Page 19 of Old Habits

Chapter 5

Will

Jovie Ross.

At least she’s not still mad at me.

I think.

It’s been four years. Surely, if she was still harboring some major hostility, it would have shown through at some point during our conversation. Jovie was pleasant the entire time. It was light and fluffy Jovie with her little, curling smile and her adorable laugh and that new long, wavy hair. Sure, I may have caught her off-guard, and yeah, she was working so she probably had her customer service switch flicked on, but I know Jovie better than I know myself.

Or knew, I suppose…

A knock strikes my front door, bringing me out of my trance. Andy hops up off the floor, casually kicking over his toy trucks on the way to answer it.

“Careful, buddy,” I say, leaning down to pick them up.

Andy stands on his tippy-toes, trying to reach the door lock but his finger barely swipes it.

“Hang on…” I laugh.

“It’s Mom!”

“I know it’s your mom.”

I twist the lock and open the door on Sara’s smiling face. Andy rushes at her and she bends over to wrap her arms around him.

“Hey, sweetie!” she greets him, squeezing tight. “Did you and Uncle Will have fun today?”

“Yeah! He let me watch shark attack videos!”

Sara gawks at my wincing face. “He did, did he?”

I force a chuckle. “I also taught him the value of secrets and loyalty amongst friends but I guess that lesson is a two-parter.”

Andy hops on the balls of his feet. “And we got burgers and ice cream and he took me to the toy store!”

Her cheeks fade into a dark pink to match her scrubs. “Hey, Andy, why don’t you pack up your stuff while I talk to my brother for a second, okay?”

“Okay, Mommy.”

She nudges him and he takes off to grab his backpack.

“Kitchen,” she whispers at me. “Now.”

I groan as she stomps through my living room and down the hall.

“You know,” I say, entering the kitchen behind her, “you morph a little bit more into Mom every single time you do that.”

“Oh, shut up,” she says, shaking it off. “Why did you go to the toy store?”

“Calm down. I didn’t get him anything. We were just browsing.”

“I don’t care about that. Why did you go into the toy store?”

I raise a confused brow. “Because I had to entertain your kid for an afternoon.”

Her eyes narrow. “And?”

---