“But you weren’t ready to hear it.”
Their phones dinged at the same time. “The baby!” Dylan exclaimed.
Looking at his phone, Mitch said, “We’re on a thread along with Molly.” He read aloud, “‘John Preston Bowie the second is here! All well. He’s amazing! Beth loves me again. She says the baby has my dent… whatever the hell that means. More TC… Proud daddy.’”
As each was texting a brief reply, Andrew appeared. “Daddy?”
“Hey, buddy.” Mitch opened his arms. Andrew sleepily walked over to him and climbed into his lap. Mitch kissed the top of his head. “I missed you.”
“We had fish sticks.”
“You did? With ketchup?”
Andrew nodded as he yawned.
“Is Dylan a good cook? Were they good?” After another nod, he dropped his head onto Mitch’s chest. He stood, cradling the sleepy boy. “Let me put him back down. I’ll be right back.”
He carried Andrew into the guest room, resettled him, then lay down beside him. He stroked his hair and each of the fingers curled against his flushed cheek. Mitch realized that he was coming down from an adrenaline high, but his eyes got cloudy with tears. “I love you, Andrew. Things are gonna change. I promise you. I’ve—”
He heard a car motor starting outside. He rolled off the bed, peered through the blinds, and saw the sedan pulling away. He ran back into the living room and to the front door, planning to chase Dylan down on foot if he had to.
But there was a note taped at eye level to the inside of the front door.
“You need time with your son… and with Angela.”
Epilogue
Mitch waited nine days.
On that ninth afternoon, he gave her enough time to get home from work, then presented himself at her front door and tapped the brass knocker.
When she opened the door and found him there, she reacted with her customary composure. But he detected a warmth and approachability in her eyes that hadn’t been there the day they’d met. He took those cracks in the bell jar as a positive sign.
“Hello, Mitch.”
“Hi. Sorry I didn’t call ahead.”
“You never call ahead.”
“Too true. And just so everything is out in the open, I asked Ellie to alert me when you left the office today.”
“And she complied?” Then she rolled her eyes. “Of course she did. I suppose you turned on the charm.”
“Well, I’m here.” He grinned, but she didn’t say anything orinvite him in, so he kept talking. “Beth told me you went to see the new little Bowie.”
“I did. He’s adorable.”
“Yeah, he’s definitely a keeper. Beth is a natural. Calm, competent, perfectly lovely. The best I can say about John is that he’s obnoxious.”
She gave a light laugh. “A bit.”
With that, their small talk died. Apparently it was up to him to keep this going. “How have you been?”
“All right. What about you?”
“Rocking along. Busy.”
“Concerning Busby’s arrest and all that entails?”
