“Apparently some of us do,” Marshall said. He cleared his throat. At the sound, Will woke up and looked around in confusion. His gaze landed on the big television, still running.
“I missed the movie!” he exclaimed, his lower lip quivering.
“We’ll catch it another time, pal,” Marshall promised.
“No, we won’t,” he whined. When he did nap, Will invariably woke up cranky, unfortunately. “My mom says we’re going back to our house today.”
“But, honey, we have this movie at our house. You can watch the end again there,” she soothed.
“I don’t want to watch it there. I want to watch it with Marshall.”
He was gearing up for a full-fledged tantrum and she needed to head it off before it began.
Marshall beat her to the bunch. “Tell you what,” he said. “We can still watch it. You come back here after your Christmas party this afternoon and we’ll try to figure out where we both fell asleep and watch until the end. Does that work?”
“I guess,” he said, drawing that pouty lower lip in a few millimeters.
“Maybe we can even have popcorn,” Marshall said.
That did the trick. “I love popcorn,” he said, getting more animated.
“Who doesn’t?” Marshall said.
“Speaking of parties,” Andie said, “we need to get moving if we’re going to make it on time. Go find your shoes and coat.”
He started to slide down, careful of Marshall’s leg, but paused for a moment to throw his arms around him. “Bye,” he said, then hit the floor and took off, his postnap cranky mood entirely gone now in the excitement of being almost five and heading to a Christmas party with his friends.
She watched him go, now with Sadie at his heels again, before she turned back to Marshall.
“Thanks again for keeping him entertained,” she said. “I was able to finish my project and clear my slate for the holidays.”
“I’m glad.”
“I have a few errands to run this afternoon. I’ll do those while Will is at the party and be back here before Chloe gets home.”
“Sounds good.”
“Do you mind if Sadie and Mrs. Finnegan stay with you?”
“No. Why would I mind? I hardly see the cat and Sadie is pretty good company.”
“I’ll put her out now so you won’t have to do it while I’m gone.”
The tension again shivered between them. She wanted to say something else, but Will came back in, chattering about his boots and his friend Ty and the games they would play at the party, and the moment was gone.
* * *
THE HOUSE SEEMED empty without any of the Montgomerys—except the cheerful little dog and the shy cat, anyway.
Marshall couldn’t seem to settle. He moved from the sofa to the recliner to a chair at the kitchen table. He even tried stretching out on his bed but couldn’t get comfortable anywhere.
The cute little fur ball seemed to pick up on his restlessness. When he finally headed back to the kitchen to take some ibuprofen, she went to the back door and circled around a few times.
“Need to go out again?” he said, and she yipped in response.
He opened the door for her and stood for a minute enjoying the cold air and the stellar view of the vast mountains.
The day had been full of surprising pleasures. He never would have imagined the quiet, sweet joy he’d felt when Will had insisted on sitting next to him to watch the movie.
He was going to miss both the boy and his sister like crazy when they went home later that day. He wasn’t sure why, but they both seemed to like him. That morning before school, Chloe had rushed in to tell him goodbye, and she had hugged him, too, as well as kissed his cheek, then giggled at the stubble he hadn’t shaved away yet, which had just about stolen his heart.
For most of his life, he had convinced himself he wasn’t good with kids. Wyn and Wyatt—and Kat, for that matter—had been such wild little creatures, always in and out of trouble, and whenever he tended them for his mom, it seemed like one or the other ended up crying and making him crazy.
He had always told himself he didn’t want anything to do with kids, that he would probably be a lousy father. Maybe that had been at the core of why he didn’t fight harder when Nikki asked him to sign away his parental rights.
He had always thought he wasn’t patient enough or loving enough to provide what a kid needed. If that were so, why would Will and Chloe seem to like him?
And if he had something to offer them, what about his own son?
The dog came back to the porch quickly. Marshall opened the door for her but didn’t go inside himself.
He had a son who needed him and it was past time he stepped up, no matter the consequences. He needed to tell the Jacobses and he suddenly had the burning assurance that he had to do it now, before he lost his nerve.