In my profession, I took to all my young patients as if they were my own. I even thought I had figured out what it was like to be a parent, but I was learning just how fucking wrong I was about that.
Jackson reminded me so much of myself that I sometimes couldn’t believe it. Seeing yourself reflected in your child was nothing short of miraculous. It was for me; now, I was on a new-dad high that I never wanted to come down from.
“I could’ve flown that helicopter too, you know?” Jackson said as we all got into the car that awaited us at the small airport in Monterey.
“Oh, I’m sure you could have.” I bent to lift Jessa’s travel bag, placing the last piece of luggage in the back of the Tesla I’d arranged to be dropped off here for my personal use the next two days. “Okay, let’s get this fun little vacay underway,” I announced, holding the passenger door open for Jessa to sit. Jackson, in true gentleman fashion, took the seat behind her.
“Good grief,” Jessa said, rubbing her arms that were folded tightly across her chest, “it’s cold as hell here.”
“If you’re going to cuss, Mom, at least do it right,” Jackson teased from the back seat. “Last I checked, hell was hot.”
“Last you checked?” I said, pulling out of the airport. “Shit, I had no idea one could check that place out.”
“You know what I’m saying,” Jackson said with a laugh.
“Why don’t we pull off the subject of hell and admire this beautiful stretch of California coastline, shall we?”
“Oh?” Jessa said in a high-pitched tone, filled with humor, “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” I said, acting like some dipshit family man, enjoying having Jessa and Jackson in the car with me as we traveled to a home owned by one of Jim Mitchell’s clients. “Now, are we hungry? Bathrooms? Anything before we head to this lovely home?”
“Home?” Jessa said with confusion. “I thought we were going to the aquarium or something?”
“Don’t you dare worry your cute little heart, Jess,” I said. “We’ll have you at that aquarium and finding Nemo before you know it.”
“So, how do you both know each other, anyway?” Jackson questioned, prompting me to look at Jessa immediately, hoping she’d throw me a lifeline.
She smiled as if the boy sitting in the back seat were another man’s, and I was just the chauffeur. “College, I told you. Cam was a good friend of mine.”
“Ah,” Jackson said. “Best friends?”
The kid was prying, and I was okay with that. This part was not my fault. Jessa was going to have to face the music at some point. The wisest thing for me was to let her handle this the best way she knew.
We were on this mini vacation to help them gain some courage about the surgery, and the distraction of finding out who I was to him could spin things out of control. But here we were. This whole thing could go south quickly if we weren’t careful. As much as I wanted Jackson to know everything, I was more concerned with his health and didn’t want anything to sabotage his decision to have surgery.
“Best friends,” I said, smiling over at Jessa’s amused expression. “Now, back to where we’re staying.” I changed the subject, grateful that Jackson didn’t press the issue. He certainly didn’t inherit his ability to drop things from his mother; that much was obvious.
“Yes, where are we staying? I packed clothes for warm and cooler weather, like you said,” Jessa informed me.
“Well, this marine layer will burn off soon, and it’ll warm up once the sun breaks through. That’s pretty much why you have to pack for all four seasons on this peninsula. It will reach about seventy-eight degrees today after the sun breaks through, and it’ll be a perfect day. Until then, gotta cover up.”
“It’s so beautiful here,” Jessa said as I kept on Highway One toward Carmel-by-the-Sea. “The cypress trees are incredible.”
“If you look down at the shit-stained rocks,” I said, pointing to where the gray ocean surrounded numerous rocks covered in sea lion, seal, and seagull shit, “those black mounds are sea lions and seals.”
Jackson laughed while Jessa rolled her eyes, “Shit-stained rocks? You should be a tour guide up here,” Jackson said with another laugh. “Oh, shit. I see one, maybe two!”
“Shit-stained rocks or sea lions?” Jessa asked Jackson before looking at me. “Thanks for that, by the way.”
“No problem,” I smiled. “The seals are super cute.” I pointed toward another shit-crusted rock, “Check it out. There’s about fifteen over there.”
“Not for spotting the marine life,” she arched a reproachful eyebrow at me, “for—”
“I don’t think I—wait. I see them! They’re on the closer shit-stained rocks,” Jackson added with a laugh.
“For that. Thanks for that,” Jessa said.
“For what, calling the rocks what they are? Shitty rocks?”
“Cameron,” she exhaled, lowering her voice, “I do my best to refrain from cursing around my sixteen-year-old son, so could you please respect that too?”
I eyed her and sighed. “You’ve done an amazing job raising him,” I said. “However, he’s going to curse either way. So, you need to pick and choose which ones you will allow.”
“Exactly, Mom,” Jackson said, joining my team.
“No, not exactly, Jacks,” she said. “The second I let you, you’ll be dropping f-bombs on every other person you see. Besides, it’s extremely unprofessional for Dr. Brandt to cuss in front of children.”
I smiled at Jackson through the rearview mirror as he rolled his eyes and put his earbuds in, pointedly ignoring the tirade his mother was about to launch into about our usage of foul language.
“Seriously, Captain America, you should relax a little bit,” I teased Jessa, only to have the power of the mother hen stare my ass down and pin me to my seat.
“I think it’s best if you focus on your job as a surgeon who wants to help me and my son, and I’ll focus on being Jackson’s mother.”
“Why don’t we meet in the middle?” I pressed, not knowing what hole I was digging myself into.
“Why don’t we not?”
“You have done a fine job raising him; I will say that,” I informed her, taking the safer ground.
I’d have to be a fool to sit here and act like I could win an argument with a single mother. God built these women to be mentally stronger than anyone on this planet, and I would lose this battle should I foolishly choose to fight it.
“Thank you. I’d like to keep raising him right if you don’t mind?”
“I get it. Subject change,” I conceded, smiling at her softened expression. The Jessa I knew wasn’t quick to jump on anyone’s case, so it was easy to deduce that the strain she was under made her testy. “I think we’re going whale watching tomorrow morning. Someone mentioned something about whales in the bay or some shit?”
“Oh, for the love of God, Cam,” she said, nailing me for saying the word shit, I’m sure.
“What?” I announced, “he’s got his earbuds in. Jesus, Jess.”
She rolled her eyes, and I couldn’t help but smile at how adorable she was. It was highly attractive, but I felt bad for pushing her when she was already at her limit.
“Okay, allow me to censor your mouth like this,” she said in a calm yet borderline lethal tone. “Would you talk like this around your patients?”
“Fuck no.” I didn’t want Jessa to think I was some dumbfuck who would be so unprofessional around his patients. I covered my mouth, feeling like an asshole, and glanced in the mirror to ensure Jackson had his earbuds in. “Sorry,” I said with a guilty smile.
“My point exactly. Treat him like he’s a regular patient, and we’ll be fine. You must understand that, especially at his age, kids will constantly push the limits, and that last thing I need is some kid who cusses like a sailor.”
“True,” I pursed my lips. “I’ve seen some disrespectful kids come through my hospital, and it’s quite shocking when they cuss their parents out. Not to mention disrespectful.”
“Ah, look at you. The pediatric neurosurgeon, learning something new every day.”
“Hey, I never claimed to be the smartest man,” I answered with a grin. “If I were, I certainly wouldn’t have left you.”
“Let’s not go down that road, shall we?”
I grinned in response, but there was no way I would put the brakes on something I wanted so badly, which was her. If fate was busting its ass to bring us together, who was I to stand in the way?
