Page 13 of Uproot

I dress him in a blue t-shirt and some nice khaki shorts that thankfully fit his skinny frame. We make our way to the kitchen, and Dragana smiles when she sees Edison. They became fast friends last night when I brought him here, and she offered him the Vasina torta she had made during the day, her favorite Serbian dessert I grew up loving.

"Good morning, Edison! I have pancakes and eggs for you," Dragana announces, ushering him over to sit at the island.

"Thank you," Edison mumbles, smiling sleepily as he climbs into a chair.

The doorbell rings and I go to answer it, and let Helen inside. "Good morning Sir," she says, handing me a coffee cup that saysCoco's Cafeon it.

"Morning, thanks," I respond, walking her back over to the dining room. She greets Dragana and Edison before taking a seat next to me.

"Did you get things caught up with the marketing team?" I ask, taking a sip of the black coffee.

"Yes. You have a Zoom meeting with them at 11. I added it to your calendar," Helen responds, taking out her phone. We go over some more items on my to do list while Edison eats his breakfast. After he finishes eating, Dragana takes him to go brush his teeth and I get up with Helen, going back to the front foyer.

"I'm going to need you to run some errands for me today in Charlestown," I say, putting on my shoes. "Edison really needs some new shoes now that I know his size. Also, if you can get him some more toys. Anything Ninja turtle themed you can find would be great. Coloring books, toys, clothes, DVD’s. Just buy all of it."

"No problem, Sir. Anything else I should get while I'm out?" she asks, as we make our way outside.

I think for a moment, "Maybe some kind of light for his room. You know one of those ones that projects images onto the ceiling. He has a bad phobia of the dark. Even with the nightlight Selah gave me for him it was rough getting him to settle down last night."

"I'm sure it won't be hard to find it there. Charlestown is much larger than here. I'll bring over everything when I get back," she says, typing everything into her phone. I give her one of my credit cards and she takes off in her SUV.

I talk to Edison a bit on the drive to school, but he is much quieter in the morning, which is fine with me. The barely strong black coffee that Helen brought me hasn't hit my blood stream yet and I'm still feeling groggy from my lack of sleep too.

I don't know how the hell people survive working when they have newborns, or small kids at home, it should be illegal.

We get to Upwood Elementary School and make our way inside. Edison takes my hand and we stop by the front office to go over some paperwork with the Administrator there, before heading to his classroom.

When we walk inside there are kids playing at different stations set up around the room from a kinetic sand table to Legos. My eyes roam around until I find Selah. She's stooped down at a table with two little girls, helping them form blue playdoh into shapes.

She's wearing pink dress slacks, and a white sleeveless blouse, with pink flats. Her dark hair is up in a tight bun, and her face looks makeup free like the first time I met her.

Seeing her really took me off guard standing outside of her front door last night. I expected Edison's teacher to be an much older woman with gray hair, and a couple of grandkids. Instead I came face-to-face with a beautiful woman with the face of an angel, and a body that had occupied more than one sordid dream I had last night in my restless sleep.

Everything about her was so sweet, and soft. I spent too much time staring at her during dinner in-between chatting with Edison. I watched her push around the meatballs on her plate, taking tentative bites when she couldn't feel my gaze on her.

I haven't been on a date in almost a year, but even when I was dating, I've never had a reaction like I had seeing Selah. I felt like someone hit me in the chest with a hundred-pound weight at the most inopportune time possible in my life.

Selah looks up as Edison runs over to give her a hug, laughing as he almost knocks her over. "Good morning Edi!" She sings, getting up and helping him take off his backpack. She looks up and sees me, startling when she realizes I'm also in the room.

"Good morning, Ms. Selah! Bye Uncle Beckett!" Edison chirps, before going over to the workstation with the Lego's.

I walk over to Selah, and she smiles at me timidly, suddenly shy again as if I wasn't just eating dinner with her last night. "Good morning, Mr. Kade," she greets quietly.

"Just call me Beckett, Selah," I say, following her as she goes to hang up Edison's bag. "How are you?"

She sighs, looking over at Edison. "Honestly, I had a hard time sleeping. I was a little worried about Edi," she responds.

I frown, not liking the idea of her being unsettled, "I'm sorry, Selah. Why don't I give you my number. That way if you're ever worried I can keep you updated on how he's doing when he's not at school," I suggest.

Her face lights up, "Really? I'd appreciate that. Not that I don't think that you're doing a great job with him. I know you said you have a nanny also to help you out. I just..worry."

I reach out a hand and gently rub her arm, "You don't have to worry about him, Selah. Let me do that now," I assure her.

She looks down at where my fingers are touching her soft skin, then slowly meets my eyes again, "Ok. Thank you, Beckett."

A bell rings and she jumps away from my touch. The kids all begin to clean up their stations like well-trained tiny workers, going over to the two sinks to wash their hands.

Selah runs a hand over her curls, regaining her composure, and a part of me appreciates how flustered I made her with just one small touch.

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