Chapter Fifteen

Denise

“You really didn’t have to cook for us again, Mrs. Morrow.” I look at Zack’s mother sitting at the other end of the island and smile.

Yesterday, I called Allison to chat, and she was almost in tears. Alex was teething so badly, and she hadn’t slept all night, and to make matters worse, Max wasn’t home, so she was fit to be tied. I offered to take Michael for the weekend to give her a break, and I don’t know who was more excited—Allison or Michael. She drove him right over, and we were on our walk to the park when Jack called.

When I went to dinner the night before, he had asked me for my number—just in case he said—and then came with a pen and paper. I never imagined he would call me, so when a strange number came through, I answered it right away, not even thinking, and his sweet voice filled my ear.

“Dr. Denise,” he said as he laughed, “I called you.”

“I know you did, honey. What are you doing?”

“I’m going to show Grandma how to play mini sticks,” he told me. “Do you want to come over and play?”

I looked down at Michael, who must have heard and nodded. Then I heard a woman’s voice on the phone. “Hello?”

“Hi there.”

“Oh my goodness, he actually called someone,” she said in shock. “I’m sorry, my grandson asked to borrow my phone.”

“I know, Jack told me. I’m his Dr. Denise,” I told the flustered woman laughing.

“Oh, thank god, he didn’t call some random person,” she said and then I heard Jack in the background talking to her.

“She’s coming for a play date, Grandma,” he said, and I heard him jumping up and down.

“Honey, we don’t know if she’s busy,” she tried to tell him, then came back to talk to me. “You don’t have to.”

“I’m actually with my nephew, Michael, and he would love to come and visit Jack.”

“That sounds lovely,” she said, and she somehow felt familiar to me.

“Would you like me to bring you anything?” I ask her, and she told me no and that she would see me soon, then hung up.

They played mini sticks for hours, and then after dinner, Jack and Michael wanted to take a bath together. I felt that I had overstayed my welcome, but Shirley just beamed with happiness. “He’s never had such a good friend before,” she said to me while Jack and Michael played Tonka trucks.

“He’s a great kid,” I told her, looking at him, and she just put her hand on mine.

“He’s going to be okay,” she said to me, making my heart stop as I stood up straight. “I feel it.”

After bath, I quickly read them both a story while I lay in Jack’s bed and heard them moan and complain when I said there would be no sleepovers. I bundled Michael in my arms as we got into the Uber to go back to my loft where we built a fort in my bed and finally fell asleep.

“Denise,” Shirley says, looking over at me. “Thank you for taking them to the movies for me,” she says. When I got up and was making breakfast, Jack called again and asked if we wanted to go watch a movie. I bit the bullet for both of us and took them.

“Thank you for meeting us at the park,” I tell her, smiling.

“Let’s hope the fresh air tires them out a bit,” she says, and then her phone rings and she holds it up, seeing it is Zack.

“Hey, son,” she says. “Look, Jack, Dad is on the FaceTime, and he’s in his uniform.”

“Hi, Dad, we are going to watch the game and eat popcorn,” he tells him while looking at him. “We got buckets from the movie this afternoon.”

“Did you?” he says, and I sit here, hoping she turns the phone just a bit so I can get a glimpse of him. I’ve been in his house for the past two days, and even if he hasn’t been here, I smell him everywhere.

“Michael and I are making forts for the game,” he tells his father, and then she finally turns the phone our way, and I see him smile when he sees Michael and then his eyes find mine and his smile grows a bit wider.

“It feels like I’ve taken over your mother’s visit,” I tell him.

“I’m sure she is loving every second of it either way,” he says and then she turns the phone away to talk to him again. The call is short as he has to get on the ice soon. He tells her he will be home at around one-ish.

“Okay, rugrats,” I say, getting up from my stool and carrying my plate to the sink. “You have one hour before the puck drops, and I want pjs on.” They both get off their stools, bringing me their plates.

“Was it delicious?” I ask them when they hand me the empty plates. “Say thank you.”

“Thank you, Grandma,” Jack says while Michael says, “Thank you, Jack’s grandma.” She laughs at them, getting up and coming to give them both a hug.

“It was my pleasure to cook for you two.”

She brings me her plate, handing it to me so I can rinse it off and put it in the dishwasher. “I don’t know how my son has been doing this all alone for the past five years,” she says quietly when they go to the living room to get a car to bring in the bath.

“Five years?” I ask, surprised.

“Don’t get me wrong, I will always be grateful she gave me Jack, but I just wished she was more involved. She just didn’t have that motherly instinct that you have,” she says, smiling at me. “You can’t teach that; it’s embedded in you.”

“Well, then I guess it skips a generation because my mother wasn’t born with it either,” I tell her. She reaches out to squeeze my hand while the boys yell my name. Jack still calls me Dr. Denise.

“I’ll give them the bath. You sit and relax,” I tell her, walking upstairs to the bath. My shirt gets soaked when I pick Michael up because the towel falls and he lands all wet on me.

“Sorry, Auntie Denise,” he says, and I just lean in and kiss his wet nose.

“I’ll get you a shirt,” Jack says, running into what looks like a closet. He comes back with a Stingers t-shirt. “So we all match again,” he says, and I take it from him.

“Thank you, love. Go put on your slippers so your feet don’t get cold,” I tell him as he runs back to his room to get his slippers while I dress Michael in his pajamas. When he is dressed, they go downstairs to watch the hockey game, leaving me to fold the clothes. I peel my shirt over my head, folding it and placing it in the same bag with Michael’s clothes. Pulling the shirt over my head, I’m hit with his smell right away. It is big on me and falls to the middle of my legs, the sleeves going to my elbows. I look at myself in the mirror. It’s the same shirt I was wearing, but this one just has eighteen on the front and instead of Max’s. I bring it to my nose, taking one deep inhale, and then turn to go downstairs and watch the game.

Shirley has made popcorn, and the boys sit on the couch, watching the big screen in front of them. “There’s my dad,” Jack says while I put our bag by the door. I walk back into the living room and see that Shirley is sitting on one side of the couch with Jack in her arms. She looks up and smiles at me.

“Sorry it took so long. I got soaked getting Michael out of the tub,” I tell her. “Jack got me one of Zack’s shirts.”

She kisses Jack’s head and then looks back up. “It’s perfect,” she says, and we turn to watch the game. The players are just taking the ice, and the national anthem starts playing and we sing along with them. Michael is curled up in my side.

“Jack’s grandma,” Michael says, “that’s my dad and my uncle.” He’s pointing at Max and Matthew proudly.

She nods her head. “You’re handsome like them.” He doesn’t say anything; he just nods his head, agreeing with her.

The game is a nail-biter as both teams push each other physically. Philly gets the first blood when one of them tries to slash Phil. Instead, his stick goes up higher than he expected, nailing Phil in the nose. His head snaps back as blood starts to trickle out. Phil skates over to the referee and shows him the blood on his fingers, getting the Philly player an extra two minutes for drawing blood.

I see the guy skate to the bench, and by reading his lips, he isn’t a happy camper. Matthew wins the face-off in the Philly zone, passing it back to Zack, and then Zack passes it to the other defenseman who passes it in the corner to Phil. Phil passes it back to the defenseman, who slides it to Zack who is in his spot lifting his stick and burying the puck in the back of the net with a one timer.

I throw my hands in the air, celebrating while Jack gets up on the couch, jumping over to me give me a high-five. “That’s my dad,” he tells me, and I just smile as he sits next to me. My arm goes around him, and he cuddles in close. We watch the rest of the game, and by the third period, my eyes have closed for just a second. I know I should get up and get going before it gets later, but Michael and Jack are dissecting the game. I look over at Shirley, who is lying on the couch with her eyes closed. Just for five minutes. I’ll just rest them and then we will go, I tell myself.

I feel someone playing in my hair. Opening my eyes, I look at the person who just moved the hair from my face. “Hey,” Zack says with a smile.

“What time is it?” I look around and see I’m on the couch lying down, spooning Jack while Michael snores from the bottom of my feet.

“It’s a little after two,” he says, and I look into his eyes and realize that I’ve missed him. “I just sent my mom up.”

“We must have fallen asleep watching the game,” I tell him. I get up on my elbow and look around, blinking my eyes to stay awake. “I need to get an Uber.”

“Wow, we must really be boring.” He laughs. “It’s two a.m. You aren’t taking an Uber,” he says quietly, getting up and grabbing Michael. “I’m going to put Michael in Jack’s bed. You two can crash in there, and Jack can sleep with me.”

I watch him walk out of the room and get up, grabbing Jack in my arms and following him upstairs. He walks out of Jack’s room and sees me holding Jack as I walk into his room. “Which side do you sleep on?” I ask him.

“Always closest to the door,” he says, so I walk around the bed to place Jack next to the window. I grab a couple of pillows, placing it beside him.

“I could go home,” I say, going to him and standing in front of him.

“You’re wearing my shirt,” he says, his eyes roaming over me.

“Yeah, I’m sorry. Jack gave it to me.” I’m suddenly feeling a little bit flustered. “Mine got soaked when I was giving the boys a bath.”

“Looks better on you than me,” he says quietly.

“I’m sorry we crashed here,” I tell him, and he moves closer to me.

“I can’t say I’m sorry you’re here,” he tells me softly. “Not one little bit.”

“Good night, Zack,” I say and turn to walk away from him before I climb him like a monkey in front of his son. When my hand grazes his, he wraps his fingers into mine softly, and when I look down, the tips of our fingers barely touch, but I know I felt it.

“Good night, Denise,” he says, staring at me as I walk out. “See you tomorrow.” His voice is a whisper.

I walk out and go into Jack’s room. Climbing into bed with Michael, I sleep surrounded by the smell of Zack.