Page 68 of Dirty Puck

“You all right?”

“Look at him,” she said and I did. Reece sat in a chair at the front of the group with Benny standing next to him, holding on to Reece’s arm and leaning his head againstReece’s shoulder listening to the burly man read the story. My eyes started to tear up too. My heart felt full, but then, a sort of panic started to take hold. My son was getting far too attached to Reece and I could think of only one way to fix this problem.

We stayed for about an hour, or about three groups of children. The Copperheads had a long rest of the day ahead of them. Jaycee and LJ joined us. We stopped to pick up Happy Meals for the boys and then met up at the park. Both boys loved the sandbox.

LJ took such good care of Benny. He held Benny’s hand as they walked over to the sand, and when the boys walked back to us for a drink, LJ looked at his mom and said, “Benny no talk, but he my best friend.”

I threw my hand over my mouth to stifle my gasp. There were no words to explain how that felt.

“I can tell he loves playing with you, too,” Jaycee said back.

“I know,” LJ replied. “I his best friend too.”

The boys finished their drinks and left to play again.

“If Benny keeps playing with LJ, he’ll be talking in no time,” I told Jaycee. “His vocabulary is amazing for his age.”

She smiled. “I’m proud of him. I love how well the boys get along. Benny is one of the sweetest boys I’ve ever met and it’s good for LJ to learn early that our friends can be different from us. I always worry, given who his dad is, and the privilege Grant provides, that LJ could grow up with some undeserved sense of entitlement. I’d lose my shit if I ever found out my son was a bully.”

“I don’t see it happening. You two are great parents and he’s got too many good adults in his life to keep him in check.”

“I’ll hold you to that one,” she replied.

Once the boys were ready for naps, we said our goodbyes and Benny, Claudia, Char, and I headed home, where I gotmy boy in a bath and then down for a nap. Reece texted when he was on his way home. I put the meatballs I’d made while Benny napped into the oven and started the pasta. Claudia made the salad while Char rested.

It’d been a good day and I wanted Reece happy when I sat him down to talk about what I had to talk about.

He looked a bit wiped and when he saidhi, his voice sounded just a bit hoarse from reading books all day, but the twinkle in his eyes said it all.

“Good day?” I asked, giggling as he pulled me into a kiss.

“We’ll definitely do that again, but I think next year, we should hire sign language interpreters for each room. Make it inclusive for even more kids.”

“That’s a fantastic idea,” I said, giving his arm a squeeze. “Are you hungry?”

“Starved. What’s for dinner? I smell Italian.”

“Spaghetti and meatballs. C’mon. Claudia and your mom are eating in her room tonight. She’s a bit tired.”

“Something happen?”

“We went to the park after the library. Then when we got home, she wanted to go down to the water. It’s just been a long day.”

“I’ll pop in to see her before we eat. Where’s Benny?”

“He played hard today too. Even after his nap, he went down to the water with Claudia and your mom. He was so hungry, so I fed him and he crashed. I tucked him in bed already. You just have me for a dinner companion.”

“Movie while we eat?”

“Excellent.”

He backed me against the wall. “I’m thinkingBaker Does Bree,” he said in his low, gravelly voice.

I shook my head. “That movie hasn’t been made and I have it on good authority it never will be.”

“Don’t ever want to make a sex tape? It might be fun.”

“There’s a credo I live by. Do what you like, but never getit caught on video. And this is coming from a woman who stripped for a living. But that was a job. Something I did to take care of my kid.”

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