Oh. We’d done a job there recently. That was a nice neighborhood.
“Consider me interested,” I replied. Dylan would love being close to recreation areas. But we’d see if I could afford it. Needing four bedrooms meant the prices skyrocketed. I couldn’t go over $600K if I wanted to afford the mortgage every month. Actually, my salary didn’t want me going over four hundred, but I did have two hundred already. That was what I had left of my inheritance. Plus whatever little profit I’d made in stocks and bonds.
I could be creative, though. I didn’t need a home office, and I had a teenager who would jump at the chance of having his own space above a garage.
“Theo mentioned you’re movin’ out of your apartment at the end of the month,” James said.
I nodded and finished yesterday’s leftovers when we’d had spaghetti and marinara with meatballs. It tasted better today.
“I’m not wasting rent money anymore,” I answered as my phone started ringing. “I’ll sleep at the house or in my office until I find somethin’. Excuse me.” It was Mikey’s school calling. “Yeah, this is Ash?”
“Hello, Ash, this is Tavia. I’m afraid Micah is struggling with his anxiety a great deal today. Is it possible for you to pick him up?”
Goddammit. “Yeah, of course. Tell him I’m on my way. I’ll be there in twenty-ish.” I cursed internally and ended the call, one Nate and I had received too many times to count. “I gotta go.”
Thirty-five was almost twenty-ish.
One day soon, Mikey would grow too big to sit on my lap in the driver’s seat, but today wasn’t that day.
I squeezed him tightly and kissed the top of his head.
He sniffled and shuddered as he recovered, and he refused to let me go.
“Another deep breath, sweetheart,” I murmured. “Just like Dr. Maria showed you.”
He nodded jerkily but couldn’t inhale through his nose; it was too stuffy, so I told him to breathe through his mouth instead.
In the meantime, I rubbed his chest and tummy, where most of his anxiety pains manifested.
It usually began with nervousness and a stomachache. If things progressed, the pain spread to his chest and shoulders. He’d speak of tingling and prickling until sharper pains took over, almost like a seizure.
We’d been assured several times that it wasn’t anything else, but it didn’t stop me from worrying.
“It’s better now, Daddy,” he croaked.
“That’s great.” I pressed my lips to his hair again. “Do you know what started the bad feelings today?”
He shrugged and sniffled. “I dunno. I didn’t like it when Ms. Tavia turned off the light. We were gonna watch a movie.”
That made sense. He hated the dark. I’d have to call his teacher about that. Honestly, I thought they already knew.
“And you and Daddy weren’t there,” he whimpered.
Jesus, he had my heart in a vise grip.
I held him a little tighter. “Daddy’s here now. Everything’s okay. You did good to tell Ms. Tavia you weren’t feeling well.”
He sniffled some more and nodded a little. “Am I going back to class?”
I checked my watch briefly. “I don’t think there’s any point at this hour.” But I had to text Nathan. “I reckon we’ll tell Daddy not to come pick you up, and then we’ll go grab a snack before we pick up Lily.”
He nodded again and wiped at his chubby cheeks. “Can we get donuts?”
I chuckled and brushed a stray tear from his jaw. “Remember what Dr. Maria said. No sugar on the bad days—it makes the anxiety worse.”
He made a face.
Mikey was the family sugar monkey, and it was something we had to keep an eye on. Other than baseball and riding onhis bike, he didn’t care for exercise. Except for family outings, I reckoned. He did like our hikes, mostly so he could find critters and worms.
