Page 8 of For Now

“Well, hey there, almost-neighbor,” he said as he guided the boy in the direction of my frontlawn.

“Hi,” I said. I tried to make it a little cheery but not too cheery. If that makes anysense.

“Dad, who is that?” asked theboy.

Well, that solves one mystery. Now where wasMom?

“Mason, this is Delilah. She just moved in. Delilah, this is my son, Mason.” Samuel took turns answering us and gesturing toward oneanother.

If ever a kid looked exactly like his dad, it was Mason. Dark brown wavy hair and the same skin tone. Their eyes were shaped the same, only Mason had bright blueeyes.

“Hello, Mason.” I crouched down to his level and gave him a warm smile. Samuel seemed surprised by this, and given my slightly cool demeanor toward him, I didn’t blame him. But children melted me. Children, with their innocence, made me remember what it was to besoft.

“Hi.” Mason smiled back, and I caught myself once again covering myabdomen.

“So this is where you live?” Samuelasked.

“Oh, yes.” I turned my face back up towardSamuel.

“It looks like a nice little place. Are you guys settling in well?” heasked.

“It’s just me. No one else. I like it. Especially the sunroom off the back,” Isaid.

“Oh, that sounds nice,” hesaid.

There was a brief pause and I didn’t really know what should happennext.

“Would you like to see it?” I blurted out.What the fuck,Delilah?

Samuel hesitated for a moment, looked down at Mason, and thenagreed.

I led them to my front door. “You know, Mason, I have a ton of squirrels you can see out the back window. Do you want to see them?” I asked, looking down at him. He seemed pretty excited after that. Samuel shot me a kindsmile.

We stood in my sunroom, and as Mason watched for squirrels out the window, I noticed Samuel surveying mydesk.

“I turned this room into my office and writing space.” I seemed to answer his silent question and he started to nod. “I really liked all the natural lighting and scenery.” Beyond the edge of my backyard was a wooded area. The trees were dense enough that you couldn’t see what was beyond them, and I likedthat.

“Are you working on something new?” Samuelasked.

“Well, sort of. It’s really raw at this point. I’ll have to go back and refine it,” Isaid.

“What sort of stuff do youwrite?”

“Thrillers mostly. There’s always some scandal, mystery, and sometimesromance.”

“Sounds intriguing,” he said,smiling.

“Well, I don’t know about that, but people seem to like it.” I shrugged and smiledback.

Mason interrupted us to let us know the squirrels had gone and he was hungry. He grabbed his dad’s hand and leaned into his side in a way that made mesmile.

“Would you like to stay for dinner?” I asked.Ugh, I am so out of my mind rightnow.

“Oh, no, that’s okay; we couldn’t possibly intrude like that,” Samuelsaid.

“Oh, I don’t mind. It’s difficult to cook for just one person anyway. And I stocked enough food for way more than just oneperson.”

Samuel got a silent approval from Mason, and they made their way to the kitchen table to talk to me while I cooked. I settled on something easy. Spaghetti.Everyone likes spaghetti, right?Before I started, I confirmed with Samuel that Mason liked spaghetti and he gave a nod of approval.Okay, now where the hell is mycolander?

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