He watches Paw Patrol for as long as possible before asking me what’s for breakfast. I roll over and get out of bed, grabbing shorts and walking downstairs to the kitchen. “What do you want for breakfast?” I ask him as I start the coffee.
“Toast and peanut butter,” he tells me, and I just nod. “Where is Dr. Denise?”
“What do you mean, buddy?” I ask him, grabbing the bread from the pantry and sliding two slices in the toaster.
“I fell asleep with her last night,” Jack says while I pour him some orange juice and then a glass of milk.
“We dropped Dr. Denise off at her house before coming home,” I tell him, and he takes a gulp of his juice. “We were invited to Matthew’s house today. Did you want to go?”
“Is Michael going to be there?” he asks.
“I’m not sure. Maybe. But they have kids too,” I tell him when the toast pops up, and I grab the butter. “Do you think we should go?” I ask him. I butter the toast and stir the peanut butter to get the oil mixed in so I can add that to the toast.
“Okay,” he says, taking a bite of his toast and then wiping the crumbs away from his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Great,” I say, grabbing my cup of coffee and sitting next to him. “I’ll go text Matthew,” I tell him, going upstairs to get my phone and then ordering another Town Car for us. “I really need a car,” I tell myself, making a note to call the dealer tomorrow. Going back downstairs, I clean up the breakfast dishes while Jack plays with his Legos.
I dress him in jeans and a shirt and grab the same for myself, and we are both ready and waiting by the door at three when the Town Car arrives. The ride to the house is longer than I thought, but Jack closes his eyes for a bit. When we finally get there, I tell Marco I’ll text him about an hour before we are ready to leave.
Going up to the door, I ring the doorbell while Jack and I stand here holding hands. I look down at him and smile when I hear the door locks click, and the last thing I’m expecting is for Denise to open the door, but she does, and if I thought she was beautiful yesterday, it’s nothing like she is now.
Her plain jeans have holes in them down the front, molding to her legs. A white t-shirt is tucked into the waist in the front and a green long button-down shirt hanging open over it with the sleeves pushed up. Her hair is long and loose, but what makes her breathtaking, what make my heart stop, is the smile she has for my son. Not for me but for Jack. It’s a smile that makes your eyes crinkle, a smile that moves your cheeks up, a smile that fills your face. “If it isn’t my favorite man,” she says, bending and grabbing Jack into her arms. That right there makes her the most beautiful woman in the world. She kisses his cheek while he hugs her neck, his hand going to the nape of her neck to twirl her hair in his fingers. She turns and looks up at me, and the smile stays the same—the genuine person she is—displayed for everyone to see. “And my favorite man’s dad,” she says with a smile as she moves out of the way and makes room for me to walk in. For the second time in two days, it takes everything I have not to wrap myself around her like my son. It’s also the second time in two days that I’m jealous of him.
Chapter Nine
Denise
When my phone rang early this morning, I had no idea who it could be. But I wasn’t surprised when I heard Karrie, and she was going on and on about an idea she had for the Max Horton Foundation.
“I expect you to get your skinny little ass to my house,” she says, “for Sunday lunch/dinner.”
I groan, turning over in the bed, the shades not letting a single sliver of light inside. When I moved, the first thing I did was put blackout shades on my windows. With my shifts at the hospital fluctuating, I had to make sure I could sleep when I had to. “Can’t you just pretend I’m there and make the decisions for me?” I ask her.
The Max Horton Foundation was my baby; it was a foundation that Max started the year after Allison became the public relations for the Stingers. A year later, she held their first charity auction fundraiser for it. Max was the CEO of the foundation, but all decisions were really left up to Allison and me.