Page 177 of Reeves

"It was awesome, right? I don't know, but you should have come with us, Mommy."

Reeves says it easily, like he’s always called me that.

My fingers tighten around the cone. Ice cream drips over my knuckle before I notice.

Benjy leans into Reeves, his eyes heavy with a mouthful of chocolate. Reeves wipes his hand with a napkin without thinking.

“I emailed that guy I was talking to while y'all did that simulator ride,” I say, more to fill the quiet than anything else. “The one who made the offer on my practice. Just to see if it’s still even an option.”

Reeves goes still beside me.

“You emailed Henderson?”

The name lands wrong. I turn my head slowly, looking at him.

“Charli, he’s a douchebag. You don’t want to be doing business with a guy like that.”

My grip tightens around the cone, ice cream starting to melt down my fingers.

“I never told you his name.”

Reeves blinks, and I watch him realize what he just said. His jaw tightens just slightly.

“You must have mentioned it. Yesterday, when we were talking about the practice.”

I know exactly what we talked about yesterday. I mentioned getting an offer. I mentioned the Medicaid investigation. I never said a name.

“No. I didn’t.”

The silence stretches between us while Benjy finishes his icecream, oblivious. A street musician plays somewhere behind us, the notes drifting over the noise of the crowd.

Reeves exhales slowly. “I looked into it. The investigation, the timing. I had someone run the details.”

Had someone run the details. What the fuck does that even mean? My hand stills in my lap, sticky from melted ice cream.

I stand up and walk over to the trash can about twenty feet away. I do my best to wipe my hands and cool myself. Suddenly, I have someone in my life not only trying to insert himself into my routine with my son, altering the life I've built for us. But he's also meddling with my career?

It wasn’t his place to do any of that.

“Mom, can we go see the big fountain?” Benjy tugs on my dress from behind. I turn around and kneel to wipe his face and hands.

“In a minute, baby.”

My voice sounds normal. I see Reeves watching us, but there is a discernible shift in the air.

I don’t look at him.

Benjy tugs on my dress again, bouncing on his toes. “Can we go now? Please? I want to see how big it is.”

I smooth his hair back from his forehead, my fingers lingering for a second longer than necessary. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

I stand and start walking, not waiting to see if Reeves follows. I hear his footsteps fall in beside us anyway.

Rubbing my sticky hands together, I'm suddenly irritated, trying to figure out how to get over this intrusion.

My phone buzzes, and I pull it out to see a text from Lucinda, Paolo's mom, asking if Benjy can spend the night. I put the phone in my purse. How I wish we were back in Bay St. Louis because that would be an amazing relief right about now.

Benjy darts ahead the second the fountain comes into view, the sound of water cutting through the noise of the street. Heruns straight for the edge, leaning over just enough to make my chest tighten.