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“Don’t be stingy with the mashed potatoes,” he said.
Emma’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Joey! That is not how we talk to people.”
He looked over at me, apparently thinking I was going to bat for him, but I shook my head.
“Can I have more, please?” he asked.
The woman serving the food fought a smile as she added more potatoes to his plate. “How about some gravy, hon?”
“Sure.” Emma elbowed him and he added, “Please.”
She gave me a look.
“I don’t know where he picked that up,” I said.
“How are you managing him? With hockey and all?”
“He hangs out with my teammate Wes’s wife, Hadley. They’ve got two kids he loves to play with.”
“Benny calls Uncle Boone Uncle Poon,” Joey interjected.
“Okay, let’s not say that word here,” Emma whispered to him.
“What word? Poon?”
I held in my laugh and put a hand on his shoulder. “Yeah, that word. Don’t say it again, okay?”
“Okay.”
I went back to my conversation with Emma.
“And Jolie takes him places and hangs out with him a lot, too.”
Joey looked up at his mom, beaming. “She bought me eight books at the bookstore, and a cookie, and hot chocolate.”
“That’s so nice, baby. I hope you said thank you.”
He nodded. “I did. Jolie says I’m the kindest boy she’s ever known.”
Tears formed in Emma’s eyes and she waved a hand in front of her face. “Okay, so I like her a lot. Are you guys serious?”
I sighed. “We can’t be. I’m only here for a couple more months at the most, and she’s finishing up school and then getting a job. She’s worked hard to get where she is.”
“Can’t she get a job in Nashville?”
The thought had definitely crossed my mind, but it didn’t feel right to ask her that. Jolie had worked every bit as hard toward her career as I had, if not harder, and I didn’t want her settling for a job when things were still new with us.
“Are you afraid to ask her?” Emma said.
“Not afraid, just…I don’t know. I guess we’ll see what happens.”
“You seem happy.”
I pictured the redhead with legs for days who fueled my fantasies and made me laugh. Yeah, I was happy. But I was also a realist. Things with us depended completely on where she ended up because I had to go to Nashville.
We ate lunch and then Emma and Joey had a session with her counselor. Joey went to a playroom with some other kids after that so Emma and I could have a session together.
She was committed to her recovery. I could see the determination in her face and hear it in her voice. Being a better mom was her goal, and she was laser-focused on it.
