Noah stood nearby, his son’s windbreaker slung over his shoulder. He grinned as he watched Andy’s flushed face and heard his shouts of delight over Harley’s performance. He drank in the sights and sounds of his son as if they were pure oxygen.
They came out here every Saturday or Sunday morning that Noah was off. And Noah made certain he did something alone with his son when his days off were in the middle of the week. Recently, he’d picked Andy up from school for a dental appointment. Andy didn’t make it back for classes. Instead, they went to see the latest Disney offering at the movies.
“You’re spoiling Andy,” his father said just yesterday.
He was. And it would have to stop. But not yet. Not when just looking at his son made his heart swell with fatherly pride and the fierce need to protect and teach him how to take care of himself. For times when he wasn’t around.
Life had always been precious to Noah, but never more than in the past two months.
He nearly died.
Carly nearly died.
He wondered how she was dealing with it all.
He hadn’t seen her since the night he’d spent with her in the hospital right after the fire. She was suffering from exposure, and cuts and bruises that, to his amazement, she’d inflicted on herself in her attempts to get away. Not once, but twice. Even bound, she’d managed to push and pull herself like a slug across the family-room floor and into the back bathroom because she remembered being told that lying down in a tub was a safe place from a fire.
But not if he hadn’t arrived when he did.
Listening to her ordeal made him want to get J.W. Cody alone for five minutes. Thankfully, the man was beyond his grasp.
Cody had taken a plea bargain after his attorney saw the case the DA’s office put together against him. The multiple arsons, manslaughter, plus two attempted murder charges would have put him away for life. Instead, he’d taken fifteen years, no parole.
Andy was beside himself with delight when the course was run. He approached his dad in a half-run, half-skip lope. “Did you see that, Dad? Harley cleared every obstacle.”
“I saw that.” Noah bent down and scooped his son up to twirl him around, ending up holding him off the ground upside down by one ankle.
Andy squealed with delight. It was a daily ritual between them.
Two mothers standing nearby with their kids sent him disapproving looks but he only smiled. “He’s training to be Spiderman.”
When he’d righted his son, he handed Andy Harley’s leash to use as they walked back toward the entrance.
“You’re a very good teacher, Andy. Maybe we should enter you and Harley in Dog Agility in a couple of years.”
“Uh-huh.” Andy was frowning now. Noah had learned to go with the sudden switches and unpredictable moments that made up a child’s emotional life. But he was often baffled by them.
“What’s the matter?”
“Tomorrow’s Mother’s Day, Dad.”
“Yeah.” Noah tried to keep his voice neutral.
“Kids at school say I can’t celebrate it because I don’t have a mom.”
Noah’s heart contracted as he debated how to answer.
Andy looked up at his dad. “Is it okay that I don’t have a mom?”
With a heavy heart, Noah paused and squatted down before his child. “It’s okay. Absolutely.”
The shadow in his son’s eyes, as blue as his father’s, remained. “Could I ever get one?”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Angela’s mom and dad divorced. But her dad got married again and now she’s got two moms. So if you got married, that means I’d get a mom, right?”
Noah’s lips twitched. “Sounds like it.”
Andy stared at his dad a moment longer and then turned to walk on. “Okay.”
Noah had the unreal sensation that he’d just been told by his son that he was falling down on the get-a-wife job. Who knew?
Noah laid a hand on his son’s head. “You know we do have someone to celebrate on Mother’s Day? GiGi. Grandmothers and even aunts are included in the day.”
Andy nodded. “Yeah. I made her a card in art class.”
“Whoa. Then you’re way ahead of me. I need to buy her a gift.” Thanks to Andy, he had a place in mind. “Want to help me choose one?”
Andy looked up with a serious expression. “Nothing for the kitchen, or house, or yard. That’s what she told Grampa.”
Noah laughed so loud he startled the birds sitting on a power line overhead. “You’re already ahead of three fourths of the men in the world when it comes to gift giving for women.”
*
The opening of Flawless was already a success. And it was only an hour old. The banners fluttering in the warm May air had attracted quite a crowd. Added to that, Carly had convinced her local vendors to set up tables both inside and out on the sidewalk, to show potential customers their work in progress. Seeing something being made increased its uniqueness.
Carly stopped by Joi’s table. “How’s it going?”