“Did you tell your mom you were coming over here?”
He shook his head again, his focus completely on the game.
I pulled out my phone and shot Kelcie a text.
Me
Aaron is over here on the back porch, watching the game with me.
I enjoyed watching football with my new companion, who only spoke to the television, giving play-by-play commentary and analysis for himself. When I tried to interject and ask questions or give opinions, I was given quick monosyllabic answers to satisfy the social necessity, and then, he returned to his own world of commentating.
So, I just listened and learned.
At half-time, I gave in and went to check on her. And yes, I was curious as to why “talking with his dad” had made him leave the house.
I knocked on the back door, but there was no answer. I knocked again, this time opening it and announcing myself. “Kelcie…it’s Shaw.”
“I’m downstairs. Is Aaron okay?”
“Yeah, he’s fine. Watching the game.”
“Okay, great. Thank you for letting him hang out.” Her voice was strained, and there was a pause. “Let me just change this load of laundry, and I’ll come nudge him home.”
“No rush. I just wanted to let you know where he was. He’s welcome to stay and watch the whole game.” I walked farther into the house—the layout a mirror opposite of my own—and I looked down the stairs to the basement to see if I could find her.
I spotted her pacing from one room to another, folding and refolding a towel. “No, no…he needs to get to bed.”
“Kelce, is everything okay?” I said from the top of the stairs.
She froze, realizing how far into the house I’d come and not being happy about it. She tried not to scowl at me then ducked her head and walked into the laundry room, wiping her eyes with one hand and waving me off with the other. “Fine.”
I slowly descended the stairs as if walking into a lion’s den—or, in this case, a lioness’s den, which was likely more feral. “Aaron said you were on the phone with James.” I turned the corner into the doorway of the laundry room, wishing for a shield to protect myself. “Is everything okay?”
A sigh that was a mixture of exhaustion and exasperation was meant to cover up her true emotion, and it came out of her as she closed her eyes. “Damn.”
“Kelce—”
“It’s fine. It’s just hard to have a conversation about your son when he is smart, has supersonic hearing, and knows when he’s being discussed.”
I shoved my hands in my pockets to stop myself from cracking my knuckles. “Can I do anything?”
“It’s fine.” She resumed pulling clothes out of the dryer and haphazardly folding them. “I was trying to make arrangements for this weekend’s visit.” She began shoving clothes into the basket without folding them. “Or was trying to.”
I leaned against the doorway on my good shoulder and attempted to cross my arms.
“What happened?”
Kelcie’s lips thinned as they did when she was willing her mouth to stay shut.
“Kelcie—”
She shoved the remaining clothes in the basket, slammed the dryer door, and stood.
“He missed the last two weekends because of ‘work,’” she said, using air quotes. “He doesn’t work weekends. But he said he couldn’t get off work early enough on Friday to beat traffic up here, and heaven forbid he wastes time in traffic.” She picked up the basket so fast I thought it would go flying. “He didn’t think it was worth bringing Aaron down for one night on Saturday just to drive him back Sunday morning.” She rubbed her hand over her face. “Not worth it… He lives forty-five minutes away, and you’d think I was asking him to travel halfway across the mid-Atlantic.”
“But—”
She held up her hand. “That’s not the problem. The problem is he is punishing me for moving up here, and he’s making a point. That’s the first issue.”
