Page 76

“I’m so sorry you got hurt, bud,” Caleb said. “Mommy told me it hurts to talk, so you don’t have to say anything. I just want you to know I love you and I’m here if you need anything. If you decide you want me to come, I’ll be there in a few hours.”

Andrew nodded.

“I love you, honey.”

“Love you,” he said, cringing afterward.

I faced the phone back at me, and Caleb had an empathetic look in his eyes. “Man, he looks miserable, but he’s so strong.”

I ran my hand through Andrew’s hair. “The toughest.”

The door to the room opened, and an older woman in a white coat came in carrying a kit of some sort. “Hi, I’m the nurse working with Andrew here. You must be Mom?”

I nodded. “And we have Dad on the phone.”

“Great. I’m going to put some numbing cream on Mr. Andrew here, so he won’t feel the stitches at all.”

I hoped she was right.

* * *

Andrew,Mom, and I walked out of the hospital a few hours later with instructions to keep the stitches clean and let Andrew rest for the next couple of days. We parted ways so I could get Andrew home and Mom could grab Cora from school.

Seeing my baby get stitched up was hard on my heart, and I was ready to cry myself. I just wanted a sign, something to tell me things were looking up. And then when we got back to my place, I saw it...

A dandelion in the yard.

I bit my lip, smiling at it, and then walked Andrew inside, leading him to his room and helping him get comfortable. I went to the kitchen to make lunch and got out my phone to call Gage.

“Hey, is everything okay with Andrew?” he asked.

“He’s doing well. I can’t believe how brave he was when they stitched his lip. The doctor says we need to do at least a day with no screens and dim lighting, so I’m trying to figure out what we can do besides just draw. He should be good to go back to school on Thursday, though. Just in time for his last day.”

“That’s good,” he said.

I leaned my hips back against the kitchen counter, breathing a sigh of relief. “I feel like the universe sent me a sign.”

“With his injury?” Gage asked.

“No, with a dandelion... I was feeling really sorry for Andrew and sorry for myself when I walked up to the yard and saw one there.”

“So what’s the sign?” Gage asked. “That your landlord needs to spray the yard?”

“No!” I laughed. “Dandelions have always been a good sign for me.”

“What do you mean?”

I moved from the counter, looking in the fridge for the ingredients to make homemade mac ‘n’ cheese, Andrew’s favorite. “When I was a young mom and staying at home with Levi, I was having a hard time. I felt like my whole life was busy and overwhelming, and I worried so much that I was failing as a mother. And one day I was crying to my mom on the phone, then Levi came up to me with a little yellow dandelion. Here he was, this little two-year-old with nothing in the world, and he loved me enough to bring me the only thing he had. He saw it and thought of me.Me. And I thought, maybe I’m not so bad at being a mom, because this little boy has a heart as golden as that flower. It was everything.”

I smiled at the memory, filling a pot with water to boil. “Eventually, they saw how happy it made me, and every day I would have a bouquet of dandelions by supper time. I’d always set them in my best vase on the table, and they’d be so proud of what they brought me. It made everyone so happy. And it seems like every time I hit my breaking point, one of the kids brings me a dandelion. So to me, dandelions aren’t a weed. They’re a sign of love. That everything is going to be okay.” I shifted my phone to my other ear. “I know that probably sounds silly—”

“It’s not silly at all,” Gage said. “It’s you.”

33

Gage

Farrah came into the office Thursday morning with two cups from Barry’s. “Cortado for you,” she said, handing me one drink and then a folded piece of paper. “And a thank you card from Andrew. The 3D printing pen was an amazing gift for him. It helped so much since we had to limit screen time.”