Vice(46)

"Sure." I ran my fingers through Conway's hair before taking his hand,  relieved to note that not only was he in one piece but his dress was as  well. I'd had my doubts the perky Miss Suzie Q would be able to run herd  on twenty something five year olds but apparently she was made of  sterner stuff than I'd given her credit for. "Since it's the first day  of school and all."





LATER THAT EVENING, I ignored the knock on my office door, running the  sentence over and over in my mind, trying to figure out why it sounded  wrong. Grammatically, it was on point but there was something about the  delivery which left something to be desired. When whoever was on the  other side of the door knocked again, more insistently this time, I  pushed my glasses up to rest on my forehead and pinched the bridge of my  nose. "What?"         

     



 

The door opened and Conway slipped inside, padding across the oversized  rug on his bare feet. Rounding the desk, he braced his chin on the chair  arm and said, "Hi."

"Hi." More curious now than annoyed-because Conway wasn't in the habit  of doing things without a reason-I shifted my chair back and patted my  knee, waiting until he climbed up in my lap before speaking. "What's up?  Do you have homework you have to do?"

"No." He let out a giggling snort and shook his head. "We didn't learn anything today. And I already know lots of stuff."

"Oh? Like what?"

"Like my ‘ABC's and how to count to one hundred and how to read and all my colors and-."

"Got it-you know a lot of stuff." Something I'd have to keep an eye on  as the year progressed. If he was that far ahead of the other students  in his class, it might be better if he skipped a grade. Turning back to  the computer, I propped my chin on his head as I studied the screen.  "Does your sister have homework?"

"Abraham already helped her."

"Did he?" I squinted at the clock on the screen. "When did he leave for  work?" And more importantly, why hadn't he at least poked his head in  and said good-bye?

And when the hell had I turned in to the type of woman who needed her boyfriend to tell her good-bye?

"He didn't." Conway picked up a pen, doodling absently on a piece of  scratch paper. "He said he never opens the bar on the first day of  school."

"Which is either a very smart move or a very dumb one." I highlighted  the sentence in question, copying and pasting it on a blank page. "Have  Tammy and Kitty made it home yet?"

"Uh-huh. They're doing homework."

"So all is right in our little world." I chewed on my bottom lip until  it started to ache. "Except for this fucking sentence." I winced.  "Sorry, language. Except for this darn sentence."

"I know not to say bad words." He leaned back against me, his little  body surprisingly sturdy. For some reason I always thought of Conway as  delicate, probably because of the dresses and the doll, but he was  tougher than he looked. "What's wrong with the sentence?"

"Do you ever read something and it just doesn't sound right?" I waited until he nodded before continuing. "It's like that."

"Oh." He nodded again. "That's harder to fix."

"Yes, it is." But I had to figure out how to fix the fucking thing and  get it and the rest of the edits back to Allison tonight so she could  plug everything in tomorrow so the issue could go to press on Wednesday.  "So, no homework, huh? Did you do anything interesting in school? Make  any friends?"

"No, we just went over rules." He shrugged. "And it's too early to know if I made friends."

"Are you sure you're only five? Because sometimes I have my doubts."

"Yes." He giggled. "I don't want to wear a dress tomorrow."

"Did someone make fun of you?" I glanced down at him, my stomach twisting in doubts. "Did they call you names or-."

"No." He frowned. "We have P.E. tomorrow and I don't want to get my dresses dirty."

"P.E.?" I stared at him for a moment before comprehension dawned.  "Physical education. Oh. Sorry, I'm out of practice with school  acronyms. They'll come back to me after a while." Satisfied I didn't  need to go yell at some parent for having rude children, I went back to  editing. "Anything else you want to tell me?"

"No." He kicked his legs absently, picking up the pen and starting to doodle again. "Can I sit here with you while you work?"

"As long as you're quiet and you let me work."

Which was how Abraham found us, although by the time he pushed open the  office door I'd finally managed to edit the damn sentence and had moved  on to the rest of the article which, thankfully, didn't make me want to  break out a fifth of whiskey. Glancing over at him, I said, "Hey. I was  wondering where you were. Conway said you weren't opening the bar  tonight."

"I learned if you give parents a place to drink on the first night  school is back in session, there are a lot of kids late to school the  next day and I get a lot of phone calls about how I'm diluting the moral  fiber of the community." He plopped on the sofa I'd shoved under the  window, tossing a few of the oversized pillows on the floor. "How long  has he been asleep?"         

     



 

"Hmm?" I looked down to find my nephew was, indeed, fast asleep, all but  drooling on my shoulder. "I have no idea. I didn't even know he was  asleep."

"It's okay. I kept Dolly awake as long as possible but when she started  getting weepy, I had Tammy give her a bath and then I put her to bed."  He stretched out on his side, sighing and closing his eyes. "Truth be  told, I wouldn't mind hitting the sheets myself. It's been a long day."

"Hmm." It wasn't that I wasn't listening, because I was. But I was also  trying to adjust the layout for the print version so I didn't have two  stories about fast food-specifically a food truck and a quick-service  chain specializing in salads-running one behind the other. I doubted I  was the only one who would draw the connection between the two but I  wasn't willing to take the risk. "If you want to go home, it's okay.  I've got a few more hours of work to do."

He was silent for so long I thought he'd wound up passing out on the  sofa. When I looked up, though, he was staring at me with a blank  expression and hurt eyes. "Do you want me to go home?"

"I didn't say that." And if I was being honest, I couldn't even remember  if there'd been some sort of inflection in my voice which might have  implied that was my intent. I tended to block out everything when I was  working, to the point where I would insult people without even realizing  it. "If you want to stay, then stay."

"I don't want to stay if you don't want me to stay."

"Abraham, I may be damn near cross-eyed from editing but I'm not so  tired I can't tell when someone is trying to start a fight." Careful not  to disturb Conway, I pushed away from the desk, leaning back in my  chair. "If I wanted you to get the hell out, I would have told you so  using those exact words. Now, did I use those words?"

"No." His mouth turned down in something which looked suspiciously like a pout. "Doesn't mean you weren't thinking them."

"In the past...eight days, has there ever been a time when I thought  something and didn't say it?" I waited a beat and when he didn't answer,  I said, "Yeah, that's what I thought. So why don't you tell me what the  real problem is because something is telling me my off the cuff  invitation isn't the thing which has you spoiling for a fight."

"I want to stay, okay?" The words burst out, his voice rising to an  almost deafening level with the last word. He sat up, dragging his hands  through his hair before covering his face. He sucked in a deep breath,  holding it for long, long minutes before exhaling in a single shuddering  sigh. "When you were in high school, what was the one thing you wanted  more than anything?"

"To get the hell out of Cotton Creek." I didn't even have to think. I'd  had the same dream since I was thirteen. "What did you want?"

"A family. A real one. Taking the kids to school and picking them up,  doing homework, going to school events, to church, just... family  stuff." He dropped his hands between his knees and lifted his head,  turning to face me. If I'd thought Dolly and her potential crying caused  me to panic, it was nothing compared to the actual tears dripping down  Abraham's cheeks. "And it's all here, all of it, and sometimes I think  you're just going to change your mind and then it'll all be gone."

"Abraham, I...." I trailed off, at a total loss as to what to say. So I  clamped my teeth together and simply met his gaze with mine. After a  moment, I said, "You fit."