Page 53 of For Now

“Dad got the mean babysitter instead of my aunt so I ran away,” he said, his eyes dropping to hisshoes.

“Oh, Mason. You’re going to have your babysitter very worried. Do you want me to walk you back?” Iasked.

“Please don’t. Can’t you just call my dad?” hepleaded.

I took a deep breath.Oh, god. I’m going to have to call him. Shit.“Sure thing, buddy. I’ll call him,” I said, half smiling at him. I had to keep up appearances for him. I couldn’t have a complete meltdown in front of the boy and expect him to understand why calling his dad was the absolute last thing I wanted to do rightnow.

I walked back into the living room and grabbed my phone. I pulled up Samuel’s contact and hovered my finger over the call button. I steadied my breathing and held the phone to my ear. It rangtwice.

“Hello? Delilah?!” His voice rang with an excitement I had to cutshort.

“Samuel, yes, it’s me,” Isaid.

“I was hoping you’d call,I…”

“Samuel, I’m sorry to cut you off but I wasn’t really calling for that,” Isaid.

“Oh….”

“Mason is here. At my house. He ran away from your house. He said you got him the mean babysitter,” Isaid.

“Oh my god! Is he okay?” heasked.

“Yeah, he’s totally fine. Trekked all the way over here all on his own. He asked me to callyou.”

“I’m so sorry he bothered you. I’ll be there as soon as I can. It will be a few minutes. Is that okay?” heasked.

“It’s okay, no need to apologize. And, yeah, that’s totally fine. Take your time,” I said. We hung up and I looked at Mason. “Well, your dad is on hisway.”

“Thank you,” Masonsaid.

“No problem. So, are you hungry or anything?” I askedhim.

“A little bit,” he answered. I glanced around the kitchen, realizing most of what I needed to make anything was already packedup.

“Will a PB and J work for ya?” Iasked.

He nodded his head inexcitement.

I wish that was all it took to excite me. Little kids can really humble you. I started whipping it together while simultaneously wondering why Mason had come here to my house. “Hey, Mason?” Iasked.

“Yeah?” heanswered.

“What made you decide to come over here tonight? You know, instead of a closer neighbor?” I asked. I turned to walk his sandwich over tohim.

“Well, you’re really nice. And I didn’t see you for a while so I wanted to come see you,” hesaid.

I sat his sandwich down in front of him and he immediately picked it up. “You did?” Iasked.

He nodded his head as he continued to takebites.

I smiled at him. He was an adorable thing. It didn’t help that he looked just like his dad, with the exception of those eyes. “I’m glad you came to see me,Mason.”

I sat here watching him eat his sandwich and felt the bittersweet pang in his words. He came to see me because he liked me. I made small talk with him about kid stuff. I would really miss him. He was a good kid. These are the sorts of random things you end up missing the most in the end. The things you don’t think about until after something is all over. I heard a knock at thedoor.

“That’ll be your dad I bet,” I said. I gave Mason a smile and fluffed up his hair. He was finishing up the last bite of hissandwich.

I walked through the living room to the door. I took a deep breath and reached for the knob. The last thing I wanted to do was see him right now with all of these unresolved emotions inside me. But I didn’t really have a choice. I had Mason to thank forthat.

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