After I made sure Tessa and her family had eaten, I left the hospital. By the time I got to Sam’s apartment, the sun was almost coming up. Thankfully, he let me inside, where I crashed on the couch without another word. It wasn’t until I felt someone slapping my face repeatedly that I woke up again, groaning.

“What?”

A little laugh responded. My eyes popped open and landed on Miles’s smiling face inches away from mine.

“Hey, Buddy.” I smiled, pulling him into a hug. “Don’t you know you can’t wake people up by hitting them?”

“I tried poking, but Uncle Sam said to slap you.”

“Uncle Sam, huh?” I rubbed my eyes and sat up before stretching. “You need a new sofa.”

“It’s a sofa bed, you know?”

No, I hadn’t. It wouldn’t have mattered if it had been a rock. I’d been so exhausted when I got here that I hadn’t really cared where I’d crashed. I looked at Miles. “What are we doing today?”

“Can we go to the museum?”

“Didn’t Uncle Sam take you there yesterday?” I stood, ruffled Miles’s hair, and walked to the bathroom, taking the bag I’d packed for Miami with me.

“He wants to go to the one in the city. I took him to the one nearby.”

“Hm.” I spit out toothpaste and rinsed my mouth. “How’s the weather? What about the park? We can go out on the canoe or visit the library. Have you been there yet?”

Miles ran into the bathroom, shaking his head. “Do we have to be quiet there?”

“At the library? Yes.” I chuckled. “Is that going to be a problem?”

He shrugged nonchalantly, made a funny face, and walked out. If I hadn’t known he was my son, that right there would have given it away. After I finished, I joined my brother in the kitchen.

“How did you not know? He looks just like me.” I looked over at Miles, who was busy with a puzzle. If it was one of Sam’s puzzles, it would take him all day. Sam liked to do puzzles and crosswords nowadays to help with his memory.

“I told you I suspected. He was a baby. He looked like everyone.”

He didn’t look like everyone. He looked like me. Big difference. I didn’t push the matter because at the end of the day, it didn’t make a difference.

“How’s Freddie?”

I closed my eyes. “I’m torn between going down there and calling. I just don’t want to leave Miles again.”

“You can leave him with me. We can go get bagels down the block, you can take them while Miles and I eat, and then you can pick him up and go to the library.”

“That doesn’t sound half bad.” I closed my eyes again. “I’m going to need two pounds of coffee to get through this day.”

“On it. Go shower.”

“On it.”

An hour later, we were at a bagel shop close to the hospital, standing in the longest line for bagels I’d ever seen.

“They better taste like heaven.”

“They do. Check the Yelp reviews if you don’t believe me.”

“What does heaven taste like?” Miles inquired.

“Good question,” I said. “I have no idea.”

“Hm.” He pursed his lips as he looked around. “So why do you say that?”

I felt myself smile. He was so damn cute. “It’s just an expression.”

“Like ‘bite the bullet’?”

“Yeah, like that,” I said, shooting my brother a-what-the-fuck look. “Where did you hear that one?”

“Uncle Freddie says it a lot.” His voice was quieter when he said Freddie’s name. He blinked up at me. “Is he going to be okay?”

If I’d ever had a doubt about whether hearts could break, seeing the uncertainty in his eyes and not being able to reassure him would have proven to me that it was very possible. I swallowed and nodded as I lifted him into my arms. He wrapped his arms around my neck and settled his head on my chest as if he’d known me his entire life. I held him tighter.

“Uncle Freddie’s a strong guy. A soldier, the most badass motherfucker I know,” I said. “He’s going to be just fine.”

I believed the words I spoke because I knew Freddie and if there was ever anyone who could get out of something this serious, it was him. We were finally seated. I carried Miles over to the table, ordered a quick box to go, grabbed one of those bagels, and promised I’d be right back. It took me ten minutes to get to the hospital in an Uber, and when I reached the ICU waiting area, they were all strewn across the chairs. Tessa’s parents had their heads leaning on each other’s and were asleep. Tessa was lying on two chairs, as was Celia. Joan was the only one up and about, stretching her arms over her head and cracking her neck. She glanced up when she saw me approach with the bagels and coffee.

“You are a savior,” she said. “I’m never saying that again, so revel in it.”

“How’s Freddie?”

“Awake. Finally. The doctor just came by, but I’m letting them sleep a little longer. They’re still running tests.”

“Any news on the spinal injury thing?”

“Not yet.” She took the box of bagels and set it on a side table. I followed her and set down the box of coffee and the cups, then walked over to Tessa. I crouched in front of her and brushed her hair back, needing to touch her.

“You better take care of that girl this time around.”

“With my life,” I said, standing and facing Joan. “I mean that.”

“And Miles.”

“Especially Miles.”

She narrowed her eyes on me, judging . . . considering, and then she smiled. “I believe you. How’s the divorce coming along?”

“Not fast enough.” I ran a hand through my hair. “I don’t know what else to do to speed it up.”

“Want my advice? Give her what she wants and get yourself a restraining order. Tessa was talking to Celia about it last night and she means it when she says she doesn’t want Miles anywhere around that woman.” She shrugged, turning back to the bagels. “Don’t say I never did you any favors.”

A restraining order against Camryn? That seemed extreme. I’d get one if Tessa asked me to but getting one without any other justification than my disdain for the woman didn’t feel right. I said goodbye to Joan and let her know where I was taking Miles for the day. On my way back to the bagel shop, I mulled over what she’d said. I’d known Camryn my entire life. I knew she wasn’t capable of physically harming anyone. Would she? I shook the thought away. No. She wouldn’t. She was too self-involved for that.

When I got back there, Miles was finishing up his eggs and bacon. I told him and Sam the good news about Freddie being awake.

“What happened with the fabrics lady?” Sam asked as I sipped on my coffee.

“I called her before we left Miami, she understood our situation and is willing to Skype with Tessa about the fabrics. We’ll see what happens.”

Miles thought the library was cool, but too quiet, so we didn’t stay long before moving on to the Children’s Museum. There, he ran around and played registrar while I shopped for pretend-groceries.

“Bread goes in a baggie,” he said, pointing at me. “Remember that next time, mister.”

I chuckled. This kid was something else. He had a response for every item I put on the tiny conveyer belt.

“What about oranges?” I asked. “They have a shell. Do they need a baggie?”

This gave Miles pause. “But if you have more than one orange, you’ll drop them everywhere.”

“That is true.” I chuckled. “Baggies it is.”

We moved on to the fishing exhibition, where you grab plastic fishing rods and toss them into a pond they had in hopes of catching magnetic fish. Miles’s eyes lit up every time he got a bite.

“You’re good at this. Have you ever been fishing?”

“No.”

“Not even at Joan’s?”

“Nana’s gonna take me soon.”

“I’ll take you,” I said. “If your mom agrees.”

“Okay.” He smiled wide. “Can mommy come?”

“Of course.”

“Can Uncle Sam and Chloe come?”

“Of course.”

“Can Cody come?”

My eyes snapped to his. I wanted to say fuck no but thought better of it. Instead, I gave a small nod. “Sure.”

I needed to talk to Tessa about that, but now wasn’t the time. We finished up in the museum and walked out and down the street. My stomach growled when I saw the Indian place down the block, but something told me that Miles wouldn’t be too thrilled with eating there. We ended up at a pizza joint that sold pizza by the slice. This, he liked. It was either the best pizza I’d ever eaten or I was just starving.

Tessa had sent a few texts throughout the day asking if everything was okay and keeping me posted on what she knew about Freddie, but by the time we got to their apartment, we hadn’t texted in at least an hour, which made me think that she was starting to trust me with him. Upstairs, I put away the leftover pizza and went into his room to take out his pajamas and get him ready for bed.

“Does mommy give you a bath or do you bathe yourself?” I asked.

“Mommy does.”

“Okay. Let’s do that first then.”

I filled the tub and poured some of the bubble bath he said Tessa used for him. I watched as he played with what he said were PJ Masks toys and joined him even though according to him I did every single voice wrong. He followed that up by telling me that his mommy always did the voices the right way, which seemed to be the running theme for the day. I wanted to point out that he used the same exact voice for each character, but I wasn’t three and I didn’t take offense to his observation.

It took a couple of minutes longer than I anticipated to get him out of the tub because he wanted to keep playing. In the end, I bribed him with popcorn and a movie.

Once he was dressed in his pajamas, I put on his movie of choice, which was Frozen. I’d heard a few Dads talk about it during galas and networkers. They hated it, but it was a pretty cool movie. I’d have to ask Tessa what her thoughts on it were. Miles fell asleep before the girl with the brown hair got to the trolls, which was a shame since that song was the best one I’d heard thus far. I picked up his little body and took him to his bed, mimicking everything I’d seen Tessa do the other night.

I switched off the television in the living room and went to Tessa’s bedroom, turning the movie back on there instead, not because I liked it but because I couldn’t start watching a movie and not finish it.