“Matty. Matty, buddy. Wake up, Matty.”

Via was at their side a second later, just in time to see Matty’s eyes clench closed; he wouldn’t open them. “I’m cold, Daddy,” he whispered and it was music to every adult’s ears in the vicinity. He wasn’t unconscious.

“There’s an urgent care three blocks over from here,” Sadie huffed out as she hurried up. “They take walk-ins.”

“Right, I know where it is,” Sebastian said faintly, cradling his shivering little boy in his arms.

“I’ll get your softball stuff and bring it to school, okay?” Sadie continued. “Just go.”

“Right.”

And then he was striding away, toward the street. He shifted Matty in his arms so that he could do that two-fingered whistle that quite literally stopped traffic. A cab pulled up to the curb. Via was at his elbow, brushing the hair off Matty’s forehead and surreptitiously taking his temperature. The poor kid was burning up. “Do you want me to go with you?”

She felt like she was asking Matty as much as she was asking Sebastian, but it was the father who replied. “No, we’re fine.”

He kicked open the door of the cab and told the cabbie the intersection of the urgent care. He barely glanced back at Via. “We’re fine just the two of us.”

He pulled the door closed and the cab drove away.

TYLER TURNED FROM the fridge and thrust a beer into Seb’s hand. “I’m resisting the urge to give you a real crisp slap across the face right now, my dude.”

Seb chuckled humorlessly and took a long swallow of beer. “Because you think I’m overreacting?”

Tyler pulled out a barstool and sat down. “Because Matty is fine. And because you did EVERYTHING you were supposed to do. You were a great dad. You’re taking great care of him and still you’re beating yourself up.”

“I know. I think I’m having flashbacks to when Cora died or something. Blink of an eye, you know? I keep replaying the moment he fainted. He’s never fainted before. I keep thinking how big he looks these days, but he was so fucking small when I picked him up.” Seb squeezed his eyes closed, as if he could keep out the memory. He scraped the back of his hand against his wet eyes.

“Is he out for the night, you think?”

“You never can quite tell with a sick kid, but he’s sleeping soundly.”

“All right. Let’s watch a movie or something.”

“You don’t have to stay, Ty.”

“Shuddup. Matty’s sick. You look like you stuck your finger in an electrical socket. I’m staying.”

Sebastian laughed. “You know, this is why we became friends in kindergarten.”

Tyler looked up from his phone. “Because of my loyalty? Sense of right and wrong? You sensed my future devotion to your big-ass kid?”

“Because you just wouldn’t leave.”

Tyler rolled his eyes and laughed. “Hey, overstaying your welcome is actually a very tried-and-true strategy. Pretty soon, you don’t have to wait for a welcome anymore.”