But of course, nothing lasted forever. On the Saturday when they readied to pick Emily up, Stephen called.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Maggie. It’s me, Stephen.”
She grinned. “Yeah, I know. Your name popped up in my contact info.”
“Oh. Right. I was wondering if it would be okay to keep Emily another week. I can bring her back if you say no. I just thought I’d ask.”
She hadn’t considered he might wantmoretime. The fact that Emily and Stephen had spent an entire two weeks together without incident had surprised her, but Emily’s tweets and Stephen’s pictures showing them having fun had amused her.
“Well, I guess so. Can I talk to Emily?”
“Sure. Emily, come say hi to Mommy.”
“Hi, Mommy.”
Maggie smiled. “Hey, Ninja Princess. How are you?”
“So good! We got a kitten named Vader. He’s black and keeps pouncing on Frank. Frank’s kinda scared, but I’m making them be friends.”
“That’s great, honey.”
Reggie stood by her shoulder, waiting.
“Do you want to stay another week with Daddy? It’s totally up to you.”
“Can I? We’re supposed to look at stars tomorrow, and Vader needs me to find his mouse for him. He lost it under my bed.”
“Sure thing. I’ll see you next week, okay? And you can call me whenever you want.”
“Okay.”
Maggie looked at Reggie as she asked her daughter, “Would you like to say hi to Reggie?”
“Reggie? Yes!”
Maggie handed him the phone.
“Hey, BLS buddy. How’s it going?”
The conversation lasted several minutes, until Reggie handed the phone back.
Emily said, “Tell Reggie to wait there until I come back next week, okay? I want to talk to him again. I have more questions.”
Maggie grinned. Of course she did. “Sure thing. Bye, sweetie. I love you.”
“I love you too, Mommy. Bye, Reggie!”
Stephen came back on the phone. “Reggie, huh?”
Maggie blushed at Reggie’s raised brow. Obviously, he could hear Stephen. “We’re dating, but don’t mention it to Emily yet, okay?”
Silence, then Stephen said, “No problem, and congrats. Enjoy the extra week. I’ll drop her off at your place next Saturday at noon. Okay?”
“Sounds good. Have fun.”
“Bye.”
