Colton's Secret Investigation. Justine Davis
Чтение книги онлайн.
Читать онлайн книгу Colton's Secret Investigation - Justine Davis страница 13
“That might work,” he said. He glanced past a couple standing behind Daria, who were discussing when and where to meet up later, and saw a display that looked like it had potential. He had to dig a bit, but he found a bedcover that had the characters he recognized. “We’ve gone from sleeping with the fishes to sleeping with zombies,” he said with a shake of his head.
“Same effect,” Daria retorted. “Come on, Sam’s over here, and I think he may have found the perfect bed for this.”
He glanced that direction and saw his son sitting on a twin bed. It wasn’t, Stefan saw to his relief, one of the elaborate things he’d likely have to spend days putting together. It was a bit high, but not so high it made him nervous the boy would fall out and get hurt. There were two steps attached to one end, and the entire thing was painted to look like it was built of stone.
“It’s the castle!” Sam was so excited Stefan couldn’t help smiling. “From my game!”
“So it is,” Stefan said. Then he tossed what he’d found to his son. “Which means this should go with it.”
Sam’s eyes widened as he recognized his zombies. “Wow!”
“And look who’s in the middle,” Daria urged. “In the picture on the other side.”
The boy turned the plastic-wrapped cover over. “It’s the dragon!” He could hardly contain himself now.
“So is this it? What you want?” Stefan asked. “No changing your mind later,” he added.
“Well, maybe when he’s twenty,” Daria said teasingly. The boy laughed, as if the idea of being that old was ludicrous.
Twenty. For a moment Stefan just stared at his son, tried to picture him at that age. You’re still surprised by him at five. Twenty’s beyond your imagination.
Sam shifted his gaze. Gave his father a look that seemed equal parts hope and doubt. “Did you mean it? I can have this in that room?”
That room. Not my room. Daria had been right.
“It’s your room now, Sam,” he said quietly. “So yes, you can have this in your room.”
After a moment, when Sam didn’t speak, Daria said, “I’m sure your room would have been ready if your dad had known sooner you were coming.” She gave Sam a wide-eyed look. “But who knows what he would have picked out? Maybe something really babyish, because he remembers when you were a baby.”
Sam looked horrified. “No! I want this.”
They ended up buying the bed, a shelf that could be hung off the end to make a night table, a small dresser and a couple of pictures for the walls. And, when Daria pointed out—tactfully—that as tall as Sam was for his age, he couldn’t reach clothes hanging in the closet, they added a clever setup that hung a lower pole from the upper one, right at Sam’s height.
Stefan managed not to wince when the clerk rang up the total. But Sam was quite disappointed when he realized they couldn’t take it all with them, and that the furniture and some of the other items would have to be delivered in a few days.
“It won’t all fit in the car, plus we have to get the other stuff out of there,” Stefan explained, “so there’s room for your stuff.”
“Oh,” the boy said. Then, warily again, “Are you mad?”
Stefan blinked. “About what, son?”
“Your stuff.”
For a moment Stefan couldn’t think of what to say. So he tried to imagine what Daria would say. And running on that impulse, he reached out and ran a hand over the boy’s soft, short curls. “You’re worth a lot more to me than any amount of stuff.”
Sam stared at him as if he wasn’t sure whether to believe him or not. They were on their way back to the car when Daria’s phone rang. She answered as Stefan got Sam in and situated in the booster seat. The boy didn’t like it, and Stefan understood; he was tall enough it seemed extraneous. But it was the law, and so into the booster seat he went.
“That was Fiona,” Daria said as she got in and fastened her own belt. “She suggested this Saturday for the playdate. They’ve got a covered patio with heaters, so the boys can have lunch outside and if the weather holds play on the fort, as they call it.”
Stefan turned to look at her. “Just like that?”
“Fiona,” Daria said, “is the mother every kid wishes they could have. He’ll have fun and be safe. Can’t ask for much more than that.”
“No,” Stefan said gruffly. “I…thank you.”
“Thank her. All I did was facilitate.”
“Still…if not for you…” He drew in a breath. “If not for you, a lot of things.”
And suddenly it was there, in the car with them, the memory of last night and that hug of thanks that had become an entirely different kind of embrace. And he knew, by the way she averted her eyes and became suddenly busy adjusting her purse, that she felt it, too.
Where that left them, he had no idea.
“We should probably explain to Sam what’s going on, don’t you think?” she said as they drove.
“Yeah. Sure.”
Something in the way he said it told her his mind had gone exactly where hers had gone—to last night. But that way lay nothing but trouble, and so she quickly turned to Sam and explained about her friend and the invitation.
Sam took the prospect of this new venture Saturday well, even with a little excitement, although he seemed more enthused about his new bed.
It was a few minutes later when Daria said, with no particular intonation, “We’re not too far from Max Hollick’s place.” Stefan gave her a sideways look, and she shrugged. “Just saying. It’s early yet.”
“You’re determined to get me into this, aren’t you?”
The corners of his mouth were twitching, and she knew he wasn’t upset.
“Not like you’ll go home with one,” she pointed out. “As I said, they’re all spoken for already.”
“Safe enough, I guess. Unless somebody starts nagging.”
“Make it incentive. For good behavior, I mean.”
Stefan surrendered with good grace and made the turn she pointed out.
“Where are we going?” Sam asked.
Daria turned in her seat to look back at the boy. “Do you remember