“Aren’t you a little researcher?”
“I dunno aboutlittle.I’m kinda tall for my age.”
Maybe in any other kid it would sound defensive, but my son was casually stating a fact.
“You are pretty tall. But you’re definitely gonna get taller.”
“Ihopeso!”
I chuckled, then closed my eyes and focused on my breathing as he began to read about different ocean creatures from across the world. I loved that my son was into such scientific things. It made me feel like I was succeeding as a father—at least a little—and I would take whatever victories I could.
Although I was giving it an earnest try, I didn’t expect to fall asleep. But by the time we got to the section of the book about coral reefs, I began to dip down into a slumber. Sometimes, I got so excited at the prospect of sleep that I’d wake up all over again, but now I concentrated on my son’s voice.
And wouldn’t you know, it worked. I sank deeper and deeper, until I was enveloped in that space between being awake and asleep. It was comfortable andcomforting, and I wasn’t in the grasp of that awful night terror anymore. I also didn’t think there were others waiting in the wings to swoop in.
“The end,” my son said softly as he closed the book. “I’m gonna sleep in here tonight, okay, Dad?”
I let out a grunt, too sleepy to get out intelligible words.
“Okay. I’m putting the baby monitor between us, just in case.”
I was so intensely impressed with my son. Impressed and touched. Not only had he saved his teacher from getting hurt much worse, but he was helping me. Watching out forme.
He really was incredible.
I wished his mother could see it.
NINE
GISELLE
Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked
After a whole weekend and week of rest, I was ready todosomething. Which was probably a good thing because it was the day of my date with Ben and I was going to need every bit of energy I could muster up.
The hospital had kept me all through the weekend and only discharged me on Sunday afternoon. They recommended I take a full week off work. I planned to take Monday and Tuesday off, then only do half days Wednesday through Friday, but when I touched base with the principal, he told me I was on a week of paid medical leave.
So, that was that.
I was a little miffed that the decision had been made for me, but that was my pride talking. If I wanted to keep my promise to myself, my family, and the doctor, then I needed the time to recover.
Not to toot my own horn, but I had done an excellent job of taking it easy. I hadn’t cooked at all until Thursday, andeven then, I’d used the slow cooker to make dinner. My father had taken care of breakfast, and for lunch my brother made me something if he was home, and when he wasn’t, I ordered something from a delivery app.
Something cheap, of course, because I wasn’t made of money, but it was amazing how many coupons were available if I was always willing to try a new restaurant. Was it probably more money than I should have spent? Absolutely. But it wasn’t like I wouldn’t be able to pay my bills. Most Americans were one paycheck short of catastrophe, so it wasn’t like my situation was all that special. And if they were getting through, then I could too. At least, that was what I told myself. Word was still out on whether it was healthy or not.
Oh well, I was perfectly imperfect and working on a lot of other stuff.
But, after nine days of resting, I was more than ready for my date with Ben. Part of me still had a hard time believing it was real. When I’d texted him that morning, he’d confirmed he was still down, and asked what time to pick me up.
Wow.
I was going on an actual date—I hadn’t made time for dating since college—and with the parent of a student. There was a time, approximately ten days ago, when I never would have done something so risky.
Funny how that worked.
Maybe fainting in front of my entire class had wiped out my ability to be embarrassed. Maybe being confronted with my own mortality for the umpteenth time had finally kicked me into gear. Maybe I was just loopy from the thyroid storm and the meds. Maybe…
Maybe I was an adult woman who had chemistry with an adult man, who had already proven to be a pretty lovely human being.
