a strong young man. You are very much a boy. I saw you fishing and doing great at it.”
“But they don’t know any of that,” he pouted.
“And it doesn’t matter what they know or they don’t know. I know and you know. That’s all that matters. Caitlyn knows you are awesome.”
“Mom,” he groaned.
I dug deep. I was about to pull out my wild card. “Nash thinks you are awesome.”
He smiled. “He does?”
“Absolutely,” I told him. “He had a lot of fun hanging out with you.”
That seemed to give him a little boost. When it was his turn to tuck and roll out of the car, I barely had a chance to say goodbye. I watched him run toward the front of the building. Caitlyn was there waiting for him. When they hugged and started talking like they always did, I breathed a sigh of relief.
All was right with the world. “One bullet dodged,” I muttered.
Now I had to go to work and deal with Nash. I hoped like hell he was settled down. I couldn’t deal with another moody boy.
Chapter 44
Nash
I leaned back in my lounge chair and closed my eyes. The sun was out, and it felt good. I had about a hundred things to do but I couldn’t find the energy to do any of them. I was being lazy. It was something I rarely allowed myself to do. I should be going over files and accounts. I should be researching companies that were on the verge of bankruptcy.
I sighed and just leaned into the moment. When my phone rang, I strongly considered ignoring it. I didn’t want to let go of the tranquility I had found. But it could be something important. I blindly reached out and grabbed it off the small table.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Um, Nash?” I heard Saige say.
I sat up. “Saige?”
“Yes. Hi. Are you busy?”
“No, not at all. What’s going on?”
She hesitated. “I was wondering if you’d like to hang out with myself and Jace today?”
I was taken aback. “Is everything okay?”
“It’s been a tough week,” she said. “If you’re busy, I understand.”
“No,” I blurted out. “I’m not busy. I can be there in an hour.”
“Thank you. I’ll explain when you get here.”
“I get it. I’ll be there soon.”
I hopped out of my chair and went inside to change. I was on my way to her house in under twenty minutes. I refused to think about how excited I was to be going to her house. I was doing it as a favor. There was no reading between the lines. I was helping out a kid that was in a tough spot.
When I got to the house, Jace was out in the backyard. “Thank you for coming over on such short notice,” she said.
“What’s going on? I’m guessing this has something to do with the other day.”
She gestured for me to sit down. “It does,” she said as she sat in a recliner.
“What happened?”
“He was getting bullied for the same old shit. His best friend who happens to be a girl, defended him. She told them to leave him alone and Jace got embarrassed. Caitlyn, his friend, the daughter of my best friend, isn’t a big girl. She’s petite but yet she stood up for him. They made up, but he is still suffering at the hands of those little monsters.”
“I don’t know how you do it,” I said.
“Do what?”
“Not beat the hell out of those kids for hurting your son.”
She laughed. “Oh, trust me, only the threat of prison keeps me from doing that. I am at the end of my rope. I have talked to the teachers and the principal and I’m just so done.”
“I get it,” I told her. “How’s he doing?”
“He’s bummed. He needs a lifeline. He was so confident after the day of fishing with you. I thought for sure it would fix all of this stuff.”
“But it didn’t,” I said.
“No. I know I don’t have any right to ask you to do this. I hate that I’m asking.”
“It’s not a big deal,” I said. “I want to help him.”
“I don’t know how to do this,” she said. I heard the strain in her voice.
“Where is he?”
“In the back.”
“Grab your purse,” I said as I got up. “We’re going on a drive.”
“What? Where?”
I walked to the backyard. “Hey, Jace,” I said when I found him sitting on a small patio and coloring pictures with chalk.