Page 53 of Frog

One by one they got off the couch: first Pip, then Tristan, and finally Micah. She went to her knees and got a kiss and hug from each one, plus a drawing from Micah.

“Oh, baby, I love it,” she told him, wiping at her eyes with her fingers, pointing at the tree with the tire swing and then me with my huge noggin. “Who’s this?”

“Weber,” he told her and smiled.

She froze.

I flicked her on the back of the head to make her voice work.

“O-oh,” she stammered, “well, it looks just like him.”

He nodded and left us.

Slowly, like she was moving through molasses, she rose and turned to face me. Her eyes were open big, her mouth made her look like a fish, and her color was all wrong, sort of gray.

“Doctor Erin,” I began telling her, “said that he was fixin’ to talk soon, so you should start hearin’ some words sprinkled in with his nods and such.”

She was just staring at me.

“But you shouldn’t make it a big deal or else he’ll be thinkin’ he’s different, and he ain’t. So just, when he talks to you, talk back.”

Her indrawn breath was thready.

“That’s what the doctor said.”

Those eyes of hers, much like her brother’s, never left my face.

“Say yes, I heard you, Weber.”

“Yes, I heard you, Weber.”

I grunted.

“One fucking day,” she said breathlessly.

The swearing was new. “Pardon?”

“They were with you one fucking day, and Micah is feeling so grounded that he wants to start talking again, and all three of them look happy and content like I haven’t seen them in months.”

I shrugged. “I dunno. Apparently, I’m a mountain.”

“What?”

“Never mind.” I grinned at her, giving her a pat on the arm. “Are you hungry? We made stroganoff.”

“I get dinner too?”

I cupped her cheek before walking into the kitchen to get the plate I had made for her out of the refrigerator and put it in the microwave.

“Weber.”

I looked over my shoulder at her.

“You take better care of my boys than my husband did, and you care more about me.”

“That’s real sad,” I assured her. “Maybe the next man you find should be sweet on all y’all. It’s just a thought.”

She swallowed hard. “Tomorrow I’m supposed to go to a Christmas open house at my boss’s house. We’re supposed to bring our children, and some people bring their nannies instead of their spouses. Would you consider going with me?”