AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Cheeks flaming, I pull the phone to my chest, but at second glance I realize the only thing inappropriate about the video is how I’m reacting to it. With a shake of my head, I hold it up between the seats. Matty’s full belly laughs have my heart ready to burst.
“Hey, feel like I’m missing out,” Jeremy says, and Matty tries to describe what Rux is doing, but then just falls into a more general fanboy accounting of all things Ruxton Meyers.
And I have to give Jeremy credit, he listens, making all the appropriate noises as Matty talks about Rux showing him how to hold his stick and how for Halloween Rux showed up dressed as a pro-wrestler.
By the time Matty comes up for air, we’re nearly home. Cutting a glance to Jeremy, I tease, “Bet you’re glad you asked, huh?”
He considers before answering. “Yeah. Sounds like some guy. I know I’ve missed—” He looks away and starts again. “I want to know about the people in your lives.”
I don’t really know what to say, so I just nod. I mean, yeah, I’d want to know who was a part of Jeremy’s life if they were going to be involved in Matty’s too.
We pull up to the curb and Matty unbuckles in a flash. He thanks his dad and wraps a little arm around the front seat for a hug before zipping into the lobby where Ray is working the security desk. Jeremy gets out with me, walking around to the trunk to retrieve the poster we got from the gift shop.
“Thank you for today,” I say, meaning it. “Matty had a great time and it was really nice.”
He closes the trunk and turns to me with his hand resting on the metal. “So, Rux.”
“Rux?”
“I didn’t think you guys were really together at first. I mean Matty said you were best friends and when I googled before I came back to Chicago”—at my raised brows, he shrugs—“I didn’t find any mention of you guys together… romantically, anyway.”
“You asked Matty?” I’m not crazy about him talking to my seven-year-old about my love life.
His hands come up between us. “Barely. Matty was going on about Rux and I asked if he was your boyfriend.Once.He told me you guys were ‘besties.’”
Matty is such a mimic.
Jeremy takes a breath, watching me. “It’s none of my business, but are you guys—”
“Mom,” Matty calls, leaning out the lobby doors, his feet doing a quick shuffle. “I gottago.”
I’ve never been more grateful for Matty’s walnut-sized bladder. Sure, I liked the idea of looking like I was in a relationship with Rux, but for some reason, what happened this week has me not wanting to address it at all. I don’t want to say that we’re involved when I’m having a hard enough time keeping my thoughts out of his breezers as it is.
I turn back to Jeremy, but he’s already climbing back in the car. “It’s okay. Talk to you this week.”
* * *
Cammy
It’san early game against the Jets, and Matty and I watch the whole thing together. He can barely keep his eyes open at the end, and when the Slayers have a 3-2 win under their belt, my kiddo staggers back to his bed for the quickest tuck-in in history.
Julia texts with me a few times and I catch up on some email. But through it all, I’m waiting to hear from Rux. When I do, I’m tucked into a corner of the couch and he’s in a hotel room in New York and not on a plane heading home.
“They’ll get it fixed overnight and we’ll be ready to take off early,” he tells me. There’s a dull thud and I imagine his duffle bag landing on some nondescript desk. A clank tells me he’s hung up his suit jacket.
I can see him in my mind, tugging his tie free, undoing the buttons down his shirt. Losing his belt… Opening his fly.
Stop.
We talk about the museum a little. Matty’s favorite exhibits. Mine. His. The game schedule coming up. How Bowie and Static almost got into it over some girl the night before, but then neither of them ended up taking her home.
“I don’t know those guys that well, but Julia says they’re a handful.”
“Yeah, kind of. Those defensive players spend a lot more time together than with us, but still… Yeah… So, what’s on today’s panties?”
I cough, grateful I’ve already finished my tea. “Excuse me?”
“Come on,” he says, totally unrepentant. “It’s just a friendly question. Innocent.”
