Page 42 of One Big Little Secret

Just then, Arlo bounces toward the hot stove and I rush over, pulling him away.

“Got it. I should go,” I say, cutting him short. “I’m in the middle of dinner.”

“Understood.” He clears his throat.

Arlo tugs on my arm, demanding attention.

“Moooom.You didn’t look at my picture,” he tells me, shoving it toward my face, as high as he can reach.

“I’ll start working on your survey tomorrow,” I say back into the phone. “Hopefully, I’ll have some results by the beginning of next week.” Which means processing them over the weekend, but that’s what I signed up for, right?

“Thanks, Salem,” Patton says.

I end the call as fast as I can swipe.

If this is what it’s like on the phone, I’m already dreading our next face-to-face meeting to go over the results.

Fingers crossed the ‘mentoring’ can wait a few days until things calm down.

Though I guess it’s not a total disaster when he was trying to be nice.I think.

After telling Arlo how much I love his vibrant red picture of a brand-new animal unknown to science, I finish dinner and get it plated up before eight.

Success.

Arlo should be in bed by now, but it isn’t happening.

I ignore the voice inside my head that tells me I’m a terrible mother.

“Did you have a nice day at school?” I ask. “How was story time?”

“Miss Peters read to us about a dragon who lost his socks,” he tells me proudly.

He’s a good kid, already on track to take school seriously. Let’s hope it leads him somewhere better than the obstacle course I chose.

Also, I wonder who the hell plots children’s books. Why would a dragon need socks?

“Big guy, when I was your age, we read classics like Inky the Penguin. But did your dragon find them?”

“Yeah! The sock wizard saved the day. Everybody thought he took them for a spell, but they were just under the washer.”

“Yay for happy endings.” I take a big bite of my pasta and sag into my chair. I should be more enthusiastic, but today has been A Day.

I’m exhausted.

And honestly, I’m a little jealous hearing about a dragon who has it so easy with his anticlimactic endings and all.

It’s not every day when you’re confronted by your old hookup-turned-boss and trying to mentally justify hiding his own son from him.

What iswrongwith me?

But I saw how he reacted to Arlo once. That man and children can’t coexist in the same room.

“Mommy?” Arlo’s voice tells me he wants something.

“Yes, sweetie?”

“I want a button shirt.”

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