Page 41 of Three Not-So-Little Words (The Lawson’s #3)

forty-one

Incredible

Drew

C olton and I walk through the front door after a day of work and school to find Ronnie anxiously waiting for us.

"Hi!" She greets

"Hey, beautiful. Is everything okay?"

The past two days, she's been working almost non-stop in Colton's room. Last night, she even deemed it off-limits until she finished. I'm not even sure how much she slept.

I look her up and down. She wears an old pair of jeans and a black t-shirt, her hair is pulled into a messy bun, and I'm pretty sure there is paint in it.

Her attention turns from me to Colton. "Hey, little dude, do you want to see your new and improved bedroom?"

Colton's smile spreads from ear to ear. "You got it done?"

“You bet I did. I wanted you to be able to enjoy it all weekend since you're going to be home," she says. "Do you want to see it?”

He gives an excited nod.

"Okay. You have to close your eyes so that you're surprised."

Colton immediately squeezes his eyes shut and holds up his hand for Ronnie to grab. She looks at it for a moment as if it is a foreign object. I'm fully prepared to take it, so she doesn't have to, but she surprises me when she grabs it and heads for his bedroom.

It makes me happy to see her doing her best to form a connection with my son.

She pauses for a second before opening the door. When she does, I feel like I'm going to have to pick my jaw up off the ground.

She has taken his Spiderman-inspired room and turned it into something incredible.

Colton opens his eyes and screams, "Whoa!" He starts darting around the room as we both try to take in everything.

The first thing I notice is his bed. She took his race car bed frame, painted it black, and put string lights all around it to make it like webs. The same lights are also draped along the top of all the walls.

Speaking of walls, on one of them, she has hung a giant board with hooks methodically placed to hold every one of his NERF guns. There's also a multi-story racetrack and garage for all of his toy cars. His action figures are displayed on a small bookshelf.

I am shocked at how much work she put into this. It's incredible.

There's no other word for it.

Ronnie sees my face and suddenly looks nervous. "Is it too much? I didn't mean to go so crazy. Once I got started, I just kind of got carried away."

I have to push down the sudden wave of emotion that hits me.

When someone does something so nice for your kid, it hits so differently than someone just doing something nice for you.

“Baby, it's perfect," I tell her.

"Are you sure?"

I pull her in for a hug. "Absolutely. I can't believe all of this."

She shrugs. "It wasn't that big of a deal.”

"It was a huge deal.” I gesture to Colton. “Look how happy you made that little boy. You did that.”

She doesn't say anything but simply smiles.

"Hey, Colton," I say. "What do we say to Ronnie?"

He stops what he's doing and runs over to her. Wrapping his arms around her waist in a hug, he says, "Thank you, Ronnie."

Once again, she seems startled by his gesture, but after a few seconds, she hugs him back. It's a little awkward, but it's the thought that counts.

When he gets back to playing, she and I leave him alone and head back into the living room.

When we are out there, I say. "You're amazing."

"Eh, I was just bored "

She can try to be modest all she wants, but I see how great it was.

"Let me know how much I owe you."

"Don't worry about it," she says. "I know I went a little crazy."

"Ronnie, you don't have to do that."

She walks over to the couch. "Just pay me with food and orgasms."

"I can do that. How about I start with ordering us some dinner?"

She gets comfortable on the couch. "Sounds great"

I let out a loud cough and try to clear my throat.

"You okay?" She asks.

“Yean. I think it's allergies or something.” I start looking through takeout menus and ask, "What sounds good to eat?"

When I get no answer, I look over to see she's already fast asleep.

Get some sleep, beautiful. You earned it.