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“Fine. Two weeks to get the fixes made, but after that, she better be back to herself.”
I grinned. “I’ll let her know.” I didn’t let him say anything else as I’d hung up. Maybe it had been wrong for me to answer her phone, and yeah, maybe I’d stepped over the line by telling him we wouldn’t approve his software, but it had turned out all right. She had been helping me; it seemed only right that I help her out, too.
I put the container back into the microwave to finish cooking. Devon was fussing behind me, and I turned to see Davina bend over and pick him up. I stared at her ass; it was nicer than I had expected. That was actually the first time I’d noticed it because of the heavy sweater that she wore hung down past her butt cheeks. I frowned to myself.Stop thinking of her like that.
“So, after lunch, we can go get his other stuff?”
“Yeah, I can help you get it.”
“Thank you.”
She kept Devon’s attention while I got our food ready. After putting the bowls on the table, I held my hands out to take Devon.
“What?” she asked, staring at my hands.
“I’ll take him so you can eat.”
“I can hold him,” she said and sat down.
“Yes, I know you can hold him, but so can I.”
She stared at Devon, then looked up at me. “He’s your son; you’ll have him forever. I’m only going to have him a little bit.”
Her voice sounded sad, but it was the look in her eyes that did me in. “You know, you can be part of his life.”
She picked up her spoon and stirred her food. “I appreciate you saying that, but he is your son.”
“And he’s your best friend’s child, too. She wanted you to be part of his life. You read the letter from her.”
She took a small spoonful and blew on it before putting it into her mouth. I was mesmerized by the way her lips curled around the spoon, and I jerked my gaze away and took a seat.
“Yes, Carol did say that, but I don’t want to impose. Besides, I have a really crazy schedule right now.”
“Tell me about it,” I said as I dug into my chili.
As we ate, Davina told me about her work at Treemont Industries and her classes to get her master’s degree. I didn’t mention that I’d probably tested some of her projects, but instead, I listened to her. She was a very intelligent woman, and I found myself rather intrigued by her analytical mind.
When she grew quiet, I found myself missing her voice. “Tell me about Carol. You said you had known her for a long time.” I paused. “You were right when you said that I didn’t know her that well, but I think you can help me to know her better.”
“Why would you want to know her better? She’s not here anymore.”
“Because I want to be able to tell Devon about his mother.”
She watched me for a few seconds. “You’re really going to keep him?”
“Yes, I’m going to keep him. He’s my son. You said she grew up in foster care; I don’t want Devon to grow up like that. I might not be much of a father, but I’ll try to do the best that I can for him.”
She smiled, her eyes brightening for the first time since she’d gotten up. “I’m happy to hear that. Carol would be too.”
“So, tell me about Carol.”
Davina laughed. “She called me Vina. I met her in high school, and we became instant friends. She had been in four or five foster homes by that time, and she didn’t make friends easily. I didn’t either; I was a total geek in school with my head wrapped around mathematics and computer equations. Somehow we clicked.” She paused, smiling to herself. “She called me Vina the nerd, but always with a smile.”
I listened to her continue to tell me about their friendship and a few things they had done in high school. Davina had gone away to college, and Carol had followed her a semester later. The two of them had been inseparable, and I envied that.
For a long time, they’d been roommates, and then Carol landed a big job at a marketing firm and moved into her own place, but it was in the same building as hers. They were never far apart and shared just about everything.
Our food was long gone, and Devon was sleeping in her arms as she finally stopped and hung her head for a moment. “I’m really going to miss her.”
