Page 121 of Shine: Sins of the Father
I stroke my fingers through her hair, and she realizes I’ve been up much longer than her.
“What are you thinking about?” she asks.
“I’m thinking this isn’t going to work for long.”
“What?” she pops up, shock written on her face.
“This apartment. There’s not enough space.”
She sinks in relief. “You scared the shit out of me.”
Dylan is in the crib next to us, lying on his stomach, chewing on his fist and watching his parents.
“How long has he been awake?” she asks.
“Not long. He’s just been amusing himself.” We both watch him, and suddenly he gets a little knee under his belly, tightens his little arms, and rolls over.
Fiona surges up. “He rolled over. He rolled over, Shine. That’s the first time ever.”
Happiness floods me. “Goddamn, and I was here for it. This is awesome.”
“Quick. Grab your phone.” She moves to put him back on his tummy. “Maybe he’ll do it again.”
Dylan immediately fusses because he’s been turned back over. His frustration tightens his little face red, but we watch, and he flips himself back over, and I record it on my phone.
“Forward that to me. I want to send it to my mother.”
“Why can’t I send it to your mother?” I ask, and she pauses.
“No reason, I guess.” She smiles. “I kind of like the fact that you and my mom talk to each other. Maybe in a way it makes up for the fact that my father has been freezing you out.”
I shoot off a text, then scoot across the bed. “Get dressed. I want to take you somewhere.” I glance at the time. “Hurry. I don’t want to be late.”
“Late? Late for what?”
“You’ll see.”
We dress, and Fiona feeds Dylan, then we load in her car, and I slip behind the wheel.
“Where are we going?” she asks.
“You’ll see when we get there.” That drives her crazy, and I smile.
We drive across town, and I pull to the curb in front of a modern, newly built condo building.
Fiona looks up at the place. It’s really beautiful with big, covered balconies.
“I thought we could look at getting a place a little bigger. The realtor I contacted is supposed to meet us here to show us a two-bedroom that just came on the market.”
She glances at the building. “You want to live here?”
“You don’t like it?”
“Can we afford it?”
“Well, there are actually two units that just came available. I thought when my mom sells her house, she and Crissy could move in the same building as us. That way we’d have easy access to babysitting, and I could keep an eye on them. What do you think?” My face falls. “Maybe you don’t want them so close.”
“Baby, c’mere.” Fiona cups my face. “I love the idea. And I love what an awesome son you are to your mother. I hope someday Dylan will be just the same.”
