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“Why don’t I go get him some water while you two talk,” Zack said.
“Thanks. The plastic cups are to the left of the sink. In the lower cabinet.” Cody scrambled up beside her. Giving him a hug, she asked, “Did you watch a scary TV show?” He’d gone to a friend’s house on a play date earlier that day. She’d bet anything they watched a show that gave him bad dreams.
He nodded again. She gathered him into her lap. Zack came back with the water and she gave it to Cody, although she didn’t think thirst had been the problem.
“You know those shows are make-believe.”
“Monsters,” Cody said.
“Monsters are pretend,” she said firmly. At least the kind of monsters Cody was talking about were. They talked about monsters and how to deal with them. Zack had a couple of suggestions, one involving setting up his superheroes to guard him. Cody liked that idea.
Laurel told him a story, then Zack told him a story, but he still wasn’t ready to sleep. Laurel went and got some of his books. At Zack’s insistence, she and Zack alternated reading to him until Cody finally nodded off. “I’m going to put him back to bed,” she told Zack.
“Here, let me carry him.” Zack picked him up. “Lead the way.”
He looked so sweet with Cody in his arms. Tough and masculine but gentle at the same time. She squelched that thought, reminding herself that she wasn’t looking for a father figure for her son. He had two uncles who gave him plenty of male attention.
Zack put Cody in his bed. She covered him up, then kissed his forehead and they both left.
“Sorry about that,” she said.
“Nothing to be sorry for. Walk me to the door?”
“I’m sure this wasn’t the evening you had in mind when you asked me to dinner.”
“No, but I’m adaptable. I had a nice time.”
“Reading bedtime stories to a six-year-old is high on your list, huh?”
“That depends,” he said, drawing her into his arms, “on the six-year-old and his mom. In this case, yes.”
He kissed her, then resolutely set her away from him. “I’ll call you.”
She watched him go with a sigh.
