Page 44 of Infected By Virus

“Are you hungry, buddy?” Virus asked in the rear-view mirror.

“Yes.” His son cheered.

“What do you want to eat?”

“Pancakes.” Nova had made them pancakes for breakfast, but if that’s what his kid wanted, that’s what he’d get. He made a mental note to Google if it was bad nutrition wise to eat so many pancakes.

“Pancakes it is, if you promise to eat some fruit too. Deal?” He was pretty sure fruit was relatively healthy.

“Deal.”

Virus may have mentally patted himself on the back. He’d just achieved a fruit promise, that had to be some sort of milestone. He’d missed so many firsts with Adam that he’d have to start a new set of firsts.

Today was his first successful fruit negotiation.

Virus let Adam pick their booth and he looked so proud of himself.

He felt like that was another dad first for him. His son looked so thrilled to get to decide where they sat.

“Hello again,” Nana said to Adam, and he waved to her. “Let me guess, pancakes and apple juice?” Adam nodded enthusiastically.

“And fruit, please,” he added with the level of enthusiasm only a kid could muster.

“You got it, cutie.” She turned to Virus. “And I should’ve realized he was yours the other day. Carbon copy, that one. What about you, hun?”

“I’ll take the lunch special with a Dr Pepper.”

Nana smiled and wrote on her pad, turning back to Adam. “So, where’s Mom today?” Before he answered, she turned back to Virus and raised an eyebrow. He felt the scolding as if she’d let him have it.

Yeah, he’d have some explaining to do sooner or later. Nana treated the club like family.

“Mom died,” Adam answered matter-of-factly.

She gasped and turned to Virus, looking for an explanation.

“I’m sorry for your loss. That was so sudden, they were just here a few days …” She trailed off and laid her wrinkled hand on Virus’s shoulder.

“Oh, no.” He kept his tone low because he didn’t want Adam confused. “Rae’s his aunt and very much still alive. His mother passed a while back and she wasn’t my … I mean … thank you for the sentiment, Nana. The young woman he was with was his aunt, and she’s fine.”

It rubbed him the wrong way to refer to Rae as Adam’s aunt. She was, for all intents and purposes, his mother. She’d had more experience being a mother than he had at being a father, so she’d earned it.

“I feel like I’ve missed out on some key points. You’ll have to fill me in sometime.” She retreated back to the kitchen.

Virus looked at his son who was staring out the window almost expressionless. Was he sad about having mentioned his mom? He had no clue how kids were supposed to express themselves other than a screaming tantrum or raucous laughter. Those were easy to read.

“Do you miss your mom, buddy?”

He shrugged his shoulders before nodding. What did that mean? Adam had already told him last night about how Celeste had prepared him for the transition. Shit, if he still didn’t feel guilt for having murderous thoughts about her.

She really had done a great job with Adam, even if she’d never bothered to tell Virus he had a son.

“Would you like to talk about her?”

Adam hesitated, seemingly pondering his answer. “Auntie Rae is pretty like Mom is.” Okay, not what he was expecting, but it was a start.

“Yeah, she was,” he agreed. Many people confused them from a distance. But where Celeste had a cold feel about her, Rae was all sunshine and warmth.

“Does it make you sad that she’s gone?”

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