Page 104 of Welcome to Forever
Dora waved a hand. “I heard you babbling about some muffins. Go eat your heart out. You can come help me later.”
Kat laughed and nodded. “Sounds good.” She wished saying sorry was as easy between adults. Of course, if she were to run into Micah right now, she wouldn’t know what she was apologizing for. For falling in love with him? For not being stronger? For turning her back when he needed her most?
For all of the above, she decided, plopping behind her desk and finishing off that first muffin, then following it with a second.
—
Micah watched Ben and Lawson laugh across the table at each other. They usually had their weekly meal with “Uncle” Lawson at home, but tonight, the best that Micah could do was offer to pay for pizza, which Lawson readily agreed to.
Worth every penny, too, because Lawson made Ben smile.
“It’s the cowboy hat,” his friend tried to say earlier in the night, as Micah rolled his eyes. But damn if he wasn’t considering buying his own cowboy hat these days.
“So, this Kimberly girl has invited you to her birthday party, huh?” Lawson was saying as Ben’s pale skin darkened to a deep red. “That’s serious business.” Lawson nodded. “When a girl invites you to her party, it means she likes you. Boys don’t often get invited to girls’ parties. Better make sure you buy a good gift.”
Both Ben and Lawson looked at Micah, who just shrugged. “I’ll take you tomorrow,” he said, unable to muster any enthusiasm. “How’s that?”
“I was thinking I might need to borrow your hat,” Ben said, returning his attention to Lawson.
“You don’t need a hat, little man. Not when the girl is drawing you pictures and begging you to come to her house. Your charm is natural.”
At this, Micah finally smiled. It was short-lived, though, because his gaze caught on the three females walking into Kirk’s Pizza House. Kat, Julie, and Val. He groaned, and Lawson immediately looked back to see the source of his misery.
“You could go talk to her,” he said.
Micah shook his head. “I’ve got nothing to say.”
“She invited me to her office for ice cream yesterday,” Ben offered, causing Micah’s brows to lift.
“You didn’t mention that,” he said.
Ben shrugged. “I thought you might get jealous, or something.”
Jealous? Well, yeah, maybe just a little.
“Ice cream and, let me guess,” Micah said, tapping his finger on his chin. “She’s now your favorite principal again?”
“She said she was sorry, Dad. And I believe her.”
Micah leaned forward and ruffled Ben’s hair. “You are a great kid, you know that? You’re also a sucker for ice cream. Was it chocolate?”
“Chocolate fudge.” Ben shrugged. “So?” He looked at Micah expectantly. Lawson did, too.
“So what?” Micah asked. “She didn’t apologize to me, and she didn’t invite me to her office for chocolate fudge ice cream, either.” Although that was never exactly his treat of choice when it came to Kat.
“Maybe you should apologize first,” Ben suggested, grabbing a third slice of pizza.
“Me?” Micah drew back. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Lawson shook his head. “In my vast experience, the guy always has to say sorry first. It’s a law or something.”
Micah shot him a look. “Let’s just eat and get out of here. I’m not saying sorry for something I didn’t do.” He glanced back at Kat, sitting with the other two women. At least she’d made amends with his son. That was something. But it wasn’t enough, so pondering going over and saying anything to her right now was out of the question.
—
An hour later, Micah turned the lights off in Ben’s room and stared at him from the doorway. In one month’s time, he’d be gone, and this was one of the things he’d miss the most. He loved tucking in his son and telling him goodnight. Boys didn’t get tucked in forever. By the time Micah got home from deployment, Ben might be too big for such things. He was already in the third grade, too big by most kids’ standards. Ben hadn’t pushed him away yet, though, and Micah was going to hang on to every opportunity to be a father to him that he could.
“Dad, stop staring at me,” Ben said sleepily.
