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Chapter Two
Joshua
I finished drafting my e-mail and quickly read over it. First day of classes and my office hours had been slammed. I almost forgot how annoying it had been to field admiration from my students. Some of them had been so bold, too. They closed my door, one girl sat on my desk…it was crazy. Thus, I was sending out an e-mail to inform all of my classes that I was having limited office hours indefinitely. If they had a pressing matter they couldn’t discuss after class, they could e-mail me and depending on what the issue was, I’d figure something out.
My first day back in the saddle, I didn’t want to risk my job at the university for some nonsense with my students. I hit send and took a small breath. My watch told me that I’d stayed late by two hours. “This cannot happen,” I grumbled. My cell phone rang, when my sister’s face popped up on the screen I answered right away.
“Yo, baby girl. How are ya?” I said.
“Annoyed. You were supposed to be here an hour ago. I slaved like two hours making this dinner for you. Do you know how long I had to marinate this meat? Twenty-four-hours, Josh. That meant I was really looking forward to seeing you,” she railed. I had to hold the phone away from my ear a bit.
“Don’t worry, I’m on the way. You wouldn’t believe the mob I had to deal with on the first day,” I said.
“Oh, that’s right, you’re a pretty boy, the hot professor” Amy said, teasing.
“Please. Ugh, I hate that.” I laughed. “Anyway, I’m literally walking out of the office right now, give me twenty minutes and I’ll be there,” I said.
“Alright, Kaden can’t wait to see you.” I smiled, thinking of my nephew, he was two going on thirty-five and possibly my favorite human on the planet. We hung up and I quickly zipped my laptop into my briefcase, closed and locked my office, then got the hell out of the psychology building. I kept my head down, in case any of my students straggled late on main campus. Thankfully, I didn’t run into anyone and got to my car without incident.
My sister’s house was twenty minutes away from Southeastern’s main campus. She lived in a quiet neighborhood, the street was lined with the tons of fruit and palm trees that surrounded each house. Amy’s was a cute bungalow just big enough for her, Kaden, and their two Labradors. Her house was at the center of a cul-de-sac and partially camouflaged by two huge shrubs that she refused to cut.
I pulled into the drive behind her BMW. My sister was a painter and a well-known Miami talent. Her paintings were sold all over the world and for big bucks. Most of the money she made she just funneled into a trust for Kaden. Everything she did was for him. In a lot of ways, I looked up to Amy as if she were my older sibling and not the other way around. I jogged up the few Spanish tiled steps to her front porch. Amy’s house was small but designed with the idea of a Spanish villa in mind.
I lifted my hand to knock on the door and it was suddenly snatched open. It was Kaden, with his head of curly black hair and huge blue eyes. He wore a wrinkled peach t-shirt and light grey shorts. He only had one sock on his feet. “Little man!” I said and bent to scoop him up.
“Unca Jay!” Kaden squealed. Amy came running into the front room from the living room.
“The door was unlocked?” she asked, frazzled. Amy’s long dark hair was loose around her shoulders. She wore a tank top and loose jeans. Kaden started giggling and held onto my neck and shoulder tightly.
“Yes, from how tight he’s holding me, I’m guessing Kaden was responsible for that,” I said. Amy kissed me on the cheek and then tickled Kaden’s sides to loosen his grip on me. He squealed again and she grabbed him.
“I thought we talked about this, Kaden?” she said and put him down.
“But, unca J was coming, Mamma,” he said. His baby voice warmed me, honestly. I knelt and kissed the top of his head, then picked him up and tossed him into the air a few times. Kaden’s screaming laughter filled up the house.
“Where are the dogs?” I asked as I put Kaden down.
“They’re outside doing their business, living their lives,” she said. “Come on, I want to hear all about your first day,” she said. I followed Amy into the living room, the kitchen was behind it.
“Are you working on anything new?” I asked and sat down on the couch. Kaden settled on the carpet in front of the couch and started to play with a few toys strewn across the floor. Amy grabbed a couple of beers from the fridge then walked to the couch and plopped down beside me. I took one of the beers from her and twisted the cap off.
“Yeah. It’s…just a bunch of wisps right now. But I feel the weight of the idea settling in,” she said. I smirked, it was fascinating the way she talked about her process. Amy literally pulled incredible portraits and abstract landscapes out of the air. “So, what was it like getting back in the saddle? Bunch of students want to ride you?” she asked.
I almost choked on my beer and she laughed. Kaden ran up to me and started patting my stomach. “Thanks bud, I’m okay,” I said and kissed the top of his head. He sat on the ground in front of my feet and resumed playing with his action figures.
“Yeah, my office hours were a zoo. I almost asked one of the other professors in the department to sit in my office with me,” I said. “I don’t know anyone that well yet though.”
“What classes are you teaching again?”
“Developmental and the general psych classes. Two of each. My general classes are huge though,” I sighed and took a swig of beer. The dogs outside walked to the patio out back and scratched on the sliding glass door. They looked identical, black fur and brown eyes.
“Mamma, Jo and Bo,” Kaden said, pointing. Amy got up to let the dogs in. They came running as soon as the sliding door opened. I held my beer up to keep from spilling. Amy had gotten rid of her coffee table so Kaden could have a play space inside. I greeted the dogs and they settled down after sufficiently licking my hands and neck. They laid down around Kaden, keeping watch over him.
“You’ve got a good pack over here, I’m jealous,” I said. Kaden was well behaved compared to what I’ve heard about the ‘terrible twos.’
“They all have their moments,” she laughed. “I’m lucky anyway,” she said, looking fondly at Kaden. His dad, Amy’s fiancé, had been the kindest, gentlest and quietest man I’d ever met. But drunk drivers and motorcyclists were never a good equation at midnight in Miami. Jeff had died when Kaden was a month old.
“He’s a good kid,” I said. She smiled and sighed contentedly.
