Jay shot Elias a curious look. Elias was clearly attracted to her. So why was he pushing Jay in her direction? “If you want to ask her out, then ask her out. I won’t stand in your way. Just wait until after we have a decision about the funding and the documents are signed.”
“No way.” Elias shook his head. “I’m too messed up for a woman like her. Two years of therapy for my PTSD and I still have nightmares.”
Jay had nightmares, too, but he didn’t talk about them. Talking made them real and he didn’t want his past intruding on his present or affecting his future. He kept the trauma of his last deployment locked away and under control. If that meant he had to keep a tight handle on his emotions, then it was a small price to pay. Nothing was going to stop him from achieving his goal.
“You want to go grab a couple of cold ones and talk through the other investors on our list?” Elias nodded in the direction of the sports bar across the street.
“I’m going to pick my mom up at the daycare and take her for our usual Friday dinner. Another time.”
“It’s nice that you and your mom are close, but you gotta get out more.” Elias pulled out his phone, no doubt to find a drinking buddy for the evening. “The last time I saw you cut loose was when we took that trip to Vegas.”
That had been the day Jay’s mother had been declared cancer-free. They’d had a quiet celebration at home, but the next morning, overwhelmed with emotion, he hadn’t been able to go into the office. Somehow Elias had known what he was going through, and within a few hours they were on a plane to Vegas for a weekend of pure debauchery.
“Vegas was one hell of a good time,” Elias said.
“I wish I remembered it.”
“I wish you did, too.”
* * *
? ? ?
Jay’s mood lifted the moment he walked into the Sunny Days Childcare Center. Four-year-old twins Mia and Eve ran to take his hands, and five-year-old Adrian—a born acrobat—climbed on his back.
“How are my little monsters?” he asked.
“We’re not monsters,” Eve protested. “We’re kids.”
“I’m a monster.” Adrian lifted his head and bellowed a roar.
“Indoor voices, please.” Annalise Abbott, the daycare manager, greeted Jay with a smile. “Take Jay into the other room. Miss Padma is reading a story. And keep an eye on him. I recall he had a loud monster voice when he used to come here as a boy.”
Worried that Annalise might share some less-than-flattering stories about his years in the daycare center when he’d been young, Jay led his entourage past the brightly painted bookshelves and toy bins to the preschool room.
He spotted his mother in the reading circle with ten toddlers in various stages of attentiveness. Her dark hair, cut into an easy bob, was liberally threaded with gray and fell softly around her face. But her eyes, a deep brown flecked with gold, sparkled with youth despite the first lines of age fanning out at the corners. Exercise and chasing after toddlers had kept her trim over the years, and when she smiled, she looked no different to Jay than she had when he’d been a boy. She wore a red polo shirt with the daycare logo on the back, sturdy running shoes, and a pair of well-worn jeans that had survived everything from runny noses to spilled paint.
Jay hunkered down, letting Adrian scramble off his back before he took a seat on a tiny red chair at the edge of the reading circle. “What story are we reading today?”
His mother grinned. “The Cat in the Hat.”
Jay bit back a groan. He had never enjoyed the nightmarish story of an impulse-driven cat who barged into a home determined to have fun without thinking of the consequences of his actions. The only sensible creature in the story was the fish, the voice of reason and order who stayed safely in his bowl and insisted that the house be tidied before the mother got back home.
After story time, Jay watched spaceship battles and car races. He held dolls for their “mommies,” fixed broken airplanes, and lent his body to the advancement of children’s climbing skills. As always, he was a passive participant, rarely leaving his little red chair, but the children never seemed to mind.
Many sticky kisses and good-byes later, he helped his mother and the rest of the staff tidy away the toys.
“I’ve invited a friend to join us for dinner tonight.” His mother wiped down the kitchen counter. “His name is Rick Sanchez. I met him at a bar after my book club meeting. We’ve been out a few times and I thought it might be nice for you to meet him.”