Page 39 of Just a Heartbeat Away

“There’s an urgent care three blocks over from here,” Sadie huffed out as she hurried up. “They take walk-ins.”

“Right, I know where it is,” Sebastian said faintly, cradling his shivering little boy in his arms.

“I’ll get your softball stuff and bring it to school, okay?” Sadie continued. “Just go.”

“Right.”

And then he was striding away, toward the street. He shifted Matty in his arms so that he could do that two-fingered whistle that quite literally stopped traffic. A cab pulled up to the curb. Via was at his elbow, brushing the hair off Matty’s forehead and surreptitiously taking his temperature. The poor kid was burning up. “Do you want me to go with you?”

She felt like she was asking Matty as much as she was asking Sebastian, but it was the father who replied. “No, we’re fine.”

He kicked open the door of the cab and told the cabbie the intersection of the urgent care. He barely glanced back at Via. “We’re fine just the two of us.”

He pulled the door closed and the cab drove away.

TYLERTURNEDFROMthe fridge and thrust a beer into Seb’s hand. “I’m resisting the urge to give you a real crisp slap across the face right now, my dude.”

Seb chuckled humorlessly and took a long swallow of beer. “Because you think I’m overreacting?”

Tyler pulled out a barstool and sat down. “Because Matty is fine. And because you did EVERYTHING you were supposed to do. You were a great dad. You’re taking great care of him and still you’re beating yourself up.”

“I know. I think I’m having flashbacks to when Cora died or something. Blink of an eye, you know? I keep replaying the moment he fainted. He’s never fainted before. I keep thinking how big he looks these days, but he was so fucking small when I picked him up.” Seb squeezed his eyes closed, as if he could keep out the memory. He scraped the back of his hand against his wet eyes.

“Is he out for the night, you think?”

“You never can quite tell with a sick kid, but he’s sleeping soundly.”

“All right. Let’s watch a movie or something.”

“You don’t have to stay, Ty.”

“Shuddup. Matty’s sick. You look like you stuck your finger in an electrical socket. I’m staying.”

Sebastian laughed. “You know, this is why we became friends in kindergarten.”

Tyler looked up from his phone. “Because of my loyalty? Sense of right and wrong? You sensed my future devotion to your big-ass kid?”

“Because you just wouldn’t leave.”

Tyler rolled his eyes and laughed. “Hey, overstaying your welcome is actually a very tried-and-true strategy. Pretty soon, you don’t have to wait for a welcome anymore.”

They chose one of the endless iterations of the Jason Bourne franchise but ten minutes in, Seb’s mind was already miles away. He took out his phone and scrolled through his text messages. He found one, a number he hadn’t programmed into his phone yet. It was the text that had sent him Fin’s contact info. Via’s number. He didn’t think too hard on it.

Just an FYI, Matty’s all right. Took him to urgent care and then his general practitioner. It’s just strep. He’s on medicine and sleeping.

He didn’t sign the text or tell her who he was. He wasn’t about to participate in whatever fancy footwork was required for texting a twenty-seven-year-old crush on a Saturday night when she was probably out clubbing with her model boyfriend. He didn’t have the energy. If his text was dumb or stilted or weird, so be it. He just wanted her to have the information. It was less than thirty seconds later that he got a reply.

I’m so relieved. Strep is no fun, but I’m sure he’ll be feeling better when he wakes up.

Seb was just contemplating a reply when the thought bubbles popped up and he whipped his thumbs off the keyboard. She was typing. He pictured her in a bar, that bartender from Cider slinging an arm around her. Even though he knew that Via would never let a man put his arm around her when she had a boyfriend. His phone made that swooping sound, and her text popped up.

How are you, though? That was really scary.

He chuffed a little laugh. Scary was understating it. Heart-stopping was what it was. He looked up and saw Tyler’s eyes on him. Tyler gave a pointed look at his cell phone and raised his hands up, like,don’t mind me. Seb didn’t think Tyler would be quite so gung ho about this if he knew Seb was texting someone who had absolutely no interest in him.

My hair’s gone completely white. You’ll barely recognize me the next time you see me. I look almost as old as your hot bartender.

He smiled at his phone as he sent the text and turned back to the movie. He watched a gunfight, barely even seeing it as he replayed his own words back in his head. The smile melted off his face. Shit. That had been way too flirty. See? This was why he was supposed to fling his phone across the room when engaged in a texting conversation with a beautiful woman. He always, always ended up putting his foot in his mouth.

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