of the football against Finley’s chest so he would take it back. “Anything?! Like a surfboard?” Finley asked, looking like he just hit the lotto. Henry’s looked at Finley with a quizzical expression, his brow furrowing at the boy’s request. “What do you need a surfboard for? You’re about four feet tall. How about you grow a little and we’ll talk.” he laughed, moving off to help Flora carry some of the items they were bringing to the beach. “I’m almost as tall as mom!” Finley protested, although he was still probably a few years away from eclipsing Flora. “That’s not very hard to do.” Henry quipped, directing the comment in Flora’s direction.

Flora held the door open wide for him to come in, a smile on her face. Their little argument after the auction wasn’t the last time they’d seen each other, so both had had plenty of time to cool off and more or less forget about what had been said. In all honesty, it had reminded Flora of how they used to be, how she used to be. Over the years she’d let her fight and sass simmer down a great deal - perhaps it was down to the fact she’d become a mother, or perhaps something else? She didn’t know. Henry seemed to bring that side of her back out, in good and bad ways. 

“Oh,” Flora turned around to find that Finley had scuttled off somewhere in the time she’d taken to open the door, “he was here a second ago.” She shrugged, turning to flash a little smirk at Henry. “Guess we’re gonna have to head off on our own if he’s not here, huh?” She spoke loudly enough so that Finley would hear, and he did, with heavy footsteps bounding back into the kitchen within minutes. 

“Mom!” Finley whined, “I was just trying to find my good football.” Seemed as though he’d found it judging by the one sitting comfortably under his arm. “And my iPod.” Suddenly, he beamed, as if only just noticing that his dad was stood right next to Flora. “Hi dad!” His smile quickly turned into a grin. 

Henry entered the apartment, giving Flora’s arm a light squeeze as he passed by her. It was a small affectionate gesture, nothing too forward. He knew their row from the other night wasn’t going to affect their relationship in anyway. Especially when it came to their son. They had had worse fights in the past that always amounted to nothing. Just a clash of personalities every once and awhile. Although, he wasn’t going to drop the subject about her being more careful when it came to bringing certain people around the apartment. Unlike her, he didn’t trust very many people and was always looking for a catch.

His mouth opened to respond to her quip regarding Finley, but before he could say anything he could hear their son quickly making his way back into the room. “What’s up, kid?” Henry greeted him, walking a few paces to close the gap in-between them. In recent weeks, Finley had gotten more comfortable around him and had begun to call him ‘dad.’ Which, of course, made him more than happy. It was a relief that Finley warmed to him from the start and didn’t seem to hold any grudges against him.

Flora though it was about time that she, Finley and Henry spent some time together away from the confines of her apartment. The ‘taking things slow’ approach seemed to have worked a treat and, from what she could see, Finley was entirely comfortable around his father. It was almost like he’d never been away, and that the past ten years were a blur. The two of them had sports in common, that was for sure, and she was so glad that Henry could enthuse with their son over different teams and games that she knew very little about. 

She’d picked the beach, mostly because the weather was glorious and there would be plenty for them to do. That and it didn’t cost much - not that she was strapped for cash or anything like that. It was just nice to do something simple and easy. In true Flora style she’d packed them some food in a picnic basket, and had towels just in case Finley decided to dive head first into the sea (this had happened before, and she’d been unprepared the first time). 

“Honey?” She called out just as Finley walked into the kitchen. “You ready sweetie? Your dad’ll be here in a minute.” And just as she said it there was a knock at the door. “Speak of the devil.” She chuckled as she headed to open the door for him. 

@henrydunne

Henry couldn’t remember the last time he had enjoyed a day out at the beach. It was probably the last time he was in Sterling. His days were spent in the city now, wooing clients. The only beach he ever saw was when he went to the Hamptons to attend parties that he was obligated to go to. Even then it wasn’t really relaxing and enjoying the seaside because it was still business. So when Flora called him and suggested they all take a trip to South Beach, he was more than happy to oblige her. He didn’t really have any ‘beach wear.’ In fact, he had to go out and buy something because he had come to Sterling with mostly slacks. He ended up settling with a short-sleeved button down and a pair of shorts. 

He had made it a habit to show up with gifts every time he went over to Flora’s place, but this time he came empty handed as he knocked on the door. Henry was sure they were going to walk along the pier at some point and he would be giving Finley money left and right to play games and go on rides. Something that he was more than willing to do as long as it made his son happy.