Giovanni brings the bill where he only charged a plate of spaghetti. I shake my head and top him off with an extra three hundred to take care of all the food I’m going home with.
“Do you want to ride with Mommy or me?” I ask Aiden when we finally make it outside.
“Mommy,” Aiden says, and I smile at him when he leans into her and yawns, rubbing his eye.
“Okay, squirt,” I lean down and kiss his head, “I’ll pick you up tomorrow for school.”
“See you tomorrow.” I smile at Eliahn as she turns to walk to her car, and I follow her.
“You think he’s going to fall asleep before you get home?” I ask her when she shuts the back door after buckling him in.
“It’s a fifty-fifty chance.” She laughs.
“Okay, if he’s asleep when you get home, wait for me, and I’ll carry him in,” I tell her, and she just stops to look at me.
“It’s fine,” she says, and I just look at her.
“Eliahn, just wait for me,” I tell her, and she just nods and gets in the car. We arrive home at the same time, thanks to my running to the car and blowing the red light. “Is he sleeping?” I shout over at her when she gets out of the car.
“Yeah!” she yells, so I walk over to her car. “He was out the minute I sat down in the car. I’ll go open the door,” she says and walks ahead of me while I lean down and unbuckle him from his seat. I grab him as carefully as I can, his head falling on my shoulder as he moans. I walk into the house and go upstairs where Eliahn waits next to his bed. “Just put him down,” she whispers, pointing at the bed. I hold his back and bend down to lay him on his back. She takes off his shoes and pants. He turns around, and she covers him.
“I’ll have him take a bath tomorrow morning,” she tells me as we walk out of his room.
“Tonight was fun,” I tell her as we walk down the stairs together.
“It really was,” she tells me. “I have to admit I never thought I would see the day when we would be sitting at a table eating dinner together.” She looks down and then up at me. “With our son.”
“Me either.” I put my hands in my back pockets. “We should have a family dinner night every week.”
“Yeah.” She looks down. “That sounds like a plan.” She doesn’t make eye contact, and I have to wonder if it’s because of this Troy guy.
“It’s a thought,” I say to her and turn to walk out of the house, but stop and turn back around. “I had the best time tonight.” I smile at her as I grab the handle. “Thank you for coming to meet us.” I turn and close the door. Walking over to my car, I grab the takeout bag and place it in the fridge.
The next day, after dropping Aiden off, I walk into the office with the four bags and dump them in the staff room with a note to help yourself. I walk to my office, and Lauren smiles at me. “Is Noah in?” I ask, and she nods. I walk down to his office and walk inside since the door is open.
“Oh my God,” he says when he sees me. “Dude, I saw the Instagram live video.”
“What?” I ask, not remembering.
“It was crazy. That hashtag is still trending.” He takes out his phone and opens up the Instagram app. “I think it’s going to go viral.” He has a huge smile on his face as he turns the phone around, and I see myself on the screen when I was in the hospital, and my face was swollen. The drool is pouring out of my mouth like a leaky faucet. “Look, imagine you end up on Ellen. You owe me.” He looks down, laughing at the video.
I put my hands in my pockets and glare at him. “I owe you?” I say with my teeth clenched. “It took four EpiPens to get the swelling to go down. Four fucking stabs to my leg.”
He rolls his eyes. “How was I supposed to know that you were allergic to collagen?” The sound of the video can still be heard, and I recognize Nick’s voice.
“They made me leave the room so I can answer some questions. Hey, Noah. His lips were the size of a fist. Holy fuck, there are three thousand people on here. For those of you joining in, my friend decided to put a woman’s face cream on and had an allergic reaction. I’ll post a picture of his face in the comments.”
“I’m going to sue him,” I tell Noah, and he laughs at me. “He posted that without my consent.”