Chocolate Eyes

Evander was excited to have a pair of snow-pants. His grandparents bought them for him and he pulled them on over his jeans and took his puffy jacket off to put the straps over his shoulders. He grinned at the teal clothing and looked up. "I like them!" he cheered, taking a few steps to hear the sound they made as they rubbed together. He looked up at his mom's parents. "Can I go play now?"

Holly grabbed his coat from the floor and helped him get it back on. "How about we just walk around for a little while?" she suggested and zipped him up, "Then you can play in the snow after lunch when we get home."

EJ would've rather went and played now, but he nodded, deciding that was okay too. He let Holly help him get gloves on his hands and then followed both of them out of the store, feeling his coat pocket to make sure that his phone was still safely zipped inside. When he knew it was, he marched across the small parking lot after them. "Where are we going?" he asked as he caught up.

James pointed to his right, motioning towards the road that was decorated for Christmas already. Wreaths hung from the street lights and there were red Salvation Army collection buckets on almost every corner. Most of the shops had lighted window displays, although the sunlight and it's glare off of the snow made it hard to see the actual lights.

Evander marched over to the sidewalk in his snow-pants. "Where are everyone?" he asked, looking back to Holly and James. His cheeks were reddened by the chill in the air and strands of his pale hair hung in his face from under his hat. Holly was caught off guard by the unusual similarity to Brian when he looked back at her that way.

She glanced at her husband, who was busy explaining to the little boy that a lot less people lived here than in California and that most of them were probably home getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.

EJ looked back at the few amount of people who were walking the streets and nodded.

Holly took Evander's hand and the three of them headed down the road, taking time to look at each special display that they passed. While the older couple looked at each one, EJ would gather snow from the piles pushed aside by the plows and throw them out into the road, trying to hit the lines in the middle. Holly would call him away when it was time to move onto the next store. He quickly gathered another lump and chased after them, stepping on the snow when James told him to drop it.

Evander was back at the pile of snow again when James called him over to the door of a decent sized shop. From where he kneeled in the pile, EJ turned his head to look at them and pouted when they called for him to hurry over to them.

"I want to play," he complained as Holly grabbed his hand and manually pulled him from the snow.

"I don't want you near the road," she rebutted, "and we have to get you some nice clothes for dinner tomorrow. We have a lot of people coming over and you need something suitable and festive to wear."

EJ stomped his boots into the sidewalk as she pulled him over to James, who held the door open for them and followed them in.

"James, Holly," the older man inside greeted from behind the counter and cash-register when he looked up and saw them. He grinned wider when he saw EJ with them. "Who's this little guy?"

Holly let go of EJ and greeted her friend. "Henry, this is our grandson, Evander, he's staying with us for the holiday," she explained, beckoning the four year old over.

The man was clearly rounded with age and his smile made his red cheeks more noticeable. His hair was graying and short and he wore a sweater that he'd obviously plucked from his own store. As he walked around the glass counter and display case, he held a hand over his mouth in awe. "This is Claudia's son?" he asked, causing EJ's head to snap up at the sound of his mother's name. The store owner was taken aback by EJ's dark eyes.

"My, look at the eyes on him."

All three adults and EJ looked to where a woman was walking through a curtain from the back room. She was the one to speak, acknowledging the darkness of EJ's eyes. She too, new the Kents personally, and hugged Holly tightly. When they pulled away she asked, "So we get to meet Claudia's son finally?"

"We brought him home the first chance we could," Holly explained, not bothering to introduce their friends to EJ.

"Where is he living now?" the woman asked, smiling to herself as her husband wrapped his arm around her waist, "We were sure that he'd be coming home to you right after Claudia..." she trailed off since it was easier and everyone already knew what she was going to say.

James rested his hand on EJ's shoulders and answered, "His father lives out in California."

Holly added, "In a beautiful beach house. You'd never imagine, Maureen."

James made a noise that told everyone he didn't approve of Holly's compliments. The man lightly squeezed EJ's shoulder and said to the Morgans, "We're working on bringing Evander home for good so it's only a matter of time before we all get to see more of him."

EJ calculated the words in his head and then roughly pushed his grandfather's hand off of him. "I don't want to live here," he stated roughly, stepping back from standing directly between them, "My daddy said that I get to go home."

Holly nervously glanced at their friends and then tried to calm him. "Evander, relax sweetheart, you'll be going back to your dad's in a few days. Your grandpa is just talking, no need to get worked up."

EJ cautiously looked at the two people he was visiting and then allowed Holly to ease him back to where he was standing before.

Henry changed the subject. "What can we help you three with?" he asked, looking over the family in front of him, "I don't think we've got the kind of clothes that Evander would like in here."

Henry's wife pawed through a ran of boy's clothing that was just to her left and then looked back at Holly as she spoke. "We just need a good Thanksgiving outfit," she explained, "We're having people over tomorrow and EJ wants to look nice for company."

The married couple looked over the little boy. Now that they knew he was a California native, they could easily place when his style came from. It wasn't the hometown clothing they were used to, but they could see that Holly and James were eager to change that. "I think we've got something in here you might like," Henry said and the group turned to follow his wife deeper into the little boy's section, "Are we thinking formal or casual? And I mean a little suit or slacks and a vest?"

"Maybe more like slacks and a sweater," Holly said, picturing her grandson in nice clothing. EJ frowned at the idea, honestly preferring his own clothes one of the sweaters that Maureen was plucking from the rack.

"Why can't I wear my stuff?" he asked, looking straight up at the blonde woman, "Daddy packed-"

Holly patted his shoulder and shook her head. "We need something formal, Sweetheart," she explained, turning her attention back to the items Maureen began handing her. Holly held the clothing against EJ's chest, testing him it looked on him. She kept a couple and items and handed the others back with pursed lips.

James and Henry retired over to the front of the store while their women dragged Evander around the store, the two of them finally narrowing down the options for him. Holly turned EJ by his shoulders and pushed him towards the dressing room that closed with just a curtain. "Do you need help?" she asked.

EJ took the two shirts and pants that she was holding out to him and shook his head. He'd been clothes shopping with his dad, although the two of them preferred trying one thing on and buying variations of it in different styles and colors, keeping the size the same.

Evander tried each outfit on and walked out of the changing room so that his grandma and her friend could judge which one they liked better on him. When he walked out the first time, wearing a little vest that Holly buttoned over a collared shirt, Maureen pressed her hands together and brought to her mouth.

"My God," she murmured, her eyes trained on the boy, "Without all that bulk on I can see just how much he looks like his mother." She turned to Holly with sentimental eyes. "It's stunning. You're so lucky to have a piece of Claudia."

Evander turned around and went back behind the changing room curtain. Holly nodded in reply and glanced back at her grandson, surprised to see that he wasn't standing there anymore. "Evander," she called to him, "Can you get everything unbuttoned by yourself?"

EJ didn't reply as he forced the little buttons out of their holes and slipped the clothing off, pulling the sweater over his head instead. He didn't bother to change backs, wondering how the women would know the difference between two pairs of khaki's and stepped back outside the curtain.

The women didn't notice that the pants were the and they each began naming reasons why the liked one over the other. After a few minutes of standing EJ began to move towards a chair positioned close by, but Holly stopped him, ordering him to stand back in his spot.

He looked at the blonde with an expression that said he wasn't happy. "I'm tired," he said, climbing into the adult-sized chair, "I want to go to your house and play in the snow." He glanced behind him but didn't see his grandfather anywhere in the room. "And I want to call my dad."

Holly was about to speak when Maureen did, feeling sympathy for the little boy who was in new surroundings. "Holly what do you say that the five of us go get some lunch? It's almost time for Henry and I to close up to eat, why don't we all just go get something? I'm sure Evander is hungry, too."

Holly frowned and looked at the boy who'd curled up in the chair, his knees up on the seat. "We had a little more to do down here," she spoke, "and we were going to go home for lunch, but I guess we could take some time to eat out before we take Evander home for a nap."

His blonde head turned quickly to look at the woman when he heard her words. He sat up straighter and let his feet fall off the seat to dangle in the air. "Grandma, I don't take naps," he explained, calling over to her over a couple of racks.

Holly didn't seem to hear him. "EJ, change out of those clothes. We're just going to pay for them and then we'll head out to get some food." She turned to Maureen and began to talk prices for the sweater and slacks.

EJ changed as quickly as he could, reverting back to his jeans, shirt, snow-pants, puffy jacket, and hat before carrying the small pile of clothes out to his grandparents who stood by the front register. Holly plucked the clothes she wanted from EJ's bundle and Henry scanned them. James pulled a blue card out of his wallet.

"My dad has a black credit card," EJ said as he stood with the ball of excess clothes.

James took the clothes they weren't buying and folded them so that one of the owners of the store could re-shelf them. James didn't comment on EJ's statement.

Holly grabbed the bagged clothes with one hand and EJ's with the other. Henry and Maureen claimed they would meet the three of them at some restaurant and the Kents pulled Evander from the store.