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“I’ll leave it,” he said. He pulled out two jars.
“You know I’ve got spoons from when Willow was here. He does have a bottle left rather than mixing another.”
“Perfect,” he said. She did have Max’s formula next to the few baby food jars she’d gotten too and he would have seen that.
She drained the pasta and put the sauce and meatballs in a bowl, then set the table while Ren was starting to feed Max.
“How is it being back to work? Besides talking to your boss? I know you like your job and your coworkers, but what about your bosses?”
“I get along with everyone,” he said. “I’m not that hard to deal with.”
She knew it was a tongue and cheek statement against his father. He’d tried for years. She’d seen it.
“That’s good. So just busy?”
“I’m always busy but trying to catch up. I’ve spent a lot of time on the phone for the past few days talking to people and then getting work done once Max is in bed.”
“Oh,” she said. “I’m taking time away from work?”
“No,” he said. “I have to stop and eat and feed my son. I’ll work some more when he’s in bed.”
“Then I won’t keep you,” she said.
He filled his plate with one hand while Max was fed with the other. “I want you to keep me. Listen, I’m trying to catch up, but I’ve got a bad habit of being sucked into work. I feel bad that I’ve taken the time off I have this year, but they understand. Shit happens in our lives.”
“It does. Don’t worry about me. I understand. I’ve got long days too. I need to do work on the business at night. I do all my own billing and books.”
She normally did those things on the weekend but spent so much time with Ren that she found herself finishing late on Sunday to get things done for Monday.
Thankfully most didn’t want a paper bill. They paid online and that was easier all around. She just had to put the bills in there or make sure everything was processing correctly.
Technology was a wonderful thing when it worked, but it needed someone to keep an eye on it. She was a one-person show there.
“Then why don’t we plan on the weekends being for us,” he said. “If we can make it work during the week, I wouldn’t mind this once in a while.”
“And since you’ve got to get Max anyway, it’s not out of your way to walk a few extra feet to my house.”
“No,” he said. “It’s not. Thanks for understanding.”
“No reason to thank me. We have to talk. We did before, but it wasn’t the same.”
“It wasn’t,” he said. “I don’t want to do anything to blow it this time around so I need to know if I’m not giving you enough time.”
She appreciated he’d said that. “The same,” she said. “But I understand too. Max comes first. You’re here for your mother too. You’ve got a job. There is a lot on your plate.”
“But there is room for you,” he said.
And that said it all. Or told her what she needed to finally hear.
19
Too Early
“What is Zara doing today?” his mother asked him when he was sitting in the living room with Max and watching football.
The turkey was in the oven, the sides made. It was going to be more food than the three of them could eat, but this was the first Thanksgiving he’d been home for since he graduated from college.
Though he hadn’t come home for a few summers to work while in college, he did come home for the holidays. He wouldn’t do that to his mother.
