All Geek to Me

by Allie York

  She sniffles again and reaches for her drink, pulling away from me for a second before dropping back into me and sinking in. I kiss the top of her head and she sighs. It’s those little things that make me think she and I have something real going on. Not to mention the fact that I can be myself around her. I don’t have to be Wyatt the cop, or Wyatt the dad, or Wyatt the guy who works out. I can be all of those things, or none of them and she still looks at me with the same glint in her eyes. Noralee adjusts and tips her head up toward me, a smirk on her face, and leans up to kiss me. I’m not about to turn down making out in a movie theater like a teenager. Her lips press against mine and I am done. In a matter of seconds, we are a layer of clothes away from being indecent and my hands are in her curls. Then my phone vibrates in the cup holder. I ignore it for as long as I can, but when it rings a third time, I have to check it. Pops is calling. Fuck. Noralee slides off my lap and I adjust my cock before answering.

  “Hey, Pops,” I whisper, even though no one else is in the theater.

  “Wyatt, Cruze is sick.” Pops sounds worried about more than my kid not feeling well.

  “How sick?” I ask.

  “Sick enough for me to call you. He said his head hurt at bedtime, I thought he was tired. But he got up and his fever is pretty high. I gave him something to bring it down, but he threw it up. He won’t quit throwing up and his fever keeps climbing.” Pops raised Wayne and me with Mom. There wasn’t one parent doing more than the other, one wasn’t more nurturing than the other. If Pops says the kid is sick, the kid is really sick.

  “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” I look over and Noralee already has her coat on, drink in her hand.

  “It’s nasty out, be safe.” The line goes quiet and I tuck it in my pocket.

  “I’m so sorry.” I shake my head, grabbing my coat.

  “Why?” Noralee is on her feet ready to go. “Kids get sick. Hell, adults get sick. Let’s go.”

  I take her hand and we leave the aisle, then hurry down the stairs. “I feel bad that I’m ruining our do-over date.”

  Noralee stops dead in her tracks. “Did you have a bad time?” She glares at me just before we leave the theater.

  “No. I had a great time!” I insist, trying to hurry her.

  “Then you didn’t ruin anything.” She rolls her eyes and gestures for me to leave. Outside the snow is still coming down, but the parking lot isn’t frozen, so the roads won’t be. I hope. I help Noralee into the truck after she slides in the slush of the parking lot three times. I start the truck, adjust the heat, turn the wipers on high and pull out. I can’t drive as fast as I want or need to, but I’d rather arrive home safe than not arrive at all. The tail end of the truck slides a few times after we turn on to my road, but it’s usually one of the last to get plowed. Noralee watches the passing houses with all her attention, fingers curled tightly around the door handle. I can’t blame her; my knuckles are white on the steering wheel. When I finally pull into the driveway, I realize that I just brought her home with me to take care of my sick kid and it’s snowing. A lot.

  “I should have taken you home.” I stare at her dumbly.

  “It’s fine, you were worried about him.” She grabs her coat and follows me. “I’ll get home eventually.” I hurry into the house to see Pops on the couch with Cruze. My kid is red-faced and pale with watery eyes and a stuffed Batman under his arm. He starts to get up, but I shake my head and go scoop him up. He’s sweltering. Pops wipes the layer of sweat off his brow and sighs.

  “I’m sorry I called, Son.” Pops starts to stand but I put my free hand on his shoulder.

  “No problem, looks like we’ll be heading to the ER.” I turn to grab Cruze’s jacket and see Noralee in the door frame. “Shit,” I mumble, trying to figure out what I need to do. Cruze needs to go to the doctor, so I guess I’m doing that, but I’m not sure what Noralee is expecting to do.

  “Let’s go.” She gestures me to the outside and I do what I’m told.

  I get Cruze buckled up in the back, jump into the driver’s seat, and start the truck. Noralee is in the passenger seat, turned to watch Cruze. In his fever haze he gives her a smile and promptly falls back to sleep. “What do you think is wrong with him?” I back out into the road and we skid immediately. I brace myself for a long night and glance over at Noralee. She looks terrified.

  “Who knows. With kids it could be anything.” I start down the road slowly, trying not to skid anymore. The last thing I need is to send us into a ditch in the cold with a sick kid.

  “Does this happen often? Trips to the ER at night?” She keeps glancing between me, the road, and Cruze.

  “It feels often, but maybe once a year. I hear it becomes less frequent as they get older.” I hope it’s less often.

  “How are you so calm right now?” She clears her throat after her voice squeaks.

  “I’m a cop, Noralee, my job is to be calm. What good would it do me to panic?” I’m worried as hell about driving in the snow, about Cruze being sick, about how packed the town’s only ER will be, and that Noralee may have a panic attack on me.

  “One: it would make me feel better to not be the only one freaking out.” I see her hold up one finger in my peripheral. “Two: It would make you seem more human right now.” She holds up a second finger. “And I don’t have a third.” She sighs and turns to stare at Cruze again.

  “The ER doctors are great, he probably has a bug, and it’s going to be fine. I promise I am human.” I keep my eyes on the road despite wanting to look at her to assure her. We get to a main road and I’m thankful to see it’s clear, so I speed up. Cruze mumbles in the back and Noralee turns to talk to him.

  “What did you say?” I can’t see what she’s doing but she’s turned completely around to look at him. Cruze mumbles something and Noralee starts laughing. “Did he? We’ll have to remind him that it’s a bad word.” She laughs and I glance in the mirrors to see Cruze nod and close his eyes.

  “What did I say now?” I risk a glance at her and turn onto the road leading to the hospital.

  “Shit. You said shit and he heard you.” She giggles through her response.

  I turn into the ER lot and we start scanning for a parking spot. “Norlee, that’s a bad word,” Cruze calls from the back in the biggest voice he can muster.

  “Oops! I’m sorry.” She points and I swing into the parking spot. She starts unloading and I open Cruze’s door to get him out. I carry the kid with Noralee trailing behind me through the wet parking lot and into the overly bright lights inside. I have to blink to get my eyes to adjust after being in relative darkness. Noralee stands near the door, scanning the crowd of people while I get in line to check him in. Once I’m done, we find two chairs together and huddle in close. There are so many sick people. Coughs are coming from every direction, I see two kids actively throwing up, and three with ice packs on their heads.

  “I am so sorry you ended up here with me,” I groan and lean back in the chair allowing Cruze to stretch out on me.

  “It’s okay. Taking me home would have been going so far out of the way.” She sighs and leans back to put her head on my shoulder. Then we wait. The clock on the wall over the desk ticks past, Cruze groans in his sleep a few times, and we keep waiting. Two hours later, he’s been in triage, they’ve checked his vitals, and a nurse gave Cruze something for his fever. We’re sent back to the waiting room to wait… again. Noralee grabs sanitizer every time we pass by a pump and I have her rub down my hands as well. Cruze sleeps through most of it, waking occasionally to look around but always dozing back off. Kids cough around us; more people pile in and names get called back while we wait. Noralee doesn’t once pull out her phone or seem annoyed about being with us at the ER. We make small talk occasionally but stay mostly silent until Cruze is called back. Three hours in a waiting room full of sick people with a very hot kid on you can make even the most patient of men want to lose their shit. I’m currently at that point when I lay Cruze down in the hospital bed
and take a deep breath, shaking the pins and needles out of my hands. Noralee stands awkwardly by the door, her eyes moving from Cruze to me, her brows furrowed.

  “Now we wait some more.” I gesture at the chair and she sits down, hands clasped in her lap. “I’m still sorry this happened.”

  She flicks her eyes to me from Cruze. “He’s going to be okay, right? Should he be sleeping this much?”

  “Fevers take it out of them, not to mention that bedtime is at eight, so he’s extra worn out.” I sit at the foot of his bed and reach up to touch his head. He’s slightly cooler, so that’s good. At least he didn’t throw up this time.

  A nurse swoops in a few minutes later, takes his vitals again, talks us through the night, then says she needs to order a couple of tests to rule out mono, flu, and strep. Great. Cruze barely stirred through all the poking and prodding but I know shoving a swab up his nose and swirling it around is not going to go so well. So, I go ahead and start talking to him. He stirs and crawls in my lap. A few seconds later, a nurse comes in and explains the process and I brace for a tantrum. I can’t blame the kid. Having things jammed up your nose is not fun. As quickly as she came in, she leaves with three swabs. I’m left with a sniffling, crying kid and Noralee is on her phone. I feel terrible for bringing her along, but like she said, I had no choice. Cruze doesn’t settle down over the next few minutes, so I rock him hoping it’ll calm him. It does not work.

  “Come here.” Noralee looks up from her phone and waves for Cruze to come to her. He shakes his head, sniffling. “I want to show you something.” She smiles at him and my heart stutters. Cruze seems sold because he stands up and pads his socked feet across the room to her. She lifts him into her lap and holds her phone where he can see it.

  “Batman!” He takes the phone in his tiny hands.

  “Touch that word.” She taps her phone screen and it reads the word.

  “It reads to me!” Cruze nearly has to pick his jaw up off the floor.

  “It doesn’t do voices, but it reads to you. Keep going.” Noralee seems to expect him to get down, but Cruze settles into her, leaning into the bed of her arm and pushing each sentence until he gets to the end of the page. Wordlessly, she takes his finger and swipes. His face lights up and the next page starts. Noralee leans back in the seat, stretching her legs out in front of her and Cruze goes with her, not taking his eyes off the phone. I mouth a thank you at her and she winks. How the hell did I get lucky enough to find her?

  The rest of our time at the hospital goes by in a blur. Nurses come in, a doctor comes in, one of them says Cruze has the flu and gives me paperwork. Instructions are to give fever reducers, keep him comfortable, and treat the symptoms. They offer a medicine to make it last fewer days, but when I hear a side effect is hallucinating, I skip that. The last thing I need is a four-year-old seeing shit. We leave five hours after we arrived armed with some knowledge and a very, very tired child. The snow has stopped, but it’s piled up on the roadsides and it’s below freezing out so I drive as carefully as I can to Words for Nerds. I skid across the lot, barely missing Noralee’s car and put it in park. Screw the car being straight, I just want my passengers safe.

  “You guys should stay here tonight.” She gathers her coat and looks back at Cruze. Normally I would decline and not invade her space, but I’m not even sure I can get out of the lot.

  “You sure?” I’m already shutting off the engine. Noralee rolls her eyes and I unbuckle to get Cruze out of the truck. With him on my shoulder, I watch Noralee slip and slide all over the sidewalk before finally losing her footing and plowing into the door. The handle saves her, and she squeals when she grabs it, obviously thinking she’s going to hit the ice. Thankfully she doesn’t because with Cruze in my arms I can’t catch her. She gives me a look when I chuckle and unlocks the door to let us in. After an intense shoe cleaning at the front door, we head upstairs, she makes a hand gesture at the cut out at the bottom of the steps and we trudge up. Noralee vanishes into the bathroom as soon as we get in. I set Cruze up on the couch and he wakes up long enough for me to tell him we’re at Noralee’s house and he’s sleeping on the couch. I point to the bathroom just as Noralee comes out and he waves at her. She waves back and disappears into her room. I tuck him in with one of the five million blankets she has on the futon and he closes his eyes as soon as his head hits the pillow. I leave the hall light on, stop by the bathroom, and head back to her room.

  “Hey,” I whisper as I crawl into bed with her.

  “Hey,” she whispers back, scooting to press her body into mine.

  “We are really bad at dates.” I nuzzle into her hair.

  “We are,” she admits. “Keeps it interesting, right?”

  “You did great tonight.” I don’t know how to tell her that she’s everything I want in a woman without sounding creepy. I never expected a woman I dated to meet Cruze so soon, or be involved with him at all, at least not for a while, but it just feels so right.

  “What do you mean?” She sounds like she’s drifting off.

  “With Cruze. He was so upset, and you worked your nerd magic on him.” I get an elbow to the ribs. “Ow, I mean it. Thanks for calming him down. Having his nose swabbed was obviously the most traumatic thing ever.”

  “I don’t want things shoved up my nose either.” Noralee yawns. “I’m just glad he’s okay.”

  “Me too.” I wrap my arms around and feel her fall asleep. It’s so early in the morning and we both have to work tomorrow, but I stay awake. Half of me listens for Cruze to get up, the other half enjoys having someone to sleep next to for the first time in years. I need to remember to thank Janet when I see her tomorrow. Forcing me into nerdy speed dating is the best thing she has ever done.

  17

  Noralee

  Nothing says planning the biggest speed dating yet, like your parents showing up unannounced. I have Greer and Rae setting up chairs, Tuesday is pre-making a ton of coffee, and Wyatt has Cruze on his shoulders dusting the shelves. Pops is restocking the cups, coffee creamer, and napkins. Wyatt’s partner, Janet, came to help and is stacking the forms for everyone to fill out. Cruze is turned loose and bolts for me, knocking me down behind the front desk when I try to catch him and lose my balance. We tumble back onto the floor; the stool topples over and my accounting book hits the floor.

  “Whoops.” I laugh, Cruze straddling my stomach and bouncing like I’m his personal trampoline. It only took him about four days to get better from the flu and he was back to his normal, precocious self.

  “I’ll help!” Cruze jumps up and tries to right the stool, but it’s too heavy. I climb to my feet and help him lift it then grab him up to squeeze on him. He is the most squishy, cuddly little kid in the whole world. Everything about him warms my heart and makes me glad he comes as a package deal with his sexy dad. I hug Cruze against my chest and dip him upside down, hanging on to his legs.

  “What do you see?” I ask him while he giggles.

  “Daddy is upside down,” he yells, and I flip him back up.

  “Do I have to leave later?” he whines, tracing the yellow bat signal on my sweater.

  “You do. Pops is going to take you home, then Dad will be there later. It’s a grown-up thing,” I explain.

  “Cliff! Nina!” Greer’s voice rings out across the shop and I nearly drop Cruze. What the hell are my parents doing here? Sure enough, I look up to see my mom and dad strolling in like they still own the place. They don’t of course, but I know that they’re going to act like they do. And on speed dating night, of course.

  I kiss Cruze’s cheek and make eye contact with Wyatt. He has the deer-in-headlights look. Mom makes it to me before Dad because he’s busy checking out all the upgrades he didn’t bother coming to see while I was doing them. Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen them in two years. After doing their time working and growing a miniature comic empire, they took retirement seriously. Mom looks from me to the kid on my hip. “Noralee!” She hugs me around Cruze. “
And who is this?” her words are syrupy sweet, yet her face is anything but.

  “I’m Cruze!” He wiggles free of my grip and hops to the floor.

  “Hello Cruze. I’m Nina.” Mom offers her hand and Cruze reaches to shake with the wrong hand. I correct him and he shakes my mom’s hand. Before I can explain more, the kid dashes off to his dad and I’m left staring at Mom. “We have a lot of catching up to do,” she comments as Dad comes at me from one direction and Wyatt from the other. Cruze goes from Wyatt to Pops without so much as slowing down.

  “What’s happening tonight?” Dad rubs his hands together before hugging me.

  “Speed dating. It’s our third and final night.” I hug him back. Mom and Dad were great parents; loving and supportive, but they also love to judge everything I do. I always feel like the boss just caught me doing something wrong at work when I talk to Dad about Words for Nerds.

  “Has that panned out to be financially sound? You didn’t run it by me.” Dad looks from me to Mom like they are plotting against my ideas already. It’s going to be a great visit.

  “We’ve had a great turn out. Been in the black every night, and even Noralee found some love.” Rae blows a bubble and looks squarely at Wyatt. He grins like an idiot and I swoon a little.

  “Hi, I’m Wyatt Collins.” Wyatt offers his hand to Dad and lays on the charm.

  “Cliff Reynolds.” Dad shakes his hand. “My wife Nina.” The awkward introductions keep coming when Pops comes over, Cruze in tow, and they meet my parents. Fortunately, the crowd outside starts to grow and Rae opens the doors. At least twenty people flood in and I can see more pulling into the lot.

  “We’ll take our things up and come down to help. This looks like fun!” Mom winks at me and Dad follows her out to grab the bags.

  “Oh. Fuck. Me,” I groan and rub my temples.