Almost done with the draft of this chapter. Here’s another snippet. From Cleaving.
“Hey, Little Man,” he cooed, taking Nathan from his mom. “What happened?”
Nathan just clung to him as Margo explained, “He had an accident, and I forgot to take the diaper bag with me. He was almost asleep. I’m sorry we’re back so soon, I meant to give you boys more time.”
“It’s fine,” he said, carrying his son up the stairs. “Let’s get you cleaned up, okay, Nathan? Did you see some nice lights? Anything fancy?”
Nathan nodded as Zach laid him down on a pad on the bed. “Snoopy.”
“Snoopy! That sounds cool. Did he have a little Christmas tree like in the movie?”
Nathan nodded again as Zach made quick work of the dirty diaper. His mom handed him a clean pair of pants and Zach was soon fastening up the dozen little snaps.
“Better?” Zach asked as he picked Nathan up and held him. He was already calm, but clearly tired. Nathan nodded into Zach’s neck. “Can you take a nap? Then we can play with your new toys when you wake up?”
Nathan paused but then nodded again, too tired to put up even a mild protest. Zach kissed his cheek and then laid him down in the Pack-and-Play, handing him Gustafer.
“Babbo hug?”
“Oh, Babbo’s taking a walk.”
“Bar?”
“You want to sleep with Gustafer and Bar?”
Nathan nodded, and his mom signaled him that she’d collect it from downstairs.
“His boots are kind of hard, and his hat doesn’t come off. He’s not snuggly like Gustafer.”
Margo handed the bear into the crib and Nathan arranged his stuffed toys how he wanted them, an arm flung over both as if to prove Zach wrong. “Bar and Guster.”
Zach bit back a smile, tempted to pull out his phone and take a picture, but not wanting to rile Nathan when he was so close to falling asleep. “Okay, you’re right. Have a good nap. We’ll play when you wake up.”
Nathan closed his eyes and murmured, “Love daddy.”
Maybe it was the emotional roller-coaster of the last hour, but tears pricked Zach’s eyes. “Love you too, Little Man.”
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