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“Daddy.” Dessie’s whispered tone took entirely too long to work its way through my brain. “Daddy.”

Dessie.

Yes.

Opening my eyes, I looked up to see him peering down at me. “What?”

It was probably later than I thought based on the light coming in around the windows, but my brain had been nowhere near ready to wake up. “Is something wrong?”

Dessie blinked then nodded emphatically. “There’s noises.”

Noises?

Sitting up, I gave him a quick kiss and looked around for my phone. Yes, I hadn’t fallen asleep without plugging it in.

“Baby boy, it’s almost nine. It’s Sofie.” I turned back to see him blinking again. “My housekeeper?”

And his eyes went so wide he looked like one of those anime characters I’d accidentally found through some weird internet searches. “She comes in on the weekend sometimes.”

He’d remembered.

It wasn’t really a question, but I nodded. “Yes. She had to take two days off during the middle of the week, so she’s finishing up some projects around the house and I think getting ready for the landscapers to come later this week.”

Dessie needed a pool.

Mouth open.

Mouth closed.

Mouth open.

“She’llsee me.”

I wasn’t sure we were making the same assumptions, so I tried to figure out where the disconnect was. “She won’t come in my room with the door closed. Ever.”

Hmm.

Nothing.

“When I was fifteen, I went to an internship program for a week over spring break. I forgot to leave my door open and when I got back it was exactly the way I’d left it. Her mother hadn’t even done my laundry or picked up the dirty plate that I’d accidentally left. The mold had mold.”

It’d been disgusting.

His lips finally tilted up at the side.

“I’d been working late on a project the night before and just forgot about it. Three hours of sleep isn’t even reasonable for a teenage boy to survive on. But the door was closed and she didn’t touch it.” I’d learned my lesson about making sure I sent the right signals and paid attention to what I needed to handle in my personal space after that.

Licking his lips, he snuggled closer as I lay back down on the bed. “Didn’t your mother think about opening the door?”

Um, no.

“I think my mother was litigating something at the state supreme court that week? No, maybe it was TV interviews?” I shrugged, not remembering anymore. “It doesn’t matter, but she wasn’t around much.”

Dessie blinked and shifted so his chin was resting on my chest. “Oh.”

“Yeah, it’s not exactly normal but she and my dad are more present these days. She calls at least once a month.” It was actually impressive, but Sofie just said that old age hits even the crankiest women hard.

She wasn’t wrong but I’d managed not to laugh until I’d walked out of the kitchen.

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