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“Crap!” I say

“What’s wrong, Momma?”

I brush Nathan’s hair down “Rose is sick, honey She’s not going to be able to watch you today”

Nathan puet to stay home and play with me today!”

A knot of guilt settles in my stomach from his excite at work today I’ to call Jackson and see if he can come over”

“Moooooommm,” Nathan whines “I don’t wanna play with Jackson all day He doesn’t like !”

Jackson is really kind to Nathan but he’s definitely not into playtime “I’m sorry, buddy, but I don’t really have a choice”

“What about Riley?” he asks

“What about him?”

“He can come over and play with me!” Nathan says excitedly

I bite my lip “Oh, I don’t know Riley’s probably really busy ork”

He tugs on my suit jacket “Pweaaase, Momma! Just call him!”

I think about it for a uess it wouldn’t hurt to ask I kiss Nathan on the forehead “Go brush your teeth and I’ll give him a call”

“Sweet!” he says

I laugh as I walk down the hall I scroll through my contacts until I reach Riley’s number, hit the call button, and take a deep breath