“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said in my ear. He kissed my cheek and let me go.

I was still floating.

He smiled at me another few seconds. Then he took his sister from Maddy and left the way he came.

“Dios mío, he’s cute,” Hector said, coming up to lean on the counter, watching Justin walk out.

“Yeah,” I said absently, watching the double doors close behind him. “He is.”

Maddy grabbed the bag Justin had left and started unpacking it. “Let’s see what we got here. Some mixed fruit, strawberries and cantaloupe, green grapes, egg salad sandwiches on sourdough. Look, he put dried cranberries and red onions in the sandwich, you’re going to love that. Granola bars, Wheat Thins, we’ve got some celery sticks, cherry tomatoes, snap peas, and a side of ranch, there’s a mandarin orange for each of us, Capri Suns—brownies. He baked brownies.” She looked up at me. “You’re right. You should bone him.”

I snorted and Hector looked at me like I had two heads. “You’re not boning him yet? You better get on it.”

Yeah. I should.

When I got home from work that night, all I wanted to do was talk to Justin. I got into my pajamas and texted him. He told me to give him thirty minutes to get Chelsea in bed. I’d just gotten under the covers when he called.

“Hey,” I said, picking up.

“Hey.”

I smiled into the darkness of my room. I’d missed the tenor of his voice. “What are you doing?” I asked.

“Lying in bed. Finally.”

“Long day?”

He blew a breath into the phone. “It’s been a long week in a very long couple of months.”

I shifted down into my blankets. “Tell me.”

“Eh, you don’t want to hear it.”

“I do. Tell me,” I said again.

He sighed. “The kids start school in three weeks. I’m just a little overwhelmed.”

My face fell. “Oh. Do you want to cancel our date? If you need the time—”

“Nooooo. No, no, no. I definitely do not want to cancel our date.”

The corners of my lips quirked up. “So what’s going on?” I asked. “Why are you overwhelmed?”

I heard him stretch. “You really want to hear this? It’s going to be an info dump.”

“Dump away.”

He puffed air from his cheeks. “It’s like death by a thousand cuts,” he said. “Yesterday Alex comes to tell me that I need to refill his ADHD medication. The pharmacy won’t do it without a new prescription, so I call the doctor and the doctor won’t do it without a physical. The doctor only sees patients Monday through Friday, so I have to take a half day off work to take him. We get there, and they check his eyesight as part of the exam. He needs reading glasses. So then I’m at LensCrafters getting him glasses for three hundred dollars. He still needs behind-the-wheel hours, so he’s the one driving us to each of these things, so I’m stressed the whole time because he’s still not very good at it. By the time we’re done, I’ve lost most of my workday and spent three hundred dollars plus a copay, and I still haven’t done the one thing I set out to do—refill his prescription—which I still need to go pick up. It’s like one task just bleeds into the next and I’m never done.”

“Yikes…”

“I would have to quit my job just to read the amount of emails these kids’ schools send. I had to sign Alex up for soccer, Sarah up for dance, I need to load their lunch accounts, prepay for their school photos, take everyone back-to-school shopping. I had to put Chelsea into preschool early so I can work. I thought I could juggle it with her here, but I can’t. She needs too much attention and I can’t give it to her, and Alex and Sarah aren’t much of a help.” I pictured him rubbing his eyebrow. “She cried all three days that I dropped her off. She has friends there and she knows the teachers, but she’s been clingy lately and crying at night for Mom. I felt like shit leaving her there, but I’ve already taken as much PTO as I can.”

“She’s probably just got some separation anxiety with everything going on,” I said. “It’ll pass.”

“That’s what her teacher said. It just sucks. I feel bad.”

“How’s the new house?” I asked.

He scoffed. “A mess. I don’t know if it’s just because they’re home right now? But there’s snack wrappers and socks all over the place. I couldn’t find any forks, so I went looking and found half the dishes in Alex’s room. They leave all the lights on and they throw their crap everywhere. I’m doing two loads of laundry a day. And I’m starting to get why Mom hoarded napkins. I mean, I make good money, but stretching it over three extra people? I’m going to have to start making adjustments. I’d planned to just order takeout if I needed to, but now I’m thinking I can’t afford the extra expense. I’ve been making dinner every night and Sarah won’t eat anything I cook. She’s pickier than Chelsea. She won’t even try it.”

“I’d eat your dinners.”

“Come over,” he said without skipping a beat.

“It’s ten o’clock at night,” I said.

“I don’t care. I want to see you.”

The butterflies flittered up.

“How did your room turn out?” I asked, changing the subject.

“Good,” he said tiredly. “Great. I’m actually impressed with Brad’s interior design skills.”

“Do you have any pictures?”

“Nah, I want you to come see it in person.” He paused. “I miss you. I want to see you,” he said again.

The breath in my lungs stilled.

He was tired and stressed. It was probably making him a little more direct and edgier than usual. But there was something so primal and matter-of-fact about the way he said he wanted to see me. Like seeing me was a need. The way someone says they need to eat or sleep.

“I can’t,” I said. “I can’t ask Maddy to boat me to shore this late.”

“What if…” He stopped. “Never mind.”

“What?”

“No, it’s too much,” he said.

“No, tell me.”

“I was just going to say, what if you took the boat yourself so she doesn’t have to drive you? Come over and just go back in the morning.”

I smiled. “You’re inviting me to a sleepover? You’re going to see me tomorrow anyway for our next date.”