I shrugged. “He kind of always was, I guess.”
“I feel like there are a whole lot of details you’re leaving out. Do you want to give them to me now, or do you want to take another nap first while I try to figure out what’s going on with the dinner situation?”
“Fine, I’ll tell you now.” It was better to get it over with than to not be able to fall asleep waiting for the conversation to happen.
And I told him everything. Although when I was telling him about our night at Chained, his gaze changed. My guess was that I wasn’t giving him new information, and that Ernie had already spilled the beans, which was fine. The three of us knew each other’s boundaries on what we could and couldn’t share amongst each other. Nothing he said there would have been something I wouldn’t have already told him if I hadn’t gotten ill.
“And now he’s taking care of you when you’re sick.”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“Well, good for you. You got a daddy. Maybe I’ll be next.” He stood up and patted the couch where my unicorn was, gesturing for me to lie back down.
“Well, first, I don’t have a daddy.” Yet. “I’m working on finding one, that’s all.”
“You found one.”
“Fine. But I’m sick, and I was apparently not quite knowing words and you know what I mean.”
“I do know what you mean.” He patted the couch again, and this time I lay down. “And you have a daddy. You’re holding a bear and have your head down on a unicorn, both of which are brand new, which has me guessing a certain someone gave them to you.”
He wasn’t guessing. I’d just told him. Or maybe I hadn’t. Gods, I hated being sick.
“They were.” I pointed to the kitchenette. “Didn’t you say you had things to do?”
“I do. And once I’m done with them, I’m gonna pump you for more information because your life lately is better than any of the vertical dramas I’ve been watching on my phone while cat-sitting.”
“Why don’t you just pull up real movies on your computer?” He always complained about those movies yet always watched them.
“Well, the last two places had shitty internet. And besides, I like them, as bad as they are.”
“It’s because you have the attention span of a flea.”
“I do.” He stretched out on his tippy-toes. “But this flea is hungry, so I’m going to figure out what in there I can eat without making a certain hot daddy angry with me.”
“He won’t care if I share.”
“Ha! All daddies care if someone takes what they made for their boys.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not his boy yet.”
But I really wanted to be. And I didn’t think it would be long before I was.
Chapter Fourteen
August
Hal didn’t want to worry me, didn’t want to be any trouble, but I did my best to show him that it was my pleasure to be there for him. When I didn’t know why he wasn’t replying, I worried. When I learned he was sick, I worried. But when I was present to help, to make sure he was clean and comfortable and fed, it was so much better.
Touched me right in my daddy soul to be there for him and help him as needed. That first night, when I tucked him in and read to him from the novel he’d had beside his bed, four days of worry dissipated. Outlive the virus? Damn right he would on my watch.
Two weeks later, nobody’d ever know he’d been ill at all. And, to his expressed relief, I didn’t catch it either. With things back to normal, I was once again setting out to work on my house renovation. The last thing I had done was the wallpaper removal in the guest bath on the first floor, so it was time to prep for painting. Hal had some kind of plans with his friends, and I had told him I could keep myself busy with my projects.
I got up early and made a run to the hardware store for a few things I needed and by eight o’clock was back and dabbing at the little imperfections on the walls. Considering how long it had been behind that wallpaper, I’d expected a lot more damage, but the lack of use of the room probably helped, and I only had to spackle a few nail holes and dents. Leaving the patches to quick-dry, I was stirring paint when the doorbell rang. I had a delivery coming anytime, so it had to be that.
“Come in,” I called. “You can leave it in the front hall.”
“Leave what?” Hal called. “My shoes?”
