Page 135 of Timeless

“Dad, what does it say?” Jack’s voice went up with nerves.

“Your mom is fine, Jack.” I took a much-needed breath out. Holding my breath was automatic reaction. I kissed the back of his head. “She is completely fine.”

“Why did she go to the doctor?” Jack hadn’t calmed down yet.

“She hurt her shoulder.” I brought up the ultrasound. “She has torn a muscle, see here.” I pointed to the highlighted part of ultrasound that showed the tear. “It’s pretty nasty by the looks of it.” I frowned, I hadn’t even noticed she was sore. Here I was making her put her arms around me and she probably had pain lifting her arm.

Jack’s fingers went to the screen, tracing over the picture. “That’s my fault.”

“I doubt that, Jack.”

“It is, I left my toys out and Mom tripped on my train and landed on the coffee table.” Jack turned on my lap. “So, Mom’s not dying?”

“No.”

“So, Uncle Tae lied?” Jack was looking at me, confused. I guess he wasn’t used to being lied to by someone he trusted. Did I lie and say Tae just got the facts wrong?

“Tae is no longer a part of your life. Because he is a liar and…” Okay, I couldn’t tell my son I thought his godfather was a low life piece of shit I wanted to kill.

“You don’t like him.” Jack read my expression.

Fuck. He read me as well as his mother. “You know how you were worried about losing your mom?” I was going to explain this to Jack the best I could. I wasn’t going to lie to him. I would be honest with him.

Jack nodded.

“Well, he has taken your mom from me twice.” And I was never letting Tae take her again. “So, you were right, I don’t like him.” I fucking hated Tae. But I wasn’t going to poison Jack against him. “Now you know your mom is fine. Do you want to try and go back to sleep?”

Jack shook his head slowly. “I’ve got a headache.”

Okay. What did I do for that? “Guessing Tylenol? Do you have Tylenol for kids? You aren’t allergic or anything? What does your mom normally do?” I was suddenly in over my head.

“Tylenol. It’s above the oven. So, I can’t reach it.”

“All right. Let’s do it.” I lifted him up. I don’t know why but I didn’t want to put him down now. He didn’t seem to mind and put his head on my shoulder.

I flicked on the down lights, opening the cupboard and pulling out the box that had medications in it.

I pulled out the Tylenol. “Okay, it’s in a bottle?” I frowned at it. “You don’t have tablets?”

“No.” Jack picked something out of the box. “You measure it with this.”

I took the measuring cup. “You know I’m not as skilled at this stuff as your mom.” I sat Jack down on the kitchen island. I grabbed the box that I took the Tylenol bottle out of. I frowned, the dose went off weight and age. Jack was six but I had no idea what he weighed.

Jack pointed to a line on the measuring cup. “Mom has it marked.”

I took the measuring cup off him, suppressing my smile. I poured the Tylenol into the measuring cup. I knew for a fact Amber didn’t need this marked. Maybe Will did?

Jack swung his legs on the kitchen island as I handed him the Tylenol.

Jack gave it a disgusting look. “I hate the strawberry.”

“Same.” I put the bottle back and saw Amber’s valium box. I knew I had no right to be violating her privacy like this but I also wanted… no,neededto know. I pulled the bottle out of the box. It was almost gone. I sighed. Was she dependent on them? Was this how she coped working full time, managing Jack?

Why didn’t she tell me she was taking Valium? I looked at the dose. Fuck. That could knock me out.

“They’re Will’s.”

I looked at Jack. “These are?” I held up the pills.

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