chair.
“So, can we,
Dad?” he asks again as he plops down. I busy myself with
getting out the cereal and milk, using that as my excuse to ignore
him.
Sam doesn’t
seem to catch on that I’m trying to avoid this conversation,
and he continues chattering as I pour him a bowl of Fruit Loops. “A
dog would be so cool. I want one just like Scout, except we couldn’t
name it Scout. Maybe I’d call him Ranger… or Pete…
or maybe even Sweet Foxy Brown.”
I roll my eyes,
because out of the mouths of babes and all that. “No dog,
buddy. You know we don’t have room in my apartment, and
besides… who would take care of it when you were staying with
your mom?”
“I’d
take the dog with me to Mom’s when it was my time to stay with
her,” he says, completely nonplussed.
“Yeah…
if you think I’m dead set against a dog, just wait until you
try to ask your mom for one. I can tell you, without a doubt, that
she’ll say no.”
“She’ll
say yes,” he says confidently, and then shovels a huge scoop of
cereal in his mouth.
While he’s
chewing, I take the opportunity to lean in, kiss him on the head, and
say, “Sorry, little man. It’s just not something we can
do right now. Not with you splitting time between me and Mom’s,
and I only have an apartment.”
Sam’s mouth
chews fervently, trying to get the food swallowed so he can argue
with me. I take the opportunity to escape. “Finish your cereal,
and then get dressed. I’m going to go take a quick shower.”
His brows slanting
angrily inward, Sam swallows his cereal and glares at me. Giving a
sigh, I head back toward the guest bedroom of Denise’s house
where Sam and I are sharing a bed. This is the second year in a row
that we’ve come to New Orleans for our summer vacation, taking
advantage of the free room with my sister and the variety of
attractions available in NOLA. Denise has been in New Orleans for the
last six years, having followed a man down here, who turned out to be
of the asshole variety. He left to go back to New York, but my big
sis loved it down here and decided to make this her new home.
Denise is all the
family I have left, our parents having died in a train derailment a
few years ago when they were actually traveling from our home city of
Brooklyn down to New Orleans to visit Denise. Since then, it’s
just seems the right thing to do to come down and visit so we can
have some quality time together.
Just as I start to
reach into my suitcase for some clean clothes, my cell phone buzzes
with a text. I slip it out of my pocket and tap the Text icon.
How is vacation?
Things are boring here without you.
I smile. Nothing
like a text from my best buddy and co-worker, Flynn Caldwell. We’ve
been through thick and thin together since starting together at the
NYFD, and he’s about the closest thing I have to a brother.
Doesn’t matter that his skin is white and mine’s black.
We’re still super tight.
I’m sure
Rowan is keeping you plenty occupied , I text back.
Yeah…
setting fire between the sheets, he immediately replies.
I snicker, because
that’s true enough. Flynn and Rowan can barely keep their hands
off each other. I start to text back a witty, if not crude, reply
when I hear Sam shrieking from the backyard.
“D-a-a-a-d-d-y!”
Fear and adrenaline
surge through me as I recognize pain and terror in Sam’s voice.
The phone drops from my hand and I bolt out of the bedroom, catching
my shoulder on the doorjamb. Tearing down the hall, I fly into the
kitchen, scramble around the table, and fling the sliding glass door
open.
Sam is running
across the yard toward me, clutching one hand to his chest. Tears are
pouring down his face. Scout trots behind him, looking worried as
only golden retrievers can.
I sprint toward him,
dropping to my knees in the grass and opening my arms up. “What’s
wrong? What happened?”
Sucking in a deep
breath, which stutters through his tears, he wails, “I was
chasing after Scout, and
“So, can we,
Dad?” he asks again as he plops down. I busy myself with
getting out the cereal and milk, using that as my excuse to ignore
him.
Sam doesn’t
seem to catch on that I’m trying to avoid this conversation,
and he continues chattering as I pour him a bowl of Fruit Loops. “A
dog would be so cool. I want one just like Scout, except we couldn’t
name it Scout. Maybe I’d call him Ranger… or Pete…
or maybe even Sweet Foxy Brown.”
I roll my eyes,
because out of the mouths of babes and all that. “No dog,
buddy. You know we don’t have room in my apartment, and
besides… who would take care of it when you were staying with
your mom?”
“I’d
take the dog with me to Mom’s when it was my time to stay with
her,” he says, completely nonplussed.
“Yeah…
if you think I’m dead set against a dog, just wait until you
try to ask your mom for one. I can tell you, without a doubt, that
she’ll say no.”
“She’ll
say yes,” he says confidently, and then shovels a huge scoop of
cereal in his mouth.
While he’s
chewing, I take the opportunity to lean in, kiss him on the head, and
say, “Sorry, little man. It’s just not something we can
do right now. Not with you splitting time between me and Mom’s,
and I only have an apartment.”
Sam’s mouth
chews fervently, trying to get the food swallowed so he can argue
with me. I take the opportunity to escape. “Finish your cereal,
and then get dressed. I’m going to go take a quick shower.”
His brows slanting
angrily inward, Sam swallows his cereal and glares at me. Giving a
sigh, I head back toward the guest bedroom of Denise’s house
where Sam and I are sharing a bed. This is the second year in a row
that we’ve come to New Orleans for our summer vacation, taking
advantage of the free room with my sister and the variety of
attractions available in NOLA. Denise has been in New Orleans for the
last six years, having followed a man down here, who turned out to be
of the asshole variety. He left to go back to New York, but my big
sis loved it down here and decided to make this her new home.
Denise is all the
family I have left, our parents having died in a train derailment a
few years ago when they were actually traveling from our home city of
Brooklyn down to New Orleans to visit Denise. Since then, it’s
just seems the right thing to do to come down and visit so we can
have some quality time together.
Just as I start to
reach into my suitcase for some clean clothes, my cell phone buzzes
with a text. I slip it out of my pocket and tap the Text icon.
How is vacation?
Things are boring here without you.
I smile. Nothing
like a text from my best buddy and co-worker, Flynn Caldwell. We’ve
been through thick and thin together since starting together at the
NYFD, and he’s about the closest thing I have to a brother.
Doesn’t matter that his skin is white and mine’s black.
We’re still super tight.
I’m sure
Rowan is keeping you plenty occupied , I text back.
Yeah…
setting fire between the sheets, he immediately replies.
I snicker, because
that’s true enough. Flynn and Rowan can barely keep their hands
off each other. I start to text back a witty, if not crude, reply
when I hear Sam shrieking from the backyard.
“D-a-a-a-d-d-y!”
Fear and adrenaline
surge through me as I recognize pain and terror in Sam’s voice.
The phone drops from my hand and I bolt out of the bedroom, catching
my shoulder on the doorjamb. Tearing down the hall, I fly into the
kitchen, scramble around the table, and fling the sliding glass door
open.
Sam is running
across the yard toward me, clutching one hand to his chest. Tears are
pouring down his face. Scout trots behind him, looking worried as
only golden retrievers can.
I sprint toward him,
dropping to my knees in the grass and opening my arms up. “What’s
wrong? What happened?”
Sucking in a deep
breath, which stutters through his tears, he wails, “I was
chasing after Scout, and
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