Page 19 of Until Now
“What’s wrong?” she says calmly.
There’s a one-sided conversation happening for a minute.
“I’m putting you on speaker so Maxen can hear,” she says with a slightly disgusted look.
“Repeat what you just said.”
Bing’s voice is one part fear and the other a kind of fake calmness. And the words pour out in a stream of consciousness.
“We were messing around, trying to see who could balance the most things on their head. Umm, then Trevor accidentally pushed Hunter, and he tripped and broke his front tooth. Not all the way, but maybe half is gone. I’m sorry. We were just goofing off.”
“Is he bleeding?” I interrupt.
“No. There’s no blood at all.”
In the background, I hear the muffled laughter of boys.
“This is nothing to laugh about!” Dominique says. “That’s a permanent tooth!”
“There’s one more thing, Mom.”
“Oh, God, what?”
“Umm, one of the things on Hunter’s head was your iPad. The screen got broken.”
A fire rises in Dominique’s face. Be warned, kid.
“We are coming home. Stay where you are, and do not do anything else that proves your stupidity. You’re in trouble, and I am really disappointed, Bing.”
I don’t think her disappointment is that great of a deterrent because his voice actually sounds calm now.
“Okay. Sorry, Mom. Hey, can I feed McFly some of the steak you made last night?”
“What? Why?”
“Umm, well, he’s kinda wedged between the refrigerator and the counter. He got scared when everything crashed, and he won’t come out. I think he went too far in, and he can’t back out now. Think if I hold a piece of steak up behind him and he smells it, I can get him to move. He’s really stuck in there, and we can’t reach him.”
Her face scrunches up, and her eyes narrow.
“Try it. But do not move the refrigerator! We will do that when we get there. Send Trevor and Marcus home. And keep us informed if anything else happens. We’ll be there in half an hour.”
The call ends, and Dominique wears a look formed from a mother’s experience.
“Welcome to parenthood.”
The food gets returned to the basket and the blanket too. As we stand, I take Dominique in my arms.
“Let’s have one more kiss before we leave Eden behind.”
There is no hesitation. She lifts her mouth to mine, and a hand wraps around my neck. Fingers thread through my hair. This one reaches every part of me. I’ve got a feeling down deep in my soul that I don’t really understand. But I know this. Being without her doesn’t seem like an option.
“When can we get together again?”
I climb on the bike, and she joins me.
“You mean where we can be uninterrupted?”
“Yes.”
