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Grabbing his wallet from the dresser, he walked into the kitchen, where Emma was examining a sheet of paper.
“What’s that?” he asked.
She immediately folded it and stuck it in her purse. “Nothing important. Should I draw the bath or wait until later?”
“Go ahead and bathe the beast. I’m going out for a bit. I’ll be back soon.”
“What did you call me?” Max asked, tearing his attention away from the picture he was coloring.
Preston smiled. He didn’t know why he’d suddenly come up with that nickname. Except, with Max’s stocky build and fearless approach to all the shots he put in his stomach, it seemed to fit. “Beast.”
Max wrinkled his nose. “That means animal.”
“Nicknames aren’t literal.”
“What does ‘literal’ mean?”
“You’re big and strong and brave like a beast, aren’t you?”
“Yeah…”
“So why not call you Beast?”
Max seemed to consider the suggestion. “Okay!” he said, and the way his chest swelled with pride made Preston laugh.
“The male ego in action,” Emma murmured. “It starts young.” But she was wearing a faint smile and Preston grinned back at her.
“That ought to keep him tough, poor kid,” he muttered. “How’s he doing?”
She seemed startled by the question. “Fine.”
“Have you tested him since breakfast?”
“No. Unless we have some reason to believe he’s too high or too low, we only test at mealtimes, before bed and during the night.”
After the incident at the pool, Preston couldn’t help watching Max with a certain fearful expectation, wondering whether he might have another insulin reaction. “How often does he go low?”
“It can happen anytime, unless we’re careful.”
Great. Preston shook his head as he scooped his keys off the counter. He had to pick up a woman whose kid could keel over at any moment.
“But it doesn’t happen very often,” she added.
Thank God. “I’m going shopping. What do you want me to get?”
“I need a toothbrush.”
He gave her a meaningful glance. “That much I know.”
She blushed. “Sorry. I looked for one at the little grocery store this morning, but they didn’t carry them. And I rinsed yours with hot water when I was done,” she offered in a conciliatory tone.
His gaze dropped to her full, soft lips. With a bit of encouragement, he’d show her how little the hygiene issue really bothered him. But he knew that wouldn’t be good for her. Their futures were too uncertain. “I’ll get you each one,” he said. “What else?”
“I’m dying for some underwear. I guess I could get that later, but maybe you wouldn’t be too embarrassed to pick up a hairbrush, some hair gel, mascara and lip gloss? I feel like I’ve been camping in the wilderness for a week.”
He cocked a wary eyebrow at her. “You want me to buy lip gloss?”
“You’re right,” she admitted. “It’s something I can do without. I just—”
“You look great the way you are.”
She straightened as though the compliment took her by surprise. But he didn’t know why it would. With her long, silky hair, golden skin and big blue eyes, she didn’t need any enhancements.
She did need underwear, though. Knowing she wasn’t wearing any was proving more than a little distracting.
He cleared his throat. “What about snacks for the car?”
She seemed as eager as he was to take the conversation in a different direction. “We could always use snacks. Max is supposed to have them mid-morning, mid-afternoon, and between dinnertime and bedtime.”
“What should I buy?”
“Fruit. Power bars. Small packages of crackers and cheese. Baby carrots. Anything around twenty-two grams of carbohydrates per serving.”
“It has to be that specific?”
“Following a tight meal plan helps control his blood sugar.”
He remembered telling her a couple of doughnuts weren’t going to kill Max and felt a flicker of resentment that she hadn’t been honest with him then. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite enough resentment to make him stop thinking about her lack of underwear.
“I know what happens when he goes low. What happens when he goes too high?”
Max piped up with the answer. “My eyes get all blurry, and I feel like I’m gonna throw up.” Doubling his fists, he began to shadowbox. “Sometimes I want to break something!”
Preston looked to Emma for an explanation.
“He never hurts anything,” she said. “It’s just that blood sugar affects mood. Whenever he gets a dark glower on his face or talks aggressively, I know he needs to be tested.”
Diabetes affected every aspect of his life, and Emma’s, too, because of the constant care.
“How do you spell your name?” Max asked, his hand poised to write at the top of his picture.
Preston spelled his name slowly and watched as Max did his best to form the letters. The crooked result touched a painful spot deep in Preston’s chest. At the same time, it made him smile.
“This is for you,” Max announced.
Remembering the pictures Dallas had colored for him, Preston briefly closed his eyes. He’d never expected to get another picture of a red and black Bugs Bunny. But he forced himself to walk over and give Max’s gift the attention it deserved. “It’s nice,” he said, and squeezed his shoulder.
The way Max beamed with pleasure made the effort worthwhile.
“I’ll be back soon,” he told Emma, starting for the door.
She grabbed her purse and followed him. “Here’s twenty bucks. If the total comes to more than that—”
He held up a hand. “I’ve got it covered.” Such minor expenses meant nothing to him. He just wanted to deliver Max and Emma safely to Iowa—and to know they’d remain safe when he drove away. “I’ll put out the Do Not Disturb sign. I doubt You-Know-Who is even in Salt Lake, but just in case, don’t open the door to anybody.”
PRESTON STOOD in the cosmetics aisle of Smith’s Grocery and scratched his head. He’d already collected toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, face wash, a pair of flip-flops he thought would be more comfortable for Emma than the stiff leather sandals she was wearing now, a Jazz Basketball T-shirt—also for Emma, because he was out of clean laundry to lend her—and a whole basketful of snacks. But he couldn’t figure out what kind of makeup to buy. Picking up a tube of mascara had sounded simple enough. Until he saw that there were at least ten different kinds. Pink with a green lid. Black. White. Brown. Gray. One called Brownish-black, one called Very Black, one called Blue…
