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He spent more than an hour helping Caden finish his homework and then made turkey sandwiches for lunch.
“What time is my mom coming?” Caden asked.
“Three.”
“What time is it now?”
“One. How many hours until three?”
Caden gave him a withering look. “Duh. Two. That’s baby math.”
“Just making sure you’re staying sharp while you’re out of school.”
“It was cool that the whole class sent me a card and those sick cookies.”
“It was very nice of them. They miss you.”
“I know.”
Several of his friends had called to check on him, which had made Caden so happy. “You’ll be back there soon.”
“Hey, Dad?”
“What’s up?”
“What if my mom doesn’t like me?”
Max was flabbergasted by the question. “Caden, buddy… Of course she’ll like you. Everyone likes you.”
“But what if she doesn’t?”
“You don’t need to worry about that. She’s going to be so happy to see you that she’ll probably cry.”
“You think so?”
“I’ll be surprised if she doesn’t. I would if I hadn’t seen you since you were a baby.”
“Tell me again where she’s been all this time.”
“Do you remember us talking about where babies come from?” Max had given him the highest-level view he possibly could after Caden had seen two sheep humping in a neighbor’s yard.
“Ew, yes, disgusting.”
“Sometimes when people make babies, the babies aren’t planned.”
“Like I wasn’t, right?” That had come up when a friend’s mother had a surprise pregnancy and he’d asked how that was possible.
“Right. The second we knew we were having you, I was so excited to meet you. Your mom was scared. Her family wasn’t around like mine is, so she didn’t have a lot of support. She was still really young and didn’t feel ready to take care of a baby.”
“Weren’t you really young, too?”
“I was, but I had my wonderful parents and great big family supporting me the whole way. Your mom didn’t have that.”
“Why not?”
“I’m not sure, buddy, but they weren’t close like the Abbotts are.”
“That’s sad.”
