Page 80 of Lies and Lullabies
“Sweetness, I want anything you make for me. Maybe I’m a caveman, but the fact that you used to cook for me made me so fucking happy. I could not wait to walk into the store every night just to see what you’d come up with.”
“It wasn’t much, Jonas. The kitchen at the store isn’t all that great.”
“That is not how I remember it,” Jonas insisted, dropping his voice to a whisper. “I ate so many of your little savory pies that you started making other things for me. It was thoughtful. And I liked knowing that you were thinking about me.”
There was a lump in my throat now. “It was just food,” I said. But that was a lie. Ihadenjoyed feeding him. So much.
“To me, it was more than that. Do you still think about opening a cafe?”
“Sometimes,” I admitted. “But I switched tracks because teachers have a more stable work life.”
“Can you switch again?” he asked. “If you have a little more of a cushion now, you could do what you wanted.”
“It’s not just money, though. I don’t want to leave for work at four thirty in the morning, or four thirty at night. Those are hours that I would miss out on seeing Vivi.”
“Ah,” he said, sounding defeated. We were both quiet for a moment, and then Jonas said, “I’m coming to Boston in forty-eight hours to see you both.”
“Wait. You are?”
“Yeah. Unless you tell me not to. I can get a ten thirty flight out of Philly after my concert Sunday night. I’ll go to a hotel if you want me to, because I’ll land pretty late. But then I’m all yours on Monday. I can bring Vivi her birthday present. And I’ll fly back to rejoin the tour on Tuesday morning, with plenty of time to reach Nashville so Ethan doesn’t have an aneurysm.”
I felt a tingle in my chest at the idea of seeing him again so soon. But the timing wasn’t great, because Adam’s surgery was supposed to happen immediately after that. “Wow. The timing sucks, though.”
“Does it?” he asked, sounding sad.
“Yeah, Adam…” I broke off.
“Adam doesn’t like me,” Jonas said bluntly.
“Adam is having a hard time, Jonas. We’re just a little… busy.”
There was a silence. “Okay.” I could hear him trying to figure out why I would be so vague. But I’d promised Adam to keep his secret. “Should I not come?”
I thought about it for a second. “You should,” I decided. Vivi didn’t know about Adam’s illness, and it’s not like we’d planned to sit around all weekend discussing it.
“All right,” he said, still sounding hesitant. “I want to.”
My heart fluttered again. I was going to see him again in just a few days? “Vivi is going to be so excited to see you.”And so will I.
“I hope so. Oh, Christ. Ethan keeps calling my phone because he can’t find me.”
“Why can’t he find you?”
“Because I’m in a closet.”
I laughed. “If you’re going to come out of the closet, I think we need to have another chat.”
“You crack yourself up, sweetness. Can I call you tomorrow?”
“Of course.”
“Good night, my love.”
More flutters! “Good night,” I said, sounding a little dreamy.
I hung up the phone feeling lighter. And I couldn’t wait to tell Vivi that her daddy was coming to town.
I shut off the light and made myself comfortable under the covers. Monday night, Jonas might actually be lying here beside me. How crazy was that?
