“Matthew, listen to mommy for a minute.” I waited a second for him to finally look at me. “You have storytime at the library today, and Viper was wondering if he could take you.”
His eyes grew as big as I’d ever seen them as his mouth dropped open. “Yes! Yes! Yes!” he cheered, pumping his little arms in the air. Suddenly, his excitement vanished and he looked at me sadly.
Oh no. Here it comes.
“Um… Momma?”
“Yes, honey?”
The knot in my stomach was the size of a basketball. Was this the sad face I would have to deal with for the rest of my life? This disappointment, this devastation of not having his father around?
“You’re gonna stay home, right? Just me and Viper are going?”
I stifled a laugh. “Yes, baby. Unless you want me to go.”
He shook his head furiously, clearly wanting me to stay away. “Just Viper. I’m gonna show him the Lego table.”
“I bet he’d love that.” The excited look on his face warmed me on the inside. I hadn’t seen him smile that big since… well, last time Viper was over. “Hang on a sec, buddy.”
I rolled away from him and grabbed my phone to text Viper back but was surprised to see I had another text waiting.
V: C’mon, pleeeeease? Our reading level is probably the same so we’d be a perfect match.
I shook my head, smiling to myself as I typed out my response.
Well, when you put it that way, how can I say no? Storytime starts at 11.
As I hit the send button on my phone, Maura started to fuss on the monitor.
“Matthew?”
Again, his body turned to face me, but his eyes were left behind on the TV. After a minute of me not saying anything, he looked at me, wondering what the holdup was.
“Maura’s finally up and Viper is picking you up in a couple hours. What do you say we go have some breakfast?”
He nodded excitedly as he jumped off the bed, doing a ninja kick in midair, and ran down the hall to Maura’s room.
I had just finished cleaning up breakfast and barely had Matthew dressed in his khakis and blue plaid button-down shirt when the doorbell rang.
“It’s Viper!” Matthew’s legs moved so fast that he ran in place on the hardwood floor for a second before finally gaining traction and bolting toward the front door.
“Calm down.” I chuckled as I followed him to the front of the house. “He’s not coming for another hour.”
“It is him!” he squealed as we got closer.
Viper waved through the glass of the front door.
Suddenly I worried that I’d maybe told him the wrong time. I frowned as I opened the front door. He was standing on the porch carrying a cardboard drink holder with different cups in it.
“Viper!” Matthew threw his arms around Viper’s leg and squeezed tight, closing his eyes.
Viper reached down with his free hand and rustled Matthew’s hair. “What’s up, champ?”
“I feel horrible. Storytime doesn’t start until eleven. I must have told you the wrong time,” I apologized.
“No, you told me eleven. I just thought I’d come by early and bring these.” He held the cups up.
Confused, I looked at the drinks in his hand. “What is that?”
“I don’t know what you drink, so I brought a coffee, a hot tea, an orange juice, and a chocolate shake.”
I pulled my brows in tight and shifted my glance from the cups back up, eyeing him skeptically. “Chocolate shake?”
He grinned and shrugged his shoulders. “I got that one for me, but if you want it, it’s yours.”
“That’s okay. I’m not really a chocolate-before-noon kind of girl anyway.” I laughed and took the cardboard holder from him, carrying it to the kitchen. He scooped Matthew up into his arms and followed along behind me.
“Viper, have you ever been to the library?” Matthew’s voice squeaked with excitement.
“I have, but not in a really, really long time. You’ll have to show me around, okay?”
Matthew was so close to Viper’s face they were practically touching noses. “I will. They have this cool Lego table there and the top is all Lego stuff and you can build right on the table and there’s this net right in the middle of the table and they have Legos right in the table for you to use!” Matthew rambled without taking a breath.
“Really? Did you eat yet?” Viper asked.
Matthew nodded.
I took the coffee out of the cardboard holder and poured cream into it as Viper turned toward me, whispering under his breath, “Is it okay if we go early?”
“Sure.” I shrugged and licked the cream off of the spoon before turning around and dropping it in the sink. “The library opens at nine on Sundays.”