When You Went Away by Michael Baron

Author:Michael Baron
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Publisher: Perseus Books Group
Published: 2009-10-05T16:00:00+00:00

THIRTEEN

Life Support

“What are you making?”

Codie called right after I began preparing dinner. Reese sat in his high chair with some toys, alternately pounding them and chewing them.

“A cornmeal-crusted chicken breast which I’m topping with a little pineapple- habanero salsa.”

“Set the table for two. I’ll be there in an hour and a half.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

“I’d love to, believe me. The client I’m working on tonight is creativity-averse. I don’t know why he doesn’t have someone in his accounting department do the campaign for him.”

“So come on out. Reese can put the pitch together while we’re eating.”

“No, Reese is too sophisticated for this guy. And I actually do have dinner plans tonight.”

“Date?

“More like an exploratory interview for a date.”

“Sounds very romantic.”

“Everything in its place. So what’s my favorite nephew doing?”

I put a little bit of olive oil into a hot pan and glanced over at the high chair. “At the moment, trying to put an entire stuffed rabbit into his mouth.”

Codie laughed. “Pretty oral these days, huh?”

“Exclusively oral these days. I also forgot how much pre-teething kids drool. I feel like I should dress him in scuba gear.”

“There’s an appealing image.”

I put the chicken in the pan and turned to the counter to get the salsa ready. “So are we still on for the Sunday after next?”

“Absolutely. I’ll be there in the late morning. Unless you guys want to come into town for brunch again.”

“I think we might want to wait seven or eight years before we give that another try.” When I’d finally managed to get into the city with Reese, the three of us went to a restaurant and things didn’t work out precisely as planned. The place was far too sophisticated and Reese had no patience for it – something he felt it necessary to voice at tremendous volume. Codie and I wound up taking turns walking with him on the street outside. “Late morning out here would be great.”

I put on a pair of plastic gloves. I wasn’t usually that wimpy when dealing with hot chilies, but I didn’t want Reese teething on one of my fingers and scorching himself on habanero juice. As I pulled out my chef’s knife, I heard a dull thump and then a scream from the high chair. I have no idea what he did to himself, but his face was scarlet and he was wailing.

“What happened?” Codie said.

“Nothing that doesn’t happen five times a day. There’s no blood.” Propping the phone between my ear and my shoulder, I pulled Reese out of his chair. He choked back a couple of sobs and buried his head in my chest.

“Do you need to go?”

“No, he’ll be fine in a second. My guess is that he banged his head against his tray. He hasn’t figured out yet that this is a bad idea.” Reese had already stopped crying, but still had his head down. The chicken needed turning, so I slid him over to one shoulder, the phone on the other, and reached for my tongs.

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