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MY GUESTBOOK
�Sounds like quite the successful matchmaker,� I said.
Josh nodded. �She cried, you know. When I called her.� Our connection wasn�t back in full force yet, and I was having a tough time keeping up with Josh�s thoughts at the moment, but I was pretty sure he was talking about his mother. �I�ve never heard her cry before. By the time I got there after my dad died she had pulled herself together and if she cried she didn�t do it around me,� he continued. �She didn�t cry after Joanie died, either. Dad broke down, especially at the funeral, but mom was always� so together. But then I told her about Leo and� she lost it.� He looked down at the watch again. �She begged me to say it wasn�t true, that I was lying to her�playing a cruel joke on her.�
�They�ve been friends for how long? Fifty-something years? Now that Leo�s gone you�re all she has left.�
�That is something to cry over,� Josh chuckled bitterly. He sighed heavily. �I didn�t see her when we were in Florida I didn�t even realize that our hotel was ten blocks from her place until, like, five states later�which, by the way, was almost average for turnaround on my returning her phone calls. What the hell kind of son am I?�
�The kind that gets good men elected. Your candidate has gone from �dark horse� to �Mr President� for two terms already and at least one more with an option on four more years after that. That�s sixteen years of the Leader of the Free World being the guy that you worked your ass off for. Your mother understands, Josh. You know she does.�
Josh nodded. �I still feel like a crappy son.�
�That�s �cause your mother is the master of the guilt trip,� I said, rubbing my hand over his back soothingly. �You need to get some sleep�we both do.�
�I don�t think I�ll be able to.�
�Then just rest. Get under the covers and put your head on the pillow and just rest. I�m going to wrap my arms around you like after Roslyn and I�m going to be here when the sun come sup and we have to leave for DC,� I said as I eased Josh back until he was laying down on the left hand side of the bed. He allowed me to help him under the covers and his eyes tracked me warily as I moved around the room turning off the lights and making sure that both my cell phone and laptop were plugged in so that they would be fully charged for the morning. I don�t think Josh blinked until I lifted up the covers and slid into bed. I cradled Josh in my arms, his head pillowed on my breast, his ear pressed to my heart. I had long ago found that the steady beating of my heart could quell even the most vivid of night terrors.
�I� I know now isn�t the time for this,� Josh said as I fiddled with the covers, �but I do want to talk about what happened with us today� and last night.�