My chest constricts enough to make me sigh. “I’ve missed you both too.”
“Dad, you ready?” Joe bursts into the living room and stops short when he sees I’m on the phone. He grins and offers Sean a small wave. “Hey, Sean.”
“All right, Joe?”
“Yeah. We’re going to see Jax. Did Dad tell you?” He grabs the phone off me and talks animatedly to Sean about Jax and some of the other animals in the shelter.
This is a new development, the two of them have found common ground, and listening to them chatting warms me inside and I can’t help the smile that stretches wide enough to hurt.
It’s lovely, and my feelings for Sean grow stronger each time he listens to my son like he’s the most interesting person he’s ever spoken to. He never rushes their conversations, and he asks enough questions that I’m sure they’d be on the phone for hours if I didn’t intervene.
Like now. I cough loudly and Joe rolls his eyes.
“That’s Dad telling me I need to hand you back over.” Joe gives me my phone back and I hear Sean laughing. He’s still smiling when I come face to face with him again. “We need to go. I’ll call you later and tell you how it went.”
“I’d like that.”
I look at him.
He looks at me.
I want to say something other than just goodbye or see you later, but I bite my tongue. We’ve only been together for four weeks. That’s too soon to be feeling like this. Isn’t it? My gut says maybe it’s not, but regardless, I’m not making any declarations until I have Sean in my arms.
“Bye, then.” I wince at how cold that sounds.
Sean’s eyes bore into me, even through a phone screen, like he knows exactly what I’m thinking. He doesn’t bring it up though, but his voice is low and rough when he says, “Bye, Vic.”
I end the call and glance up to see Joe giving me an odd look. “What?”
“Nothing.”
The way he says it makes me think that it’ssomething, all right. “Joe?”
He sighs like I’m the absolute worst and slumps onto the arm of the chair. “I like Sean.”
I frown. “I like him too.”
He stares at his fingers, and I wait him out. It’s fifty-fifty whether he’ll tell me what’s bothering him. “Are you two...” He gestures to my phone, then huffs. “Are you okay?”
“Me and Sean?”
“Yeah.”
“Yes, of course we are.” I take a breath because I need to be careful here. “Our relationship is still new, though. We’re still finding our feet.”
Joe snorts. “You seemed to be finding them all right when we were up in Charnwell.”
I narrow my eyes because I can’t tell if there’s a euphemism in there somewhere. “Being apart will take a little adjusting to after spending the last four weeks in such close proximity, but I’m really hopeful that we’ll be okay.” Maybe I need to work on my goodbye game if even Joe’s worried.
He hums, noncommittal, then looks me in the eye. “You like him a lot, though, right?”
“I do.” A whole hell of a lot.
This seems to satisfy him because he nods. Then he stands, conversation apparently over, thank God, and grins. “You ready to go?”
“Yeah, let me get my keys.”
It takesus just over half an hour to get there, and Joe is practically vibrating in his seat by the time I pull into the car park.
