Page 64 of At His Beck & Call

I stop, wonderingwhyexactly Oliver is in the hospital today, but my words have broken a boundary, and he walks into the room. A warm, almost sweet smile I haven’t seen from him before spreads over his face as he looks at Henry.

“Uh, Mr.…Oliver,” I stammer, unsure how to address him in this setting. “This is my son, Henry,” I say, watching Henry’s little mouth form an ‘o’ as he stares at him.

“You’re really tall,” Henry says, and I wince as I glance at Oliver. But his smile remains in place. “My friend Gregory’s dad is tall, but not as tall as you.”

“Is that right?” Oliver asks, his tone soft and friendly. “My Mom told me to stop growing when I turned sixteen, but I forgot and shot up another few feet.”

Henry thinks about it, his head cocked to one side. “Are you a giant?” he asks.

“Have you ever seen a giant?” Oliver asks.

“Only in books.”

“Well, they’re much, much bigger than me. I’d only be a toy to them.”

“Mom says when I’m better, we can get a puppy,” Henry says, changing topics in the seamless way children do, turning to look at me expectantly.

“Uh, not quite,” I say faintly. “I said we’dthinkabout it. Remember how small our apartment is, baby?” I say, brushing his hair away from his eyes.

“Would you like to see a picture of my dog?” Oliver asks as I turn to him, surprised. He glances at me, as if asking for permission, and I nod as he steps forward, pulling out his phone.

He shows Henry a picture of a beautiful, sleek Italian greyhound looking up at the camera with an adorable expression on his doggy face.

“He can eat a whole bowl of food and still be hungry. He’s never tired and runs really fast anywhere he needs to go,” Oliver says, lowering himself into a chair beside the bed.

Henry takes the phone from Oliver, a habit he’s learned from Bethany and me, and I lean forward hastily.

“Hen, baby, remember how I told you it’s not polite to just take someone’s phone without asking?”

“That’s alright,” Oliver says. “There are a bunch of pictures of him. You can swipe through them if you’d like.”

Henry beams at him, flicking through the pictures. “He’s so small. I thought you’d have a big dog.”

“I like little things,” Oliver says, his dark eyes finding mine, and my cheeks heat at the memory of him scooping me up and carrying me around his office.

For the next few minutes, Henry looks at pictures of the dog, which we learn is named Truman. He really is beautiful with a perfect little snout and huge black eyes that always appear to be begging for something.

“I bet you spoil him,” I say absently. “I wouldn’t be able to say no to him with that sweet face.”

“He has me wrapped around his little paws, that’s for sure. And my mom is even worse than me.”

His expression changes, then, and he holds out a hand for his phone, which Henry quickly returns.

“It was very nice to meet you, Henry,” Oliver says solemnly. “But I don’t want to disturb you too long tonight, and you should get some sleep, okay?”

“Are you going to come visit again?” Henry asks.

“We’ll see,” Oliver murmurs, not looking in my direction, and I squeeze Henry’s hand as Oliver rises and walks out of the room. He turns back just before he disappears into the hallway, with an expression I can’t quite decipher. He nods at me, as if in reassurance of what’s passed between us, and it’s comforting.

“Can we get a gray dog?” Henry asks immediately, and I can’t help laughing at the eagerness in his tone.

“Maybe, sweetie. Let’s get your surgery over with first, and then when you’re feeling better, we’ll think about it.”

Henry grins and lies back in the bed as I pull a book out of my bag and start reading to him. By coincidence, it’s a story about a giant who saves a village from a huge boulder, and Henry insists I rename the giant ‘Oliver’, making me smile.

I continue to read, the light slowly fading outside the window as the night closes in.

Soon enough, Henry is fast asleep. I’m staying in the hospital for the next couple of days, having signed off on some emergency leave with Adelaide. But Oliver doesn’t know about it yet, and I wonder if I should have mentioned it to him.