Locked Down with Mr. Right

He was still in the library when I found him. On his hands and knees in front of one of the lower shelves. A low stack of books already compiled against him. Duncan didn’t have much in common with his father but a near obsession with books was one of them.

“Honey?” I said.

“Yeah, Mom?” He asked, not breaking his concentration.

“I think we need to talk about something.”

“Okay,” he said, turning around and sitting on the floor.

“It’s about Tobias.”

“Okay.”

“We don’t just live together because of the lockdown. We are together,” I said, looking for the best way to put it.

“Like you and Dad?” Tobias asked.

How to answer that one. Duncan didn’t know anything about what happened with me and Dave. He didn’t know the bad stuff, anyway. I never said anything and didn’t think he suspected.

“Kind of. I am a lot happier with Tobias, though.”

“Oh, good,” Duncan said with genuine enthusiasm.

“Yeah, I’ve honestly never been happier. But I want you to be happy too and make sure you are okay with everything.”

“Yeah, I think so. He seems really cool. I mean look at this house, and he has a driver and a castle! I’ve always wanted a castle. And a dragon. And lightsaber. One out of three isn’t bad.”

“No, it’s not, Baby,” I said, on the verge of tears.

“Are you okay, mom?”

“Yes, Baby, I’m great. Do you really think you’ll be happy living here?”

“I think so. Especially if Mercy comes here to live.”

I hadn’t really thought that Tobias was serious about that. It seemed like a joke, because it would be so lovely and perfect. But I hadn’t noticed that Tobias really joked much. He would probably actually be looking for a castle in England to buy for Duncan, as well. He could certainly afford it.

“It could happen,” I said.

I didn’t want to make any promises I couldn’t keep. I had a feeling he had gotten enough of that from Dave already. My baby daddy could certainly be charming, but you could really only trust him as far as you spit him, even in the beginning when things were all sweetness and light.

“Does Clementine really live here?” Duncan asked.

Wow, a question I couldn’t really answer. I had never really seen her there, but the house is so big that it was certainly possible. Tobias was confident that she did, and I had never known him to lie.

“Seems so,” I said.

“Cool!”

Chapter Seventeen

Tobias

It had gone about as well as could be expected. Better, in fact. Expectations generally were hampered by the natural limits of the human imagination.

It was interesting to ponder. I had gone from a contented bachelor to what could be called a boyfriend. What was more, I suddenly had kid living with me.

Neither of them was terribly surprising nor upsetting developments. I tended to try and take life as it came. It was easier than the alternative and often that was how the good stuff happened. Plans were fine, but they could only go so far and could do more harm than good.

I wasn’t sure how Duncan would take to me. Apparently, he hadn’t really had his dad around until recently. Having met his dad, I could only think of that as a mercy. There was a lot of bullshit about how kids needed both parents.

Of course, two parents were ideal for the division of labor if nothing else. It was not as if it were a sign of the decline of society were some kids to be raised by single parents.

It was something that tended to happen a lot after both world wars. The meat grinder of war left a lot of single mothers and widows. The distinction being widow and divorcee became completely arbitrary, pushed by self-appointed Social Arbiters who think they know what is best for everyone. The same pack of judgemental assholes who would consider Addie “damaged goods,” as if she were some sort of commodity as opposed to a human being. Fuck that shit.

“Clem!” Duncan squealed with delight.

“Howdy there, Dunc.”

“Dunc?” Addie asked.

“Just go with it, it’s easier that way,” I advised.

I wasn’t sure what Duncan liked, remembering enough about being a kid to remember they could be most discerning when it came to the culinary arts, giving most food bloggers a run for their money. I got around the dilemma by opting for a buffet.

“I don’t think we’ve been here before,” Addie said as a scent unique to that particular chain hit us full on. It smelled somewhere between cooking meat and dill pickle.

“They have their regulars. It’s how they survive, really. Most people in the trendy metropolis seemed to have agreed that buffets are a bit hokey. I like it, though.”

“Smells weird,” Duncan said.

“The smell of choice,” I said.

“Oh,” Duncan said, seeming to take it as gospel.

Getting our trays, the loading commenced. Duncan got way more than he could even eat in one sitting, most of it from the dessert section. He was likely just overwhelmed by choice. I could relate.