“Da, Da, Da,” his son said.
If anyone told him his heart could swell ten times the size over hearing those syllables, he’d tell them to get the fuck out.
“Hey, Mav,” he said, picking him up and putting him on his hip. “How was he last night?”
“Good,” she said, moving forward for a kiss that he easily handed over. “He was excited to see me when I got him at daycare, then we had elbow pasta and meatballs. He had two bowls.”
“I saw the pictures,” he said. He liked her sending him pictures at work. Maverick was eating pasta with sauce all over his face and hands. He was glad he didn’t have to clean that mess up, but Jocelyn never seemed to mind.
Or that her apartment had almost as much stuff in it as his place had. He understood her not wanting to stay at his house when her things were here.
He wasn’t so sure that if he went home he’d want to leave to bring Maverick to daycare either and would have tried to push through with little sleep. Not smart on his end either.
“Then he took a bath and we read two stories.”
“Book,” Maverick said.
“Hey,” he said. “That’s right. Good job.”
“He comprehends more than we realize. He’s picking up a lot of new words too.”
“I’m glad to hear that. Feels as if he’s putting some weight on too.”
“With the way he eats, definitely,” she said.
Maverick was in the top percentile for height but the lowest in weight. Just another thing he walked away from the doctor pissed about. But that was an easy fix in his eyes.
The hardest part was not overfeeding his kid because Mav wanted food so much.
“Okay, buddy. Dad is getting tired and needs some sleep.”
“No nap,” Maverick said, his eyebrows pushing up.
He laughed. “Not you. Me. You get to go play with your friends.”
Maverick bounced on his hip. “I think he likes it there. Here is his bag and his lunch all set.”
He gave her one more kiss. “I’ll talk to you later and we’ll figure out what time you want us to come over tomorrow.”
“You’re not coming back tonight?”
“No,” he said. “I want him to spend more time in his room and home. I wonder if he’s getting confused moving back and forth between places like this.”
Her head went back and forth. “He seems fairly adaptable, which is a great trait for sure.”
“Yeah. I’ll talk to you later.”
She smiled when he turned to leave. He knew it was forced and would try to get to the bottom of it later.
He pulled the door open to the daycare with Maverick walking next to him holding his hand, his little backpack on his shoulders.
“Morning, Maverick,” Miss Anne said. “We’ve got a fun day scheduled today.”
Maverick let go of his hand and took off running for the worker who greeted them. He should be happy his kid was sohappy to be here, but there was part of him that wondered if everyone was just entertainment.
Did that mean his son wasn’t getting attached to him now?
“Bye, Mav,” he said.
