“He’s brushing his teeth,” she said. “He was hoping you would tuck him in, actually.”
“Really?”
She shrugged and smiled at me. “Only if you’re comfortable with it.”
“Sure,” I said. “Wow. That’s . . . wow. I’m really flattered.”
As if on cue, Jaxon came walking down the hall right then. “Jason, will you put me in bed?”
“Sure, buddy,” I answered, still feeling a little shocked. “Why don’t you give your mom a kiss goodnight.”
Addison stopped what she doing and knelt down as Jaxon walked over to her. “Night, Mom,” he said, wrapping his arms around her neck.
“Goodnight buddy,” she said, closing her eyes and hugging him tightly. “Do you know how much I love you?”
“To the moon and back,” he mumbled in her hair.
“Oh, it’s so much more than that,” she said.
“No it’s not,” he said, pulling away from her. “It says right there on that picture, see?”
I looked over and sure enough, hanging on the wall was a large picture frame with three cut outs. All three had pictures of Jaxon in them and on the bottom was a placard that read, “To the Moon and Back”.
“Huh,” she said, looking at the frame. “So it does. Well, that’s a whole lot.”
“I know,” he said, turning away. I followed him as he drug himself down the hallway to his room.
As many times as I’d been in this house, I’d never been in any of the bedrooms before. Jaxon’s room was painted a nice grey-blue. The walls were covered in football memorabilia and posters. Some of them were posters of me, which was kind of cool. On his bed was a Cowboys comforter with a matching pillow. Yep, he certainly wasn’t a fair-weather fan.
Right next to his bed, sitting on top of the nightstand, was a picture of Jaxon with a man that I assume was Austin. They had the same brown hair and the same brown eyes. Jaxon had to have been about four in the picture and they both looked so happy. It was obvious Austin just adored his son. It was a weird feeling . . . I was still so pissed at Austin for how much he wounded Addison. But at the same time, I respected how much he deeply loved his son. I could fault him for being a douchey husband, but I appreciated him for being a good dad. Talk about conflicting feelings.
“Did you have fun tonight, buddy?” I asked as he climbed into bed and crawled under the sheets.
“Yes,” he said, yawning. “It was the most fun Halloween ever.”
“Really,” I said, tucking the sheets in around him. “What made it so fun?”
“You dressed up like a banana,” he said with a giggle. “My dad never dressed up for trick-or-treating.”
“He didn’t?” I asked, kneeling down next to the bed.
“No. He got home from work when we were already trick-or-treating, so he met us on the sidewalk. But he always carried my pillow case full of candy and he never stole any of it!”
Dang. Maybe I should rethink swiping those full-sized bars, I thought to myself.
“Sounds like he was a really good dad.”
“He was,” he said with a yawn. “But this year was better,” he said sleepily.
I chuckled as I watched him start to fall asleep. “I’m glad you had fun, buddy,” I said as I bent over to kiss him on the forehead. “I love you. Sleep well.”
As Jaxon drifted off, he said, “I love you, too, Daddy.”
My eyes widened and I froze, looking down at Jaxon in disbelief. He just called me daddy. I mean, I knew he was falling asleep and we had just been talking about his dad, but, whoa. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. But . . . I think it didn’t feel . . . bad. It actually felt kind of good.
All of a sudden, that one little sleepy mistake made think about the future. My future. Did I have a future with Addison long term? Because Jaxon would be part of it if I did. And that would, in fact, kind of make me Jaxon’s dad. It was a scary thought. And yet, not that scary at all. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t racing out to buy an engagement ring or anything. But it did cause me to pause momentarily and think about the path I was on. Frankly, it felt good. And it helped me make a decision I had been toying with. At that moment, I knew I was ready.
When I rounded the corner back into the living room, Addison was sitting on the couch, her head back and eyes closed. When she felt me sit down next to her, she lifted her head and opened her eyes. I picked one of her feet up and placed it on my lap, rubbing the arch.
“Mmmm . . . that feels good,” she said, turning her whole body toward me and laying back against the armrest.