I shimmied my shoulders and Jacob mimicked me. I laughed as he moved his hips to the beat of the music.
He’d insisted on wearing Tanner’s hat again this morning, and Tanner was right…he looked like quite the gentleman. Minus the nudity.
But as we laughed and danced around the kitchen while I made breakfast, it felt almost normal. Jacob already had his toys thrown all over the living room. And it was like I could feel the love in the air.
I turned up the music. For some reason I had this idea that the louder the music was, the less sad I could be. And so far this morning, it was working. Jacob kept jumping up and down to the beat as I opened the oven and pulled out the cupcake tin.
“Cuppycakes?”
“Kind of.” I pulled an egg bite out of the cupcake tin and plopped it onto his plate. I’d added some extra spices. He seemed fond of Mrs. Alcaraz’s cooking and I wanted him to keep eating something besides sweets. And then I lifted him up onto the stool.
Instead of sitting on it, he climbed onto the counter. He leaned down to inspect the eggs, frowned, and looked back up at me. “Where’s the icing?”
“These cupcakes don’t need icing.”
“They’re muffykins?”
Aw.It had been so long since I’d made him muffins that I’d forgotten his endearing name for them. “No, it’s not a muffin either.”
He pushed it away.
“Just try it.”
“Nooooo.”
I tried to hide my smile. As much as I loved how he drew out the word “no,” I needed him to eat this. I slid the plate back in front of him. And I just stared at him until he finally picked up his fork and took a bite.
His eyes lit up at the punch of flavor. “Más, más!”
“More?”
He nodded his head as he ate another big forkful.
I put another egg bite on his plate and gave myself a mental high five.
“So I have some good news,” I said as I sat down in front of him. “Tanner invited us to a football game tomorrow afternoon.”
“Can I be the running back?”
“Not one we’ll be playing in. Or one on the TV. A real one. In person.”
“Wow.” Jacob’s smile took up his whole face. “I love Abuelo Tanner.”
I laughed. “Yeah, he’s really nice. So you’re excited?”
“Yessie.” He took another bite of eggs.
“And Mrs. Alcaraz is coming over to play with you for a few hours while I run some errands.”
“Where are you going?”
“Just to see a few people.” Since Jacob and I were staying, it was about time I finally faced Matt. And I needed to see my father too.
He pushed his plate aside. “I come with you, Mommy.”
“I actually need you to stay here.”
“Por qué?”
