He rumbled a sleepy chuckle. “Happy Friday, my sexy husband.”
Oof, more flirting. I was here for it. Or I wanted to be, but our day was going to be insane. Aside from work and the kids, Nate had lunch plans with Jordan, I was gonna have a one-on-one with James, we were telling our folks about everything, I was calling a Realtor, Nate was gonna cancel our internet for this house, all streaming services we’d doubled up on during our separation too, then the afternoon out at Mclean before we had spaghetti night with the kids.
First things first, shower.
“No, of course not. You go home and rest, sweetheart,” I said, trapping my phone between my shoulder and ear. “Do you want me to order you somethin’ to eat?” I checked the rearview and backed into the parking spot.
“Umm. I don’t know. Can I text you if I change my mind?” Poor Hallie. She sounded so pitiful.
“’Course you can. Just lemme know. Text me when you get home, okay?”
“I will. Bye, Dad.”
“Love you, bye.” I ended the call and released a breath.
“Everythin’ okay?” James wondered.
“Yeah—kinda. It’s Hallie.” I’d told him about her issues last night. If her cramps got any worse, we’d need to look into things. At this point, she was practically out of commission one day a month. The internet gods said it was normal, but I wasn’t convinced. I might ask Nate’s ma. Juliana had been a nurse before she’d switched careers to become a florist. “Okay, let’s eat.”
We’d had no leftovers to pack today, so while I was opting for Costco’s finest in Arlington, Nate was treating Jordan to pizza because we had a coupon.
“I’mma splurge today,” I said, climbing out of the truck. “I’mma get a hot doganda slice.”
God bless Costco prices.
We’d taken lunch early, ’cause we knew we weren’t the only workers eating here today. The place was always packed with neon yellow and orange between eleven thirty and one. Plenty of hard hats too.
We got in and aimed for the shortish line.
“So what do you think Nate and Jordan will talk about?” I asked. I was mostly curious about James’s take. I already knew that Nate was gonna let Jordan ramble, because the boy had been the one who’d suggested the lunch.
“All I know is that Jordan tore four pages of questions out of his notebook this mornin’,” he drawled.
I chuckled and folded my arms over my chest. “You know, I kinda wish you would do the same. You hide behind Jordan so that he will handle all the communication.”
He shifted where he stood and rubbed the back of his neck. “Maybe I’ve heard that before.”
I smirked.
“In my defense, he handles it very well,” he added.
I snorted. “Boy, you don’t have a defense.” I took another step as the line got shorter. “I’ll make it real simple for you, Jamie. If you wanna get in on the action, Nate and I need to hear fromyouwhat it is that you want. Consent can’t be delegated to a third party. Same goes for preferences and limits.”
I let him mull that over.
“Ma, I gotta let you go—we’re looking for parking,” I said with my mouth full of food.
White lie. In reality, we were almost at Mclean.
“Oh, don’t you dare,” she replied. “I wanna talk to Nathan first. Is he there? By the way, if you’re going out to eat, why are you eating right now?”
I huffed. “Because I’m a growing boy! I had a tiny road snack. Here’s Nate.” I handed the phone to him and promptly picked up my burger again from the dash.
“Hey, Lynda.”
Good lord, I could hear her squeal.
I stepped on the gas a bit, the gravel crunching under the tires, and it wasn’t long before we reached the end of the dirt road.
