“Okay…” TJ clapped his hands. “Well, this hour went by quicker and in a different direction than I had planned. Actually, I couldn’t have even begun to come up with this. Aaron, it was a pleasure to meet you and to have you join us. Shaw, I do believe you’ve been overshadowed.”
I laughed. “It doesn’t happen often, but yes, with my man, Aaron, it happens frequently.”
“You think we can talk him into coming back?” He spoke to me but motioned to Aaron. Aaron tilted his head and furrowed his brow until we both looked at him.
“TJ would like to know if you want to come back and talk to him and his listeners some more?” I asked him.
He stared directly at TJ. “You will have to talk to my mom about it,” he said. “Shaw isn’t in charge.”
TJ laughed, “Oh, is that right? I thought maybe he was your agent,” he joked.
The joke fell flat with Aaron. “Oh, no. Not Shaw. Uncle Wyatt is in charge of any negotiations or any legal correspondence for my mom and me.”
“What about Shaw…or your father?”
“No, my mom said Shaw is not my dad.”
TJ’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. “Was that a possibility?”
Oh, please. I glared at TJ with my hands outstretched, asking him without words, What the hell? You don’t ask a kid that kind of question…and forget about the video camera.
“No, he’s not my father.” Still speaking to his feet, in his normal monotone voice, he added, “Although, sometimes, I wish he was.”
Silence.
Dead silence.
TJ whispered, “We can edit that out.”
I pulled Aaron closer to my side as if to shelter him from feeling so lost and to communicate that I would always be there for him.
TJ, to his credit, jumped in. “Yeah, Shaw’s a pretty cool guy. But how about I check with your mom about having you back on the show?”
Aaron nodded and stepped forward, offering TJ his hand. “Thank you for letting me talk on your show, Mr. TJ.”
“Thank you, Dawson Shawfield and Aaron,” he said, purposely leaving his last name off since he was a minor.
“And thank you, listeners. Join us next time on Smitty’s Smack Talk.
21
Kelcie
“I wish I could have Thanksgiving here with you. Then I could play football with Shaw and Dylan and the guys. We could watch it and play it,” Aaron said as he slipped on his jacket.
“I know, but you get to spend time with your dad and get to see your grandparents and cousins. That should be fun,” I said.
Aaron ran back into the other room where Shaw was sitting at the counter, reading something on his phone. He immediately looked up.
“Will you text me?” Aaron asked, running over to him.
Shaw’s eyes grew wide, and he put his phone down, giving my son all his attention. He sat forward, extending his hand. “Of course. And you text me,” he said with a reassuring smile that melted my heart. “You sent your line-up, right?”
Aaron nodded.
Shaw quirked a side of his mouth. “Did you text TJ and tell him he was wrong about starting Mitchell and Reyes in his fantasy line-up?”
Aaron nodded.
