10. Joshua
Chapter 10
Joshua
“ W ell, good morning, Sunshine!” my mom’s chipper voice sounds like a megaphone on my phone’s speaker.
“Hey, Mom.”
“You sound glum, Josh. What’s going on?” I instantly hear the way her voice changes from cheery to concerned.
“You woke me up. This is how I sound in the morning.” I check the time. It’s not even seven. “Is something wrong?”
“Does booking a trip to Texas constitute as something wrong?”
My stomach does flips at the mention of her coming here.
“Now?!” I sit up straight and try to wipe the sleep from my eyes.
“I mean, not today. But soon. I’m waiting for Oliver’s work to approve his time off. And then… we’re coming to Texas! Oh god, you don’t already have plans, do you?”
“Uh… I mean… kind of, Mom.”
Plans that include keeping the three children living under my roof off her radar.
“Well,” she sighs. “Can’t you just reschedule? You know I don’t get time off from U-M often. I’d really like to see you, Josh. Even if only for a weekend.”
The woman pulls at my heartstrings. She doesn’t get much time off. She hardly ever gets time off. And when she does, I usually have to fly to Michigan to see her and Oliver. Not the other way around.
“Please, Josh. I’d really like to see my one and only son. Explore his neck of the woods…”
I rub a hand down my face. I can do this. I can make this work. I’ll just keep her away from the house.
“Ok, Mom. Of course. I want to see you too. And Oliver.”
I can hear her smiling now when she says, “I can’t wait!”
We catch up on things, and she gives me updates on a few surgeries she’s done recently that landed her in a few medical publications. I tell her about anything other than the fact that I’m now responsible for the kids, the man she hates most in this world left behind.
They were supposed to be gone before I ever had to mention it to her. Now, I’ll have to figure out how to keep them under wraps until she leaves.
And then she asks the dreaded question. “Anyone serious I should know about?”
I scoff. “You know I don’t date… long-term,” I add.
She groans. “My son, the heartbreaker.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” I tease.
“You won’t be young forever, baby. Just remember that. Eventually, you’ll want to settle down, even with your crazy life as an athlete. These girls you meet… the ones you don’t date long-term. Each one of them takes a piece of you, whether you want to admit it or not. I just hope you know that there’s something special about meeting the one that will hold all your pieces together when you need it the most.”
“Are you getting sappy because it’s your anniversary?” I ask her.
She pauses. “Oh my god. I need to call Oli!"
I laugh. “Just doing my part in holding together all your pieces.”
She chuckles. “Just think about what I said, Josh.”
“I–I’ll keep that in mind, Mom.”
“Love you, my boy.”
We hang up. And now I feel like a total ass. But I’ll be an even bigger ass if my mother arrives and finds out that James Anderson’s kids are here.
I’d hate to ruin her one opportunity to unwind from her career as a heart surgeon. She works in one of the country’s best hospitals. She’s always working. She doesn’t need this.
I tear the sheets away from my body and jump out of the bed. After showering and brushing my teeth, I head down for some coffee. I had no idea anyone else was awake. The house was so quiet. But huddled in the kitchen are Cassidy and Maddie mixing a bowl of something.
“What are you two up to?”
Maddie’s head pops up and looks back, “We’re making French toast!”
Cassidy doesn’t even turn to look at me.
“Oh yeah?” I walk over to the coffee machine and pull down a mug. “You seem extra excited about it.”
“They’re Dad’s favorite. Cassidy’s showing me how to make them. And maybe when he comes back from vacation I can make him some.”
I still just before I’m about to pour my coffee and look over at Cassidy who’s making a face at me that says, See?
“Oh,” is all I can muster to say. I turn back to my mug and fill it up. My mind whirling with what to do.
How am I supposed to handle this? Maddie is eight. She already lost her mother when she was only six. How in the world am I supposed to tell her that her dad is gone too?
I don’t. I just need to distract her.
“I was thinking… maybe this would be a good weekend to go the beach?”
Maddie drops the whisk and looks over at me. “Are you serious?’
I shrug. “Why not?” It’s not like I have much going on right now anyways.
“Like today?”
“Yeah! What do you think?”
Maddie looks at Cassidy and then back at me. “Can Cassidy come?”
“I don’t know… can you come, Cassidy?”
Cassidy doesn’t react. She just says, “Where they go, I go.”
“Yaay!” Maddie jumps off the stool toward the stairs, yelling, “I need to go pack my swimsuit.”
Cassidy turns and leans on the counter, staring at me.
“What? Problem solved. No more sad daddy french toast.” I lean against the counter I’m near and sip my coffee.
“Avoidance? That’s your idea of problem-solving?” She crosses her arms over her chest. And I notice she’s wearing one of the shirts I picked out and bought for her.
“I like your outfit.”
“You’re avoiding my question.”
I shrug. “Look, Maddie’s going to find out soon enough. And when she does, she’s going to be miserable. The least we can do is give her the best summer she can have before her entire world comes crashing down.”
She shakes her head, “I don’t know if that’s the best idea, Joshua. What if she ends up hating you for not telling her?”
Well then hopefully, she’ll be with her new foster family by the time that happens.
“Let’s not worry about that right now. It’s summer. Focus on the fun.” I go to her and shake her shoulders. “Let loose.”
She looks up at me. All playfulness gone from her eyes. “Summer will end, Joshua… eventually.”
She turns back to the french toast and I watch as she dips the bread into the mixture and sets them on the skillet.
I hate how right she is. I also refuse to dwell on it right now.
“I’ll go tell the others,” I say, grabbing my mug.
“Tell the others what?” Keelan says walking into the kitchen shirtless and sweaty.
“What were you doing?”
He snatches the kitchen towel off the stove and wipes his face, breathless when he says, “Running. Why?”
“You hate running.”
“Only when I’m forced to do it instead of playing hockey,” he reaches into the fridge for a bottle of cold water and gulps down half of it.
“Well, shower up. We’re going to the beach.”
He sets the bottle down. “We?”
I nod. “It’s my last summer with you guys. I need to enjoy it while I can. Before you have a picture of my face with a target on it when I’m playing against you next season.”
Cassidy drops a whisk on the floor and when she does, she bends down to pick it up, knocking the bowl of french toast mixture–the contents dumping right on her.
“Shit,” Keelan says, quickly moving to help clean the mess.
“You okay there, Princess?” I lift the bowl and she straightens looking up at me.
“I’m fine.” She takes the bowl out of my hand. “I’ll clean this up."
“I’ll clean it up,” Keelan says. “Go shower. You got that stuff all over your hair.”
She sets the bowl down and nods. Not even looking at me before she walks out of the kitchen.
Keelan stands and turns the stove off.
“What the hell was that about?” I ask him.
“Did she know you were leaving?” Keelan asks, bending to clean up the mess on the floor. He looks up at me and quirks a brow.
“No. But she knows I only hired her for six weeks.”
“And God forbid she might actually like you and hope she’d have more time,” he says sarcastically.
“You think she likes me?” I look out toward the stairs she just went up.
He shakes his head. “I know you’re immune to matters of the heart… so I’ll clue you in. She likes you, Hicks. So if you ask me, I’d let her down easily. Don’t do anything that might show her your interested in more, if you’re not.”
“Like?”
“Like sneaking off and dancing under the moonlight,” he deadpans. “Mixed signals.”
“I was teaching her how to dance. She wanted me to.”
He tosses the sloppy towel into the sink and leans back on it, propped up by both his hands. “Just be clear with her, Hicks. She’s a sweet girl. She doesn’t deserve your turn and burns.”
“Turn and burns?” I cross my arms over my chest.
“It’s what we call what you do to women.”
“And what exactly do I do to women?”
He shrugs. “You know, the whole chase–the flirting, the bagging, the tagging–and then you just disappear.”
“I don’t do that.”
“You literally call the move you do to get a girl to leave… the disappearing act.”
“That’s because they disappear, not me .”
“Because you make them leave.”
“Why are you riding me so hard today?”
He looks out into the hall to make sure nobody is there.
“Because I like Cassidy. And I think she deserves to be wine and dined and treated right.”
“And you don’t think I’m capable of that?”
“You’re leaving Hicks. What do you plan to do? Win her over and have a long distance relationship? And what’s she going to think when you tell her your plan with the kids?”
Now I look to make sure nobody’s around.
“I’m doing what I have to do,” I whisper yell.
“I know you are. And that’s your choice to make. But I know what you’re doing. And it’s going to blow up in your face unless you come clean.”
Is there some kind of give Joshua a wake up call campaign set for today? First my mom. Then Cassidy. Now freakin’ Keelan.
“Everything will be fine.” I wave him off. “Beach day. Call up the boys.”
I leave the kitchen more annoyed than I care to feel. Beach days are fun. And I plan to have lots of it.