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.
Once they arrived at ground level, the doors slid open and Henry pressed the unlock button on the key. The beep of the car was enough to distract Finley from asking what he had meant with his previous comment. “Can I start the car? Does it have the start button?” Finley asked as they left the elevator. Henry approached the car, opening up the trunk so they could put the bags in the back. “Yeah, sure. Maybe I’ll let you sit on my lap and we can do donuts in an empty parking lot. I’m sure your mother would love that.”
“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.