Chapter 25 Dylan
DYLAN
“Wow! He got so big!”
“She got big. Yeah. She’s really healthy, I think.”
“Can I pick her up?”
“Of course. I’m sure she remembers you.”
I don’t know exactly how much pride is appropriate when the son of the woman you’re falling for would rather spend the day with you than his biological father, but I’m feeling really fucking good about things right now.
Yeah, the kitten is a big draw too, but Noah and I have a connection. We get along. It’s a thing.
Scarlett and I are a thing.
Whether she’s ready to admit it yet or not.
I’ve got a thing with her entire family now.
Finally I’ve found two women in Los Angeles who actually want me to eat more. Ever since my parents moved back to Texas, Mama’s been so worried I’ll starve to death out here. This new development might be bad news for my abs, but it’s good news for my heart.
Noah immediately lies down on the carpet and puts the kitten on his chest.
“Why did you keep her name Mr. Noodles?”
“Because you gave her that name and I respect that. If you want to give her a different name, we can talk about it and change it. But she’s already microchipped as Mr. Noodles.”
“You got chipped!” he says to the cat. “I think she thinks she’s Mr. Noodles. So we prob’ly shouldn’t change it. It’s not good to have a lot of changes in your life all at the same time.”
“Yeah. That’s what I was thinking.”
This kid is smart. Like, wicked smart. And super sensitive. He reminds me of me.
He plays with the cat for a little while before saying, “You and my mom already knew each other before today, right?”
Uhhhh. This kid might be a little too smart.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because. When you called me back at my house. My mom was talking to you like she knew you. And she was really grumpy and jumpy forever after that. But not today.”
Sound effect of a large crowd cheering in my head…
“Yeah, she seems pretty relaxed today, huh?”
“Yeah. It’s weird. It’s not like her.”
“I bet.”
Maybe he’ll forget about that thing about his mom already knowing me.
“Anyway. I won’t tell my grandparents. About you and my mom?”
Shit.
“I don’t want you to feel like you have to keep a secret, Noah.”
He sits up and places the kitten between his legs. “It’s okay. I didn’t tell my mom about Mr. Noodles. I mean, until she found out because you didn’t hang up like I told you to.” He grins at me.
“Yeah, that was my bad.”
“We probably shouldn’t tell my mom that I know either.”
“Really? But she’ll probably remember you heard her talking to me. Eventually. When she’s not so relaxed anymore. Although she might get relaxed again soon…”
“Oh yeah.” He shrugs. Okay. “We can tell her. But how do you know her, though?”
Shit.
“I…think your mom should tell you about that. You want to watch a movie or something?”
“Yes! Has Mr. Noodles seen Ghostbusters yet? Or maybe it would scare her. Do you have Finding Nemo? Or maybe that’s too sad. I think I’ll just talk to her.”
“Okay. Let me know if you change your mind.”
“Oh, I will… Is it okay for me to hang out here?”
“Yeah, for sure. I just have to do some reading.”
“Yeah.” He gets back down on the rug again, on his stomach. So he’s eye level with the kitten. “My dad’s always reading a script too. Because he has to remember stuff for his job? Stuff he has to say on TV?”
“Memorizing lines, yeah. My dad was always doing that too.”
This kid looks like he’s having so much fun playing with the cat, but he always seems to have something on his mind too. Kind of like his mom, I guess.
“Do you talk to your dad?” he asks.
“Yeah, I do. I mean, we mostly text now. My parents live in a different city.”
“Did you hang out with your dad when you were a kid like me?”
“We hung out as a family sometimes when I was little. I definitely remember that.”
“Was it fun?”
“Yeah. We always did stuff on weekends. It was fun.”
“I don’t think my dad has fun with me. I mean, he never said that or anything. He just doesn’t like the same stuff I like.”
“Y’know…” Shit. We’re having a moment. As much as I would love to make myself look like a better guy than Adam Bryce right now, I need to make Noah feel better about himself.
“I think some people just don’t know how to talk to kids.
When I got older, my dad started talking to me more, and I realized it wasn’t that he didn’t care about me before.
He just didn’t know what to say. So I bet your dad will start talking to you more when you get older too. ”
“Really?!”
“For sure.”
There’s a knock at the front door, and I can tell by the quiet, jittery rapping that it’s Scarlett and she’s had another cup of coffee in the last ten minutes.
Noah seems totally preoccupied with the cat, so when I open the door, I step out into the hall right in front of her, shut the door most of the way, look around to make sure her parents aren’t with her, and bring her in for a quick kiss because it’s all I’ve wanted to do all morning.
I did clock that she looks concerned and totally preoccupied, but that doesn’t stop me because I also noticed that she didn’t wear her usual red lipstick and I know what that means.
She drops her phone in surprise, her hands reach for my face, and her lips are more than receptive.
It turns into more than a quick kiss, and I am seriously considering pulling her into the stairwell for a lot more than kissing, but she suddenly pulls away from me.
I lower my voice. “You okay?”
She nods, picking up her phone. “I just had a really annoying call with Adam. It’s fine. I need to talk to Noah.” I open the door for her and watch her look around, taking in my condo. “Oh, it’s so nice.”
“Thanks. It’s only a little disturbing that you sound completely shocked.”
“No, it’s just…your design taste is very sophisticated.”
“Yeah, well. I hid all the toys before you came up.” I run ahead of her to kick a few cat toys out of the way. “Except for those.” I pick up a toy banana that’s filled with catnip and hide it behind my back. “And this.” I pick up the little stuffed monkey toy. “And that.”
She’s so focused on Noah and the kitty that she doesn’t even acknowledge how charming and adorable I am.
“Hey, look at you two.” She immediately starts taking pictures of them with her phone. “Wow, she’s grown so much already!” Even before Noah looks back and forth between us, Scarlett covers her mouth. “I mean—compared to the pictures you showed us.”
“Right. Those were from last week.”
She sits cross-legged on the floor next to Noah.
“So, I talked to your dad. He really did want to see you this weekend. He’s fine with you staying with me instead, but he wanted to know…
you know, Thanksgiving is coming up? And we hadn’t decided what we were going to do yet.
I wanted you to be with us for lunch and then you can go to their place for dinner.
But he and Melissa are going to have several days off work, so they wanted you to spend a few days with them.
And then you can spend all of Christmas with me.
How would you feel about that? It’s fine if you don’t want to. ”
Noah looks so happy all of a sudden, and I can see that Scarlett wasn’t expecting that. “Really? He wants me to stay with them?”
“Yeah, over Thanksgiving.”
“Like, he asked if I can?”
“Yes, it seems to be very important to him and Melissa. But you don’t have to stay with them the whole time if you don’t want to.”
“No, I can.”
“Are you sure? Three whole days with them? You’d have to go to Melissa’s parents’ house too.”
“Yeah. That’s okay.”
“Three whole entire days without seeing me?”
Noah nods at her. No big deal.
She sighs. “Okay, well… He’ll be so happy to hear it. But you still have time to change your mind.”
Noah shrugs. She looks so disheartened. I shoot her a text. Her phone vibrates in her back pocket. When she looks up at me, I point at my phone, signaling to check hers.
ME: Come to my parents’ house with me. For Thanksgiving. In Texas.
SCARLETT: What?! I can’t do that.
ME: Why not?
SCARLETT: I can’t leave Noah.
ME: But he’ll be with his dad.
SCARLETT: But what if Noah decides he doesn’t want to stay with him?
ME: Are your parents going to be in town?
SCARLETT: Yes.
ME: Just come for like one night. I’ll get a hotel room near their house.
SCARLETT: Dylan. It’s kind of soon for me to be meeting your family, don’t you think?
ME: I just met yours…
SCARLETT: Well, that’s different.
“Hey, can I see where she goes to the bathroom?!”
“Sure. Her litter box is in that thing that looks like a bench with the cupboards over there.”
ME: I don’t see how it’s different, other than my family is a bunch of sarcastic assholes.
And I would love for them to meet you. Especially since it would mean that Miles will be the only one there who doesn’t have a girlfriend.
So even though you aren’t my therapist anymore, you would be helping me with some key issues…
SCARLETT: Can we pretend I was never your therapist?
ME: Um…
SCARLETT: Oh right. Owen’s girlfriend knows Mia.
ME: You have an excellent memory, even though I never saw you take any notes. Probably because you were too busy staring at my outrageously handsome face.
SCARLETT:
“Aww. There’s no poop in it.”
“Yeah, I cleaned it this morning.”
“I wanted to see her little poops.”
“Maybe next time.”
“Noah, close the cupboard doors. Come on.”
ME: Why don’t I book us tickets. If you change your mind I’ll just cancel yours. No big deal. But I should book them now to be safe.
ME: Okay?
ME: If I don’t hear back from you in three seconds, I will take that as an okay.
ME: Great. I’ll forward you the flight info as soon as I have it.
SCARLETT: Dylan.
ME: Too late.
“Do you have any pictures of what her poops look like?”
“Noah. Why would he take pictures of that?”
“What? They’re prob’ly really cute.”
“I don’t have any pics of them, but I can take some and email them to your mom for you.”
“Dylan.”
“What?”
“Let’s respect Mr. Noodles’s bathroom boundaries.”
“You’re no fun, Mom.”
“You’ve known this for eight years. I’m never going to change.”
ME: I thought you were pretty fun last night.
SCARLETT:
ME: Also, does Chevy Chase know your dad is stealing all his jokes?
SCARLETT: LOL. I’m truly impressed that you recognize those old jokes.
ME: My brother used to watch those old comedies a lot and I always wanted to be around him when I was little, so I watched them too.
SCARLETT: Miles?
ME: Owen. Miles is too big of an asshole to watch comedies.
ME: Also, Noah knows we met before today. He overheard you talking to me that time I called the house.
SCARLETT: Oh yeah. Shit. My brain… My brains were…
ME: Oh, I know. I was there.
ME: When can I see you again?
SCARLETT: You are literally looking at me right now.
ME: You know what I mean.
SCARLETT: Well, I have Noah with me for the weekend now. So maybe next weekend.
ME: That’s too long.
SCARLETT: But I’m literally here with you right now.
ME: You know what I mean.
SCARLETT: I do.
SCARLETT: Thank you for inviting me to Thanksgiving. It’s very sweet of you.
ME: You won’t think that after you’ve gained ten pounds overnight. But you’re welcome.
ME: But when can I see you again?
SCARLETT: Why don’t you and Noah watch a movie or something. I need to go help my parents unpack some more.
ME: Fine. But I’m walking you out to the hall. And then to the stairwell. So get your mouth ready for my mouth.
SCARLETT: Fine.
I turn on my TV and start Ratatouille.
Scarlett gives Mr. Noodles and Noah kisses. “Okay, buddy. I’m going back downstairs to help Grandma and Grandpa unpack. Will you be okay here for a couple of hours?”
Noah places Mr. Noodles on top of his head. “Yes.”
I mean, I don’t know what parents are always complaining about. So far this stuff seems easy-peasy. “I’m just gonna walk your mom out to the hall, okay, buddy? Be right back. Don’t burn the place down or choke on anything, okay?”
Judging by the look his mother gives me, I guess that wasn’t as funny as I thought it was.
“Okay,” he says. “Don’t trip and fall on top of my mom in the hall.”
Yeah. That kid is way too smart.