Worth the Risk (Carolina Rebels 5)

He motions for me to stand and I follow him into the kitchen. Bree crawls after us. “Can Jackson spend the night with me this weekend? I’ll do whatever you want me to, Rae.”

Bree slaps my leg and holds her arms up. I pick her up while having a mini heart attack. Jackson has never spent the night anywhere. He’s been with me every night of his entire life. Hell, I haven’t spent a full night without him in the same house as me since he was born. What am I supposed to do while he’s with Henry if I say yes? Bree tugs on my hair and the action reminds me to answer him.

“I don’t know if I’m ready for that, Henry.”

He nods as if he expected that. “But maybe we can ask Jackson to see if he’s ready?” he asks expectantly. “He might change his mind once he’s there, but it’s worth asking, right? Once our lawyers set up an official schedule in the papers, he’ll spend some weekends with me anyway.”

Yes, because Henry wants every other weekend with Jackson at the very least. He wants an early start, it seems.

“I’ll do whatever you want,” he repeats. “Let’s just see if Jackson would be up for it.”

“Okay.” This is crazy! Yes, Henry would likely take care of him just fine. Yes, Jackson would probably have lots of fun. Yes, I’m only a phone call and a few minutes away. But my baby boy wouldn’t be in the same house as me for the first time. The amount of anxiety pumping through my veins right now as we return to the living room is insane.

“Yeah!” Jackson shouts, jumping up and down in front of the TV. The Rebels scored, apparently.

“Who scored?” Henry asks.

“Mr. Brayden.”

A commercial comes on, so Henry uses that as his opportunity to talk to Jackson without any distractions from the game.

“Hey, Jackson. I need to ask you a question.” Jackson faces Henry and waits. “Would you want to have a sleepover at my house this weekend? Just you and me?”

Jackson glances at me before focusing on Henry. “Momma wouldn’t come too?”

Henry shakes his head. “Just us. But you could call her as often as you’d like.”

“But who will tuck me in if Momma and EJ isn’t there?”

“I can tuck you in,” Henry reassures. “I have books there to read to you, too.”

Jackson seems to be analyzing what Henry has said so far. He comes over and crawls onto my lap, but looks at Henry.

“So, what do you say? Do you want to stay over?” Henry asks.

“Okay; yes.”

Oh, my. He said yes. My baby wants to stay with his dad for a night. When is the appropriate time to cry? This is great. It’s a big step for Jackson, and for me, too. But I am not ready. I’ll never be ready. What am I going to do without Jackson here? Now I have something new to worry about.

To prepare Jackson for when he goes to Henry’s, I let Henry help him with his nighttime routine while I try to get Bree settled in for the night. Just as she falls asleep, Henry steps into her room.

“He’s down for the count,” he says. “Thank you for this weekend.”

“Don’t thank me yet. I have to survive it first.”

He smiles. “It’ll be fine.”

“I might call every five seconds,” I warn. “He’s never spent the night anywhere.”

“I’ll take care of him,” he promises.

He better. Henry says goodbye, I lay Bree down, and then I pick up around the house and keep busy until Elias comes home. I don’t want to think too much about the upcoming talk or Jackson’s night away this weekend. Cleaning constantly helps with that. Maybe obsessively cleaning. I scrub the already clean at this point tub in the bathroom.

“What are you doing?”

I scream as I whirl around and throw the sponge at Elias. “Why would you sneak up on me like that?”

“I’m sorry.” He bends to pick up the sponge. “Why are you cleaning this late?”