“Jamie, I’ve got to go,” Tyler said quietly.
“Wait,” Jamie sat up in his bed. “Baby, can I try something?”
Tyler paused, and Rowan’s cries grew louder. “Sure.”
“Put me on speaker.” After a pause, Jamie said, “Hey, buddy.”
There was a little sniffle and the cries quieted. “Jamie?”
“Can I sing you a song?”
Again, it was quiet.
“He’s nodding,” Tyler said, and Jamie could hear the hint of amusement in his voice.
Jamie cleared his throat. He wasn’t much of a singer, but he’d sung this particular Okee Dokee Brothers song to Mitch’s kids and it had seemed to calm them down.
“As the northern lights come out
And the forest goes to bed
The Great Canadian Slumberjack
Starts singin’ ’bove your head
From the pines of the big woods
Spreadin’ sawdust and sand
With an ax and with a saw
To the dreamers of the northern land
Singin' see what ya saw
And saw what you see
Saw the logs of Slumbertown
Without cuttin' down a tree.”
He forgot the rest of the words, so he sang the same part again and again until his throat started to ache. He got to the last line, and trailed off into silence. He felt a little bit silly, then, singing into his phone alone in his hotel room.
“Jamie,” Tyler’s voice whispered through the phone.
Jamie matched his tone. “Yeah?”
“He’s asleep.”
Jamie grinned. “Really?”
“Really.”
Jamie laid back down, curling onto his side with the phone held tightly against his cheek. “Tough night?”
“Fucking terrible.”
“I’m sorry.”
