I hold up my hand, interrupting her. “Maggie, it’s fine. I know you wouldn’t have invited me here if you were still hung up on someone else.”
She looks relieved by my comment.
“My timing couldn’t be shittier,” I say. “But Chrissy, my ex-wife, just called. Justice is sick, and she got called in to work. I have to head back home.”
There isn’t a single shred of doubt in Maggie’s expression. Only concern. “Is he okay?”
“Yeah, it’s just a stomach bug.”
She nods, but I can tell she’s somewhat disappointed that I’m leaving. So am I, though. I pull her to me to give her a hug goodbye. She molds to my chest, making it difficult to want to release her.
“Downfall of two doctors sharing a child,” I say. “You’re on call even on the weekends you aren’t on call.”
She pulls back and looks up at me. I slide my hands to her cheeks and bend down to give her a kiss. I can’t help but notice that our physical interaction is way ahead of our relationship. We aren’t even dating, but the way I hug her and kiss her and respond to her would indicate otherwise. It’s why I make sure our kiss goodbye is nothing more than a peck. The last thing I want to do is overwhelm her again. “Have fun today.”
She smiles. “I will. I hope Justice feels better soon.”
“Thank you. And send me some pictures of the caves. I’ll call you tonight after you’re back if it’s not too late.”
“I would like that,” she says. “Want me to walk you out?”
“I would like that.”
•••
One would think that a man who regularly slices through people’s chests wouldn’t be bothered by a little vomit.
Not the case with me.
I’m convinced Justice has vomited more today than he did the first five years of his life. Or maybe it just seems that way because he’s older and bigger and produces more vomit, but fuck, there was so much vomit. I can’t be happier that it’s over. For now. There can’t possibly be anything left in the poor kid to even puke up.
When I’m finished scrubbing the bathroom, showering, and checking on Justice, I finally settle into the couch to catch up on my conversation with Maggie. They returned from the caves a little over an hour ago, and she sent me a few pictures. I told her I’d FaceTime with her as soon as I got Justice to bed.
She answers almost immediately. The smile on her face disappoints me, but only because I’m not seeing it in person.
“How is Justice?”
I love that she asks this before we even say hello.
“Asleep. And empty. I think he’s expelled everything he’s eaten since January.”
She makes a face. “Poor kid.”
She’s lying on her bed, her hair spread out over the pillow. She’s holding the phone above her. It’s the same view I had of her earlier today as I was hovering over her, preparing to kiss her. I force the thought out of my head before she sees through me. “Was the trip as fun as your pictures made it seem?”
She nods. “It was. Well, mostly.” She pushes the hair away from her forehead to reveal a small bandage near her temple. “Warren thought it would be a good idea to hide from us and then scare us. I turned really fast, and me and Bridgette butted heads.” She laughs, smoothing her hair back in place. “Warren felt so bad, he bought us all dinner. I mean, it was Taco Bell, but still. Warren never pays for anything ever.”
I smile. I like that she seems to have had fun. Happiness looks really good on her. “You ready for the big move tomorrow?”
She nods, rolling onto her side as she lowers the phone. “I’m ready to have my own bathroom again.”
“I’d offer to come help, but Chrissy is on call until Monday. I should probably keep Justice at my place until he’s feeling better so there isn’t a lot of back and forth.”
“We have plenty of help. I don’t have a whole lot to move, anyway. But I’ll FaceTime you tomorrow night and show you my new place after we’re finished.”
“I’d like it better if I could see it in person.”
She grins. “When’s your next day off?”
“I have an early day on Wednesday. I could drive to you…we could order take-out. Can’t spend the night this time, but I could stay a few hours.”
“That sounds good. I’ll cook for you,” she says.
“Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had a home-cooked meal?”
She smiles again and then follows her smile up with a sigh. I open my mouth to tell her how pretty she looks, but I’m interrupted when Justice walks into the room. “Hey, buddy,” I say, looking up from my phone. “You feeling okay?”
Justice nods but doesn’t look at me. He walks to the kitchen and opens the refrigerator.
“I’ll let you go,” Maggie whispers, pulling my attention back to my phone.
I smile appreciatively at her. “Call me tomorrow when you’re all settled.”
“I will. Goodnight.”
I stare at her a moment, not quite ready to end my conversation with her. But I also don’t want to be on the phone with her while Justice is in the room. “Goodnight, Maggie,” I whisper. She waves and then ends the call. I toss my phone on the couch and then walk into the kitchen with Justice.
He’s standing with the refrigerator door open, and he’s opening a slice of American cheese. He takes a bite out of it, leaving the slice dangling from his mouth while he grabs the deli meat. He pulls out a slice of ham and shoves it in his mouth, along with the rest of the slice of cheese.
“It would be easier if you just let me make you a sandwich,” I offer.
Justice grabs the bag of ham and closes the fridge. “I couldn’t wait that long. I feel like I might die of starvation.” He grabs a bag of chips and sits down at the bar with the ham in front of him. He opens the bag of chips and puts a few in his mouth. “Who were you talking to?”
“I take it you’re feeling better.”
“If you count starving to death as feeling better. Who were you talking to?” he repeats.
“Maggie.”
“The same girl you went to see in the hospital?”
This is why I didn’t want to be on the phone with her while he was in the room. He doesn’t shy away from anything. And I’m a big believer in being honest with him, so I nod. “Same one.”
“Why was she in the hospital?”
“She has Cystic Fibrosis.”
“That sounds serious.”
“It is. You should research it.”
Justice rolls his eyes because he knows I’m being serious. Every time he asks a question that I tell him to research, I always follow up with him the next day to make sure he did. Then I correct him on anything he learned that was inaccurate. That’s the downside of Google. There’s a lot of information, but you have to know how to weed through the bullshit. I think that’s really why I always have him research answers to a lot of his questions—so that he can learn how to properly navigate the bullshit.
“Is Maggie your girlfriend?”
I shake my head. “Nope.”
“But you’ve had sex with her?”
The combination of my eleven-year-old asking if I’ve had sex with someone while chewing on a mouthful of ham is both odd and entertaining. “What?”
“You mentioned something about not being able to spend the night with her again. Which means you’ve spent the night with her before. Which probably means you’ve had sex with her because Cody says that’s what adults do when they spend the night with each other.”
“Cody is eleven. He isn’t always right.”
“So that’s a no?”
I feel guilty because I’m currently wishing Justice were still in bed sick. “Can we put this conversation on pause until you’re about fourteen?”
Justice rolls his eyes. “You say you like that I’m a curious kid, but then you never want to feed my curiosity.”
“I like that you’re curious. I like feeding your curiosity. But sometimes you’r
e too hungry.” I open the refrigerator and grab him a water. “Drink this. You haven’t had enough liquid today.”
Justice grabs the water from me. “Fine. But on my fourteenth birthday, be prepared to revisit this conversation.”
I laugh. God, I love this kid. But at this rate, I’m not sure I’ll make it until he’s fourteen. His curiosity is going to kill the cat. I’m the cat.