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Because of his age, Theo rarely received credit for the times he was most perceptive. He’d essentially “hatched” when his father wasn’t around, and he’d been looking for one ever since.
When they reached a part where the baby bird proclaimed that ithadto have a mother but hadn’t found her yet, Theo squirmed.
“Is this how you feel, Theo?” Joel asked. “Do you feel like you don’t have a,” he decided to play coy, “mother?”
Theo pulled wrinkled index and middle fingers from his mouth. “But I have a mama, Joel.”
“Do you feel like you don’t have a daddy?”
“Josiah had a daddy. I never had a daddy.”
“And how does that make you feel?”
“I asked Mama if we could go to where they put him in the dirt after he went to heaven, just me and her. And Mama showed me pictures and stuff, and I watched him on her phone and the computer.”
“But it’s not the same.”
“It’s not the same thing,” Theo echoed.
Joel continued the story, stopping again when Theo squirmed as the baby bird asked a giant piece of machinery if it was its mother.
“So, what did you and your mama do when you went to see your dad?”
“I aksed him a secret. I aks…aks,” Theo huffed, “askedhim if he would be mad if I got another daddy.”
“Did you have someone in mind?”
Theo readjusted so the sides of their heads touched. “I wantyouto be my daddy, Joel. I love my uncles, but I want them to be my uncles.”
“I must be a special guy.”
“Joel, you’re really funny, your eggs don’t have any juice like when Mama makes them, and you’re really good at soccer even though I think Mama’s better.”
“Hey!”
Theo giggled.
“I’m working on my game,” Joel said, faking hurt. “But she is pretty good, isn’t she?”
“Mama said when you love somebody, you don’t want bad things to happen to them. I love you, Joel, the same like I love Mama. I don’t want bad things to happen to you. When I get to hang out wiff you, and we do stuff together, just me and you, or wiff Jojo, I feel like you’re my daddy. I like when you pick me up from school and read me stories. Can you stay with me forever?”
Joel closed the book. “Do you think I’ll go away if I’m not your father?”
“Do you want to go away?”
“Theo, I’ll always be here for you, whether I’m your father or not.” Though he was ready to officially take on the role. “And no, I don’t want to go far away from you.”
Theo beamed. “Don’t tell Mama, but you’re my second bestest friend.”
“Who’s your first?”
“Jojo.”
Joel smiled. “Good choice.”
“Mama is the bestest because she’s Mama, Jojo is my first bestest friend, you’re my second bestest friend, and Thandie is my,” Theo held up three fingers, “three bestest friend. I don’t have any other friends at school.”
A pang hit Joel in the center of his chest when he recalled what Ayesha had said at dinner. Back in Maui, most of Theo’s friends had been extensions of Josiah’s. Theo also wasn’t the biggest fan of school, and he and Ayesha had assumed it was because he had to periodically “sit still and listen” for longer than fifteen minutes.
