math. He reads on an eighth-grade level, and he runs circles around me when it comes to math."
"Say what? You were always good in math."
"New math. I swear to the heavens, the way the kids do math now is some kind of hocus-pocus magic thing. I can't wrap my head around it."
He had no experience with that, so he changed the subject. "Is he allergic to anything?" He had seasonal allergies. They sucked but weren't extreme.
"Not that we've found. He's had the chicken pox and has a small scar above his right eyebrow from that. He's had all his childhood vaccinations and broken his arm from falling out of a tree we'd told him repeatedly not to climb. He loves to fish, ride his bike, and play video games. He'd run barefoot all summer if I let him. I've had to re-home frogs, small garden snakes, and snails, which have made it into his room when we weren't looking."
Brody chuckled at the mental image of Amber carrying a small garden snake back outside—the woman who freaked about a little spider in the shower. "Does he have a pet?"
"No, I work too many hours. Dawn has a full-time job, and with Gage in school all day and at the after-school program until either Dawn or I pick him up, it wouldn't be fair to an animal. He wants one. He's even got a name picked out."
"Yeah, what's that?"
"Bullet. He wants a German Shepherd named Bullet. I talked to a breeder, and he recommended we wait to get one. They need a lot of exercise and leaving them alone for long periods of time while they are growing up, well... the trainer said he wouldn't want anyone to do that to such an active animal."
"You told me he asked if you loved me. What else did he ask?"
"Well he wanted to know what you liked to do, and then he asked if I thought you'd like him. He seemed a little worried about possibly meeting your parents. Then... well, he asked if he had to go live with you." Her voice trailed away.
"Why would he ask that?"
"He has a classmate who was forced to spend time with her father. I'm assuming it was a divorce. I guess it wasn't amicable."
"He's afraid I'll take him away from you."
"He's not the only one." Her words were a mere whisper on her breath, but he heard them.
He sat forward, lowering his recliner gently. "I've no intention of taking him from you, but I will be a part of his life. I know I'll have to go slow, but I want to be involved with him."
"I'd like that, too." She sighed. "I'm dealing with a lot of guilt over this, even though I believe I made the best decision I could at the time."
He could hear the emotion in her voice. Was he still angry she'd robbed him and his son of ten years’ worth of memories? Of seeing him born, first words and first steps? Hell, yeah. Was he going to let the hurt go anytime soon? Probably not. Definitely not. But those were his emotions to deal with, as the guilt she was feeling was hers. He couldn't offer her solace for them anymore than he could negate what he was feeling.
Before the silence drew on too long, he asked, "Do you need me to bring anything on Saturday?"
"Dessert?" She cleared her throat. "Gage loves anything chocolate, so..."
"Got it. I'll see you at work tomorrow. We've got a briefing with the captain first thing in the morning."
They'd gotten back from interviewing Masters late. Terrell and Anderson had both clocked out. Nothing that Masters had given them was life or death urgent, so they agreed to brief the team leads in the morning.
She yawned. "I'll be there at eight."
"Good night, Amber." He hung up the phone without waiting for her to reply.
Visions of her tired and sated next to him in bed flashed through his memory. He groaned and dropped his head into his hands. How the hell was he going to manage? Everything about the woman was seared into his brain, branded there for eternity. He dropped back in his chair and looked up at the painted ceiling. Sleep would be a long time coming tonight.
Chapter 8
Amber sat beside Lieutenant Anderson and leaned in to look at the map. He’d asked her to bring him up to speed on what she and Brody had learned about the area yesterday. "The third house down is