Mine Are Spectacular! by Janice Kaplan

Author:Janice Kaplan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9780345484444
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2005-06-27T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter TEN

WHEN I TOLD James he could meet Dylan two weeks from Saturday, I meant to pick a day so far away that it would never come. But now here it is. Dylan and I are standing at the bottom of the steps at the Bronx Zoo, looking up at the fountain—where I expect James is already waiting. He and I agreed that if the weather was bad, we’d put this off until tomorrow, so I search the blue sky hopefully for clouds. Cumulus, cirrus, stratus. Anything will do. But all I can see is a helicopter.

“You don’t look happy, Mommy,” Dylan says as I bend down to tie his sneaker. Admittedly, it’s not really untied, but if I stop to fuss with the laces on his Nikes, I can put off our meeting James for another thirty seconds.

“Of course I’m happy,” I say, standing up and trying not to sigh. Or at least too deeply. “I’m always happy when you’re around, sweetie.” I ruffle his hair, then pat it down, and do the same to my own.

“Then come on,” he says impatiently. “I want to meet my real daddy.”

And I want to throw up.

I go to take Dylan’s hand, but he races ahead of me and bounds up the steps. At the top, he turns around to grin down at me. “Slowpoke!” he hollers. Once I’m next to him, he dashes toward the fountain. And then comes to a complete halt.

I catch up to him and put my arms around him. “Everything okay?” I ask.

“I’m scared. There are lions here,” he says, tears springing to his eyes. And then he adds more quietly, “And what if my daddy doesn’t like me?”

I hug him close. My first impulse is to grab him and run away. And why not? That’s what James did to us. But this isn’t about James. Dylan deserves to find out about his father. And to feel secure while he’s doing it.

“Who in their right mind wouldn’t like you?” I ask, kissing the top of his head. “In fact, who wouldn’t love you? Just the way I do.”

He looks up at me with trusting eyes, and I feel a lump in my throat. Then I notice James, standing on the other side of the fountain, watching us. I don’t approach him. Maybe it will be like one of those scenes in a movie where he spots us from afar, realizes what a perfect duo we are, and decides just to disappear again.

But no such luck. He’s waiting for us to come over. I take Dylan’s hand in mine. “Honey, that’s James over there,” I say. “Let’s go say hello.”

Dylan hesitates and then follows my gaze. “The man holding the balloon animals?” he asks, his face brightening.

I nod and Dylan lets go of my hand to rush over. James walks toward him, a big smile spreading across his face. He holds out what’s probably meant to be an elephant, made from I don’t know how many blue and green balloons, and Dylan accepts it eagerly.

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