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“No, no.I mean, next year.After the new year.Just a couple weeks from now.”
“Oh, yeah.”His smile returns.“Okay.Thanks for coming to dinner.Can we keep the leftover cake?”
“Nicholas…”
“I’d be upset if you didn’t,” I answer quickly.“I have to keep my body in compliance.”
“In compliance?”
“At the right weight and strength to be in the Navy.”
“Cool.In compliance.”He repeats it as though he’s tucking the phrase away so he can use it later to impress his friends.Then he surprises me by coming over to me and giving me a hug.Only then does he seem a little more fragile to me than he should, and I can’t help thinking about his heart.
“Merry Christmas,” he says.
“Merry Christmas, and see you next year.”
“Yeah.See you next year,” he echoes.And he leaves the room, but not before shooting his mom a look that screams,“I can’t believe you’re making me go to bed.”
Ava laughs when her son is gone.“He’s hating me right now.It’s not often he gets to talk to a military intelligence guy.But he’ll be up all night if I don’t give him some time to wind down.”
“So he’s going to his dad’s tomorrow?”
“Yes,” she says, her voice almost distant as she gives a fleeting glance at the tree.
“Do you have family in town for Christmas?”I ask, wondering about the dinner plans she had mentioned.
“No.My parents moved to California when they retired.I could go visit them, I guess, but I just—I like to be on the same coast as my son.I know it sounds, well, kind of helicopter-mom-ish—”
“I don’t think it does,” I interject quickly.
“Well, Bryant—my ex-husband does.”She stands, starting to clear dessert dishes and I quickly join her in the effort.She stops a moment, tilts her head toward the staircase as though to listen for her son, and then gives a slight nod when she hears a door shut upstairs and water running.“But Nicholas… he’s been through some stuff.Heart surgeries.Three of them already and he’s just eight years old.And I just like to be as close as I can in case… I don’t know.”
“I’m so sorry.That’s got to be hard.”
“He has some heart defects.They patched him up really well at Johns Hopkins though.”
“They’re great, I hear.”
“They are.Some of the best surgeons in the country,” she affirms, the gratitude in her eyes speaking volumes.“But he’ll probably need a little more surgery since he’s growing.So I’m—just always looking for signs that he might need to get in to see his cardiologist.I’m always on edge that way.And even though I know his dad is perfectly capable of taking care of him—”
“You want to be close by in case you’re needed.I get that.”I feel myself tempted again to invite her to Mason’s place for Christmas dinner.I’m sure they wouldn’t mind.
But again, I remember she said she had plans.Hell, she might be dating someone on the sly.I imagine divorced moms tend to keep their boyfriends away from their kids until they know that it’s something serious.
Besides, she isn’t giving off the vibe that this is anything more than a neighborly dinner, and I don’t want her worrying that I’m aiming for something more.
Even though, when I look at her just now, I can’t helpwantingsomething more.
I’m drawn to her.And while I might want to blame the fact that I haven’t eaten this well since the last time I was able to visit my parents for the holiday, the fact is, there’s just something about her that I find so appealing.
Damn.I know it’s been too long since I’ve gotten laid when I’m looking at the single mom next door like she’s a prime rib and I’m a starved wolf, even at a time when her child is barely fifty feet away from us.
I need to start dating again.Arealdate.Not the kind that is initiated by an eight-year-old.
“Exactly,” she says, oblivious to my line of thinking.“His dad’s place in Philadelphia is a quicker drive from here than flying all the way home from my parents if something happened.So I sit tight.”
“Ever-vigilant.You would have made a good SEAL.”
