Page 44 of Falling for Roxanne

“Wow, that’s cool. Can you show me how you did it?” she asked, getting right down on his level and watching seriously as he unfolded and refolded the napkin corner to corner into a triangle.

While we ate, Colin told us about the tree he drew at school, and how other kids put birds and squirrels by their trees but his was different. I knew exactly what was coming, but I let him tell it.

“What did you make?” she asked.

“Guess!” he prompted gleefully.

“A raccoon?” she guessed. He shook his head, and she tried again.

“A dog? A cow? A goat? Octopus? Godzilla? A T-rex?” she guessed gamely while he was practically bursting with excitement and triumph. “I give up,” she said. “You’re gonna have to tell me.”

“A robot!” he said. “A giant super robot with pinchy claws and red lights and buttons on him, and it’s his tree so all the squirrels better look out!” he cackled.

Roxanne’s face changed from friendly curiosity to absolute delight. She laughed right along with him, and said she’d love to see that picture sometime.

“You can come back and see it when I get to bring it home, but only if you eat all your salad. He’s real serious about the salad,” Colin told her solemnly.

Obediently, Roxanne took a big bite of salad and nodded. “It’s a good salad. But even if it was yucky, it would be worth it to see that robot,” she said. Colin looked at me proudly as if to say, here is a woman who knows how to appreciate a good robot.

“One more thing,” Colin said, “and this is very important. Are you afraid of bugs?” he asked her.

“Am I afraid of bugs? Well, not really. I used to have a pet grasshopper in a pickle jar when I was a kid.”

“What was his name?” Colin asked.

“Um, Hoppy. I wasn’t the most creative with the names,” she said with a shrug.

“It’s a good name. It says what he does. Did he die?”

“I let him go. When my dad had to go away for a while, I decided to let Hoppy go, because I got to thinking, what if Hoppy had children that missed him like I missed my dad?” she said.

It melted my heart, how she and my son had hit it off, and how Roxanne talked to him the way I did, like he could understand big ideas if you used the right words, and how she delighted in his funny stories.

We cleared the table and Roxanne offered to load the dishwasher while I gave Colin a quick bath and tucked him in. About an hour later I came back and found her sitting on my couch watching Wall-E.

“You must be kidding me,” I said. “I have that thing memorized.”

“What? He was talking about robots, and I’m a poor law student who doesn’t have Disney Plus,” she said, switching off the TV.

“Sorry that took a while, but nothing’s fast with getting him ready for bed when he’s convinced he’s gonna miss something. Plus, there was an epic submarine battle in his bath so I had to clean up the floor afterward,” I said.

“That’s sweet. I wouldn’t have wanted you to rush him. He’s a great kid. Thanks for letting me come over and meet him. Dinner was nice. And I ate all my salad, if you noticed,” she said.

“He asked if you could come over for dinner again soon,” I told her. “I said maybe. I didn’t want to promise that you would.”

“Anytime you ask me, I’ll come to dinner. The company’s great, even if I do have to eat all my vegetables,” she said. “Now, I had an idea about how to trip up the cop that’s dating the wife beater’s ex…”

I sat down and listened to her suggestion. I made her stop once so I could get my phone and put it in my Notes app. She had great ideas and seemed so at ease right there on my couch in my home with my son asleep down the hall. I liked it way too much, how good it felt having her here to talk to about a case and about my son and just—not feeling alone. I would have to be careful, because it was way too nice of a feeling. I couldn’t let myself get used to it at all.

“You know, my friend Cathy’s cousin Jake is studying robotics and I saw this cool toy in his lab, like a kid’s coding robot, a learning one. I bet Colin would love one of those for Christmas,” she said.

“That’s a good idea. I’ll have to look into it,” I said, feeling a dangerously warm wave of happiness at her thoughtful suggestion.

“I’d like to get him one, if that’s okay,” she said. “I’ll be finished up at the firm before the holidays obviously, but I could drop the present off there if you want and you could just give it to him.”

“You could always bring it to him and see him open it, if you really want to. Maybe he could make you eat some more salad, check on your fiber intake.” I said, trying not to let myself imagine the two of them sitting on the floor playing with a new toy robot she got for him. “Unless you’re going out of town for the holidays.”

“I haven’t decided yet. I know I’ll go see my parents at some point, but it’s not easy. That sounds ungrateful, they’ve been through so much. I love them and I wish I could do something to help them.”

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