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“Somethin’ like that.” His nose nudged mine. “You like, Little Bird?”
I nodded. “Very much.” I liked the music, the night, the man. All of it.
Ezra whipped his head around, a scowl pulling at his features. “Be quiet, Mommy! I can’t hear the music.”
I snorted a laugh but covered it up with a cough. “Can you ask Mommy in a nicer way? I’ll be happy to lower my voice if you can be polite.”
I could tell he was torn between manners and missing the show, but Callum paused it and placed his palm on top of Ezra’s curls.
“What’d Mommy say, Ez?” He said it so low, so gently, I would have thought he was a parent himself.
“I’m sorry.” Ezra’s lip quivered. He did not like to be reprimanded, no matter how gently, which I understood, because who did?
“I forgive you, baby buddy,” I answered immediately. “Don’t you just love Callum’s band? Isn’t it cool he gets to be on TV and play music?”
Ez nodded. “Like Bob.”
“Yeah.” Callum slid his hand down the back of Ez’s head. “Like Bob, only I’m not even close to bein’ that cool. I can’t even paint.”
Ezra twisted all the way around in Callum’s lap and cupped his cheeks. “Bob can teach you, Cow-um.”
“Oh yeah? I’m up for tryin’. Your mommy told me how much you like to paint, so I got us some art supplies. Thought maybe we could trade. I show you my guitar, you show me the ways of Bob.”
Ezra giggled hard. “The ways of Bob. What does that mean?”
Callum laughed too. “I don’t know, bud. I thought you were gonna tell me.”
Ez shook his head. “I don’t know!”
“You know, there are a couple Bobs I like too.”
Ez’s eyes went round. “More Bobs?”
“Ever heard of Bob Marley?”
“Is he your friend?”
Callum chuckled. “No, bud. He’s this chill, talented musician. I’ll play you some of his music later. I think you’d like it.”
“When I’m taking my bath?”
“You want to listen to Bob Marley while you’re takin’ your bath?”
Ezra nodded hard, sending his curls tumbling. “Yeah. Bob and bath!”
“All right, bud. Bob Marley and bath. Next time, I’ll tell you all about Bob Seger.”
My heart wasn’t even bursting anymore. It had exploded and was now dripping off the walls of my chest. Real gory scene. They’d have to burn the whole place down to set it right again. There was absolutely no recovering from my son and my love laughing and chatting with each other like it was as natural as breathing.
After pizza, Ezra got to take a bath in Callum’s deep soaker tub. He insisted Callum sit in the bathroom while he did this, which was fine, since Callum had to play DJ for him. My son was entranced by Bob Marley. It should have come as no surprise that his favorite song was “Three Little Birds”. It was a fantastic song, but also, wasn’t that the way this life worked? Everything was connected, even Bob Marley and Callum’s nickname for me.
When he’d fully turned into a prune, I got Ezra out of the tub and into his jammies. Callum met us in the blue bedroom, which had changed since the first time I’d seen it. There were rails on the bed, just like Ezra’s at home. There was a stoplight alarm clock on the nightstand, again, just like Ezra’s at home. Last, but really freaking not least, the picture over the bed had been switched out.
Ezra spotted it a millisecond after I did, and the calm he’d achieved during his bath was obliterated. He scrambled onto the bed and stood staring at the picture while his entire body vibrated and he clutched his hands under his chin.
“Bob,” he whispered.
Callum put a knee on the bed beside him, staring up at the landscape painting iconic to Bob Ross fans everywhere. “I thought you might like havin’ a Bob hangin’ above you when you sleep over.”
