It was a hard-fought negotiation as he giggled because Aaron’s breath tickled his ear and neck.
“Go ahead,” Aaron said. “Say it to Uncle Josh.”
“Great opprutunty.”
I started to laugh.
“You heard the kid,” Aaron said.
“You’re using your son to get to your best friend,” I said. “That’s cold. Even for a guy like me, that’s cold.”
“Business,” he said. “I play hard.”
I stared at Toby. “Tell you what, kid. Give me one of those crackers and let me think about it.”
“Half a cracker,” Aaron said.
“You’re going to break a cracker in half?” I asked.
“No,” Aaron said. “Toby, take a bite of a cracker and give Uncle Josh the rest.”
I slapped the table and rubbed my jaw. “Toby, who’s your favorite uncle?”
“You,” he said with a smile.
“I should get the entire cracker then, right?”
“Yes,” Toby said.
“No,” Aaron said. “We can’t let him win, Toby.”
“Are you using my son in a business deal?” Rae asked as she crashed our little business meeting.
“Oh, did it get cold in here,” I said.
Rae’s head snapped and she looked at me. She touched the side of her face and threw me the middle finger.
“Can you believe this guy?” I asked her. “Using his son this way.”
“You’re no help either,” Rae said. “Come here, Toby.”
She picked Toby up.
I stood up and put my arms out. “Want to come hang with Uncle Josh?”
“Yeah!” Toby yelled.
“Hey, I have an idea,” I said. “Why don’t you two go grab dinner?”
“What?” Rae asked.
“I’m serious. You two. Go out on a date. Grab a bite. I’ll hang here with Toby.”
Rae looked at Aaron with worried eyes.
I’d be a liar if I didn’t confess that it broke my heart that Rae wasn’t sure about me. Not that I gave her a reason not to be like that.
I reached for my glass on the table. “It’s soda. With nothing but melted ice in it. I’m not a fool.”
“I beg to differ,” Rae said.
“Not with Toby,” I said. “You know that. You have to know that.”
“Right down the street,” Aaron said. “Cassidy’s place.”
“Pizza?” Rae asked.
“Come on,” I said. I reached into my back pocket and threw some cash on the table. “My treat. Get out of here. For an hour.”
“I hate that you do this to me, Josh,” Rae said.
“You’re not the first woman to say that to me,” I said. “Maybe the first time I’ve heard it from a woman who is fully clothed though…”
“I hate him,” Rae said to Aaron.
She put Toby down to the floor and she walked out of the room.
“You really don’t have a filter, do you?” Aaron asked.
“Hey, think of it this way,” I said. “I get her mad enough that she takes that out on you later. Maybe she’ll break you and the bed.”
“That’s enough,” Aaron said, and he looked at Toby.
Oh yeah.
I crouched and opened my arms. “Hear that, little buddy? It’s just you and me for a little bit. You okay with that?”
“Yay!” Toby yelled.
He ran to me and I scooped him up.
“Thank you, Josh,” Aaron said. “Please don’t…”
“Go,” I said. Aaron walked out of the dining room. I looked at Toby. “Let’s mess with your old man quick.”
“Okay,” Toby whispered.
The kid made me laugh.
I hurried into the kitchen as Aaron was at the door to the garage.
“Hey, man,” I said.
Aaron turned. “Yeah?”
“How much can he have to drink?”
“What?”
“I don’t want him getting sick. Is he a lightweight like you?”
Aaron curled his lip. “That’s not even close to being funny, Josh.”
“Come on, man. Smile for a second. I’m good here. Tell me you at least trust me.”
“Not for a second,” he said. “I trust Toby to watch you.”
I looked at Toby. “Are you watching me?”
“Yeah,” he said and laughed.
“So I have to listen to your rules?”
“Yeah,” he said louder.
“Okay,” I said. “What’s the first rule?”
“Chocolate milk!” Toby yelled.
I looked at Aaron. “He’s the boss.”
“Not too much,” Aaron said. “If I get to take Rae out and come back and Toby is throwing up because of you…”
“Go,” I said.
“Love you, Toby,” Aaron said. “Be good for Uncle Josh.”
“Love you, Daddy,” Toby’s voice said.
I could handle a lot of stuff in life, but when Toby’s little voice said love you to anyone, it hurt my heart.
For good reason.
The door shut and I was alone with Toby.
“Okay, little buddy, they’re finally gone. It’s just us. What’s first?”
“Chocolate milk!” he yelled and pumped his fists.
“That’s right. Chocolate milk it is. Do you want a little chocolate or a lotta chocolate?”
“Forever chocolate,” Toby said.
I laughed.
“You’re crazy, kid. But so am I.”
I sat Toby on the counter, went to get a kid’s cup and caught sight of him from the corner of my eye. It made the world stop for a few seconds. I caught myself reaching for my back pocket. So I could get the letter. And I could fix everything.
But the letter was gone.
Delilah was gone.
She was gone.
“Uncle Josh?” Toby asked.
I opened the cabinet door and hid my face until I could catch my breath.
If I couldn’t have a drink, then I needed to talk to Amelia.
I hid behind the couch and made the shotgun pumping sound with the plastic spoon. Chick-chick.
“You can’t get to me, man,” I called out. “I own this town.”
I heard Toby giggle. He was working with a ladle that had unlimited firing power.
I jumped up and started to make gun sounds, pumping the spoon-slash-gun, knowing my life was on the line.
Toby was waiting for me, standing on the coffee table, pillow cushion in one hand as a shield and his ladle-slash-super-gun shooting so fast that I stood no chance.
The bullets crashed into me so hard that I started to wiggle. I dropped my spoon-slash-gun. I stood there gasping for air as I reached over the couch, thinking I could get to Toby.
He just stood on the table with a defiant and mean stare in his young eyes.
“You’re a goner, dude,” he said.
That’s when I fell forward over the couch. I rolled
