AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Mama!” he cheered. “I miss you very much!”
“Hi, sweetie! I miss you very much too.”
“How was your flight?” Nana asked me. She had the camera angled so that I could unfortunately see right up her nose.
“It was good. Smooth sailing.”
“Nana took me to the zoo!” Max announced.
“Did she? That must have been so much fun. What sorts of animals did you see?”
“I saw a tiger and a penguin.”
“Not in the same place, I hope.”
“Who’s that, Mama?” my son asked.
I turned to find Kris standing just behind me, leaning against the wall. I couldn’t get a read of his expression, everything about him was stoic and impassable. “This is one of Mama’s other work friends,” I explained. “Kris? Would you like to meet my son?”
Kris took a few steps forward so that he was within frame. “Hey,” he said, so soft I almost didn’t hear him. “Hey, kiddo. It’s… nice to meet you. I’m Kris. What’s your name?”
“I’m Max!”
“I heard you went to the zoo?”
“Yep! There were monkeys.”
“Are those your favorite type of animal?”
“Yeah!” my son cheered enthusiastically. “And alligators, and parrots, and polar bears, and…”
As they spoke about the different types of animals that Max got to see at the zoo, my heart was racing in my chest. They didn’t know it, but this was the first time that Max was meeting his father. Much to my relief, they were hitting it off.
There was a knock at the door. Adam, Charlie, and Liam stepped in, gathering around behind me.
“Yo!” Adam exclaimed, waving at the camera. “Hey, little man! How’re you doing?”
“Sorry to intrude, Sam,” Charlie said. “We wanted to know if you had any preferences for dinner.”
“I’m good with whatever you all feel like having,” I replied.
“There’s a great restaurant in the lobby of the hotel,” Adam said. “The receptionist highly recommends the soup dumplings. We can ask them to bring something up for us.”
“I want dumplings!” Max whined.
Nana chuckled. “You already had dinner, young man. In fact, it’s time for bed.”
“Aww…”
I laughed. “Go to sleep, baby. I hope you have the sweetest of dreams.”
“Love you, Mama.”
“Love you too, sweetie. Love you, Nana.”
They both waved to me as the call ended, my heart aching a bit. I’d only been away a day and I already missed them both like crazy. This next month was going to be hard, but I knew I’d be able to make it through if I set my heart on it.
I turned. “Alright. I’m famished. Who wants to get some—”
