Page 116 of Three Not-So-Little Words
“Are you sure?”
I glare at him. “If you ask me that one more time, I’m going to kick your ass.”
“Okay, okay. I will go back to bed.”
“I’ll check on you later to see if you need anything,” I tell him, although Ireallydon’t want to get sick.
As he walks out of the room, I look at Colton, “Looks like it’s just me and you today, kid. What do you think we should do?”
“Play!”
“That’s what I thought.”
Colton and I spend a good part of our day bouncing around from thing to thing, playing and then taking breaks to watch TV. For lunch, I managed to find some corndogs in the freezer to feed him, and I ate a TV dinner. I figure I’ll put more effort into dinner.
I thought hanging out with Colton for the whole day without Drew would be weird, but it hasn’t been too bad. It’s been just like hanging out with Eve when she was little. I don’t dwell too much on the fact that it’s my boyfriend’s kid.
I don’t want to go down that spiral of figuring out what it all means.
So, for now, we will just have fun as I avoid thinking about it too much.
We are having a pretty good time when Colton walks into the kitchen to grab a juice box out of the fridge. When he looks at the calendar that’s hung up, his entire demeanor changes.
“Colton,” I ask as he walks back over to the couch with his head hanging.
When he doesn’t answer me, I follow him. “What’s wrong? Did you see something on the calendar?”
He nods.
“What was it?”
“The birthday cake sticker.”
I’m confused, so I ask, “Who’s birthday is it?”
Barely loud enough to hear, he says, “My mom’s.”
Well, fuck.
“Aw, I’m sorry, Colton. I know you must really miss her, huh?”
He nods, and I see his eyes welling up with tears. While the kid thing may be uncharted territory for me, grief isn’t. That’s something I’m well-versed in. Over the years, I’ve had to learn how to deal with the loss of Aaron and try to honor his memory. Maybe Colton and I can do that for his mom.
“Come on, little dude. I’ve got an idea.”
forty-three
Cupcakes
Drew
Ihate being sick.
I know that everyone says that, but really, Ihateit. When I was fighting, I treated my body like a temple–well, aside from the whole having people beat me up every couple of weeks. I ate ridiculously healthy and worked out constantly. Taking such good care of myself ensured that I hardly ever got sick.
Being sick as a single dad hits different, though. Knowing that someone else depends on you, and you still have to show up for them.
When I got up this morning, I felt like death warmed over. I was prepared to do what I needed to. I had no idea that Ronnie would intervene and tell me that she had it taken care of. I never meant to put that on her. While I appreciate the gesture, I don’t want to do anything that may potentially be too much and push her away.
