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Truman whooshes out a deep breath. I watch him draw his hands from his pockets and wrap one around the back of his neck.
“Good.” He raises his eyebrows. “Guess I should get going.”
“I’ll see you Tuesday night?”
Tuesday is our snack night for Ryle’s baseball team.
“Yes.” He nods. “But can we not take carrot sticks?”
“What?”
His question makes me laugh.
“Can we be the fun parents? Take some fruit snacks?”
Me and Truman. The fun parents. I like the sound of that.
“What if we did fruit snacks and juice boxes?”
“See? That’s awesome.”
He reaches behind him to open the door. Afraid he’s going to leave without kissing me goodbye, I grab for his arm and lean in to kiss him.
“I thought maybe another kiss would be pushing my luck.”
“Goodnight, Truman.” I kiss his lips again, brush a kiss on his cheek, and step back.
Obviously, it’s not an issue now, but as I get ready for bed, I decide that at some point we’re going to have to talk about the future. If we get back together, will we have more children? I’d love that. But I need to know that Truman’s on board this time for everything.
I can’t watch him walk away again.
20
Truman
When Julie calls me Tuesday evening before Ryle’s ballgame, I’m at the office about ready to knock off for the night. I’ve just rearranged my travel schedule for the next ten days, so I can be home with Ryle from now until after Julie comes back from her beach trip with Dani. I shut my computer down, mind racing with all the things Ryle and I can do, including more Frisbee golf, but so much more comes to mind. My dad spent a lot of time with us when we were kids, and I’ve been remembering all the stuff we did with him and wondering if Ryle would be interested in model planes and cars and going swimming and butterfly gardens.
Twain and I were never big on the butterfly gardens; that was more Harper’s thing. But I guess it was okay when I was Ryle’s age. We did like catching lightning bugs, so maybe Ryle and I can hang out and do that one night.
But the good feelings are gone in a wave of unease when I see Julie’s name on my phone. My first thought is worry for Ryle. What if something happened? While things have definitely changed for the better recently between us, Julie and I aren’t at the point where we just call each other through the day just to say hi. Maybe I’m overreacting, but my first reaction is panic over Ryle being injured. Then I worry about Julie. What if she’s sick or had an accident? After all, I always thought Harper was invincible, and look what happened to her.
But really, even that worry simmers to a low burn quickly, and I’m left with a feeling of dread. What if it’s simply that Julie’s thought about the things we’ve said to each other the past few days and changed her mind? What if she’s okay with me being around more for Ryle, but she’s decided she doesn’t want to get involved with me again?
“Hey.”
A little wave of relief rolls over me when my voice sounds normal. I’m heading out to my car now, my head already with Ryle at his ball game. Just need to go home and change clothes, and I’ll be ready.
“Hey!” Julie sounds excited, which makes me feel a little bit better. She wouldn’t call me to say she changed her mind about us and sound like that, would she?
“What’s goin’ on?”
“Have you left work? Are you busy?”
“Leaving now,” I answer as I aim my fob at my car. “What’s up?”
“Um.” I hear it in her soft laugh. She’s nervous. “I just thought we could go together to get the snack for tonight. You know, since we wanna be the cool parents and bring something fun.”
She’s asking me to go with her to the store. I slump into the driver’s seat, so relieved I’m speechless for a moment.
