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Chapter 1
The sun had only been up for about thirty minutes when I went into my six-year-old’s bedroom to wake him. Beams of light fell across the floor, which was just shy of clean, mostly because I’d threatened no bedtime story if he didn’t pick up his toy dump trucks and Hot Wheels. Now I only had to sidestep a stuffed bear that had fallen off his bed and the pajama shirt he must have stripped off sometime in the night.
Cody always hated covering his shoulders while he slept. He’d been weird about it since forever.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, I reached for his blanket bundled body and gave him a gentle shake. “Cody, baby, time to get up. We’ve got to get you ready for school.”
He groaned, trying to shake me off and roll over at the same time. I smiled a little at him, knowing he wasn’t a huge fan of mornings, but I wouldn’t let him get away with sleeping in. He’d be at school on time. Period. Especially since I had work and couldn’t afford to miss even a little bit of time in the morning.
“C’mon sleepyhead. It’s rise and shine or no pancakes for you.”
That got his attention. As much as he hated getting up in the morning, he loved food. Like, to the point where I had to put stuff up on the highest shelves to make sure he didn’t get into it and devour everything right after I bought it. Feeding a growing boy was like having a pet dinosaur—there would never be enough food.
“Do they have blueberries?” came his muffled voice from beneath the covers.
I grinned. “Only if you get up now and wash your hands and face.”
There was a short pause, then he threw back the covers with a flourish. He sat up, his blonde hair—just like mine, but a little lighter—sticking up at every imaginable angle. Rubbing at his eyes, he let out a yawn before getting out of bed. He paused for half a second, eyeing me, then leaned over and gave my leg a quick hug. Then he headed down the hall towards the bathroom.
Shaking my head a little, I went to make breakfast as quickly as possible.
I was pretty good at this by now. My routine was steady, stable, and it worked. Maybe it wasn’t the easiest thing in the world, but it kept my little two-person household running. I moved the skillet to the stove, turned on the burner, then reached for the fridge where I’d had the forethought to prepare my bribery the night before. A bowl of pre-mixed pancake batter sat on the middle shelf. I grabbed it and poured two small dollops into the slightly heated pan. As those began to cook, I poured some milk and grabbed a brown paper bag that would hold Cody’s lunch.
He came running down as I was halfway through the second batch of pancakes and was using black magic marker to write his name across his lunch sack—and a special heart, because I was all about those extra good mom brownie points.
I stacked two little pancakes on a plate and let him have some syrup, even though I knew it would make him sticky. I checked the clock as I flipped the second batch of pancakes. We didn’t have a lot of time.
“Eat fast, little man,” I ordered him. “Momma’s got a tight schedule.”
He grinned and proceeded to wolf down the short stack, using his hands and not even pretending to care about the syrup he was getting everywhere. I groaned. This was why I had him eat breakfast before he got dressed.
“Not exactly what I meant,” I told him.
Cody shrugged his little shoulders, then downed half a glass of milk. Finished, he didn’t even bother to say thanks as he ran back to the bathroom to get cleaned up. I was hoping his school stuff was already together, but I knew I’d better double check anyway.
I glanced ruefully at the dishes. “A battle for another day,” I muttered to them, promising myself I’d do them that night. Right now, I was a mom with a mission: get my kid to school and get to work on time.
# # #
I made one pit stop on the way to Cody’s school to pick up Jessie, one of my few remaining friends and my coworker. Her apartment was on the way and it saved time in the long run to just pick her up before rather than doubling back.
Still, it meant I was rushing Cody out of the car and up the school’s steps before that first bell. I got him halfway down the sidewalk before he waved me off, shooing me before his cool friends saw him with his mom.
Jeez, I’m already too old to be considered cool, I thought with an eye roll. I folded my arms across my chest, watching him head towards the front doors. It was the little pause he did before going inside that made my day, though, because he actually turned and waved at me.
