Me: Later.
Do I text her or call? I settle on an old-fashioned call. I bring up her contact and press Send. My leg bounces nervously, and I say a prayer that she answers strange numbers. I know many people don’t, especially at this hour.
The phone rings and rings. Just as I’m about to hang up, she picks up. Thank fuck.
“Hello?” she questions, and her voice seems hesitant.
“Hi, Kate. Umm, this is Jaxon.” I sound like a fucking teenager calling a girl for the first time after getting her number from a friend. What the fuck is wrong with me?
“Okay,” she more so questions.
“McAdams.” Does she know more than one Jaxon?
“I know.”
“Oh. You just sounded unsure when you answered.”
“Well, that’s just because I’m wondering why you’re calling me at—” She pauses. “—nine at night. This isn’t a booty call, right? Because I thought we cleared that up at New Year’s.” Her tone grows angrier. Shit, I really don’t want to fight with her right now.
“What?” I shriek, my voice cracking. “No! This isn’t about that.” But I can’t help but allow my mind to go there. Fuck. I scrub my hands over my face and adjust my pant leg.
“All right,” she drags out. “So if it’s not that, then why are you calling me? Is everything okay?”
I exhale. “Yes. No. Maybe.” I fumble over my words.
“Well, which is it,” she snaps. I can tell her patience is running thin with me.
“Look, I know things have been tense—”
“Since you kissed me, ghosted me, ran away, or were a dick since the very beginning,” she interrupts, all in one breath.
I grip the back of my neck as the bitterness bleeds through the phone and all but smacks me in the face.
“Yeah. But I just got a call from Denise, and she’s really sick. I have a really important client meeting I can’t put off tomorrow, so I have no one to watch Andy. And while I love the movie Home Alone, I don’t particularly want to live it. You’re really my only option.”
“Wow, you really know how to make a girl feel special.”
“Fuck.” I exhale under my breath and fall back on the bed, covering my eyes with my forearm. “You know what? Never mind, I’ll figure something out.”
“No, wait,” she shouts just as I’m about to hang up.
Hope rushes through my veins.
“I’ll do it. It’s not a problem, but I need you to do one thing for me.”
“Anything. You name it.” I mean that, too. I would walk to the ends of the earth for whatever she needs since she’s helping me out.
“I need to hear you say it.”
“Please watch Andy.” Can she hear the desperation in my voice?
She makes a clicking noise with her tongue. “No, not that.”
“Then what?”
“I need to hear you say, Kate, I’m sorry and I need you.”
Popping up from the bed, I hide my laughter with my fist. Oh, she is good. I’ll give that to her.
I hesitate just to fuck with her, and after a moment—and I know her patience is thin—I clear my throat. “Kate Lawson, I am truly sorry, and I need you. Please,” I plead.
“Okay, fine. I mean, I would’ve done it without all that, but since you asked nicely.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. This woman is going to be the death of me.
“Thank you,” I say sincerely, and I hope she really understands that. “You are a lifesaver.”
I hear her settling in. I wonder what she’s doing right now. How does she spend her nights? I shake the thoughts when her voice raises slightly.
“Jaxon, are you still there?”
“What? Sorry, I’m here. Just checking on Andy.” The lie slips easily from my lips, but she doesn’t question it, thankfully.
“I’ll see you around like what, sixish?”
I blow out a breath and cock my head to the side. Wait, how does she know what time I leave in the morning? Shaking my head, I decide that’s a question for another day.
“Umm, no, with heading straight to the office from here, I should be good to leave here like seven thirty. So like seven fifteen? Does that work?”
She makes a whistling sound that almost sounded like her saying phew. “Yup, that’s fine.”
“Great. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Yup,” she says, smacking her lips together. “See you then.”
I disconnect the call and toss my phone on the bed beside me. Kate Lawson saves the day.
I can figure out the rest of the schedule for the week while I’m at the office tomorrow and make things work. I’m grateful that she didn’t tell me to take a long walk off a short pier. We can put aside our own issues for my son. Maybe this is turning over a new leaf—only time will tell. I change the alarm on my phone for a later one, thankful that tomorrow we don’t have to wake up as early and hoping my body clock enjoys the hour delay in our schedule.