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I watched him consider this.
“Do you promise?”
“Cross my heart.”
“And you promise I can play Mario Kart with Miss Angel?”
“I promise.” Even if I had to buy her a Nintendo Switch myself.
“Okay, I guess I’ll look. Can it be near a park?”
“We’ll have to look around for the best place.”
I’d already scoped out a preschool that Ford’s sister Carrie recommended. Her son, Bubba, was James’ age. According to Ford, the kid was a constant surprise, coming up with numerous ways to keep his parents on their toes. Nothing mean, just creative.
I intended to introduce James to Bubba and Carrie’s whole family as soon as we got there. To begin with we would stay at the Whispering Pines Inn. A little pricey, but I had hopes of getting a furnished rental pretty quick, or even better, finding a house to buy. Ford had already set me up with a man who owned a couple of properties, and usually had his finger on the pulse of other properties in the area.
“When do we have to go?” James asked. At least he wasn’t crying anymore.
“We’re going there next week.”
“Forever?”
“Just for a vacation to find somewhere to live. But then we’ll go back and move into our new house.”
“You promise I’ll like it?” His big blue eyes were pleading.
“I promise you get to help me pick out where to live. I want you to be happy, James. Plus there’s a boy I want you to meet. He’s your age and his uncle is a friend of mine. I bet you he plays Mario Kart.”
James’ eyes widened. “If he doesn’t, I can teach him.”
I winced. James’ idea of teaching included yanking the other person’s controller out of their hands. It wasn’t exactly ideal.
“Hopefully he already knows how to play.”
“I bet he does,” James said confidently.
“Well, Kiddo. The day after tomorrow, we need to start packing. We’re going to be going on a fun adventure.”
“Really?” Now he was hopeful.
“And if you’re really good, we can go on some rides. There’s an amusement park close to where we’re going.”
His eyes widened. “There is?”
“Yep. It’s called Dollywood.”
“What kind of rides?”
Shit, I hadn’t researched.
“All kinds. Once we get settled we can search on my phone and see exactly what they have for boys your size.”
“Okey-doke.” His grin was back.
I knew bribery was a bad thing for a parent to use, but I didn’t really care. If it put that grin on my son’s face, I was all for it.
“Can I pack now?”
