Page 19 of His Last Chase
“Chase Prescott, lead singer for the band Embrace the Fear, meet Daddy Timothy, local veterinarian.” I did the introduction the best way I knew how—straight to the point.
“Dang, next to his introduction mine sucks.” Timothy teased and Chase finally cracked a smile. “Come on in, guys. I’ll get Jamie up as soon as we get you settled into his playroom.”
“Whoa,” Chase said as we entered the animal kingdom-themed room. Timothy and Jamie bondedover their love of animals and were a perfect match.
“Chase!” Henry tried but failed to whisper as he barreled into Chase.
“Hey, Henry,” Chase replied as they hugged.
“Hello, Casey, hello, Chase,” Jensen greeted us. “Some room, huh?”
“That it is but how fantastic.” Beyond impressed, this room gave me ideas to design one at my house for Chase. Someday.
Just then, we heard Timothy’s voice in the hall. “Open the door.”
We stood back and waited and as soon as Jamie’s face emerged we yelled, “Surprise!” Poor kid jumped a foot in the air. Had Timothy not been behind him he’d have hit the wall.
“Happy birthday, Jamie!” Henry ran over and hugged him. “Did we scare you?”
“Little bit.” Jamie’s shaky reply left me wondering if his heartrate had calmed yet.
“Casey, Mitchell, let’s give Jamie some space so he can check out his new playroom,” Jensen said. As we passed Jamie on the way to the hall we wished him a happy birthday and left him and his friends to peruse the new room while we watched from the doorway.
“Hi, Chase,” Jamie said when he spotted Chase standing by himself off to the side. I wanted everyone to see him and for him to come out of his shellso badly, but he was the key to making that happen and forcing it would be wrong.
“Happy birthday, cool room,” Chase replied.
“Thank you. My Daddy did good. Look at all the animals!”
“Daddy, I can’t believe you made all this for me.” Jamie spun around in the center of the room. The ceiling was covered in clouds and stars with a big one in the middle that had the words “Daddy’s Shiny Star” painted around it in a fun font.
“I did. Does Daddy’s Shiny Star like it?” Ah, so that was what Timothy called him. Now it made sense.
“Daddy!” Jamie burst into tears. “No one’s ever thrown me a party and now I have my own room and my own friends, and everybody is here.”
Guess my boy wasn’t the only one who’d been forgotten and overlooked.
“That’s ‘cause we love you,” Henry hugged his backside since his front was glued to Timothy.
“Look at all the animals, Daddy. You even have Sloffers, Kiki, George, and Patty on the walls.” Jamie pointed to each as he called out their names. “And Kiki’s on a big tree! George is so tall he reaches her without standing on his tippy toes. Think he lifted her up there?”
“Probably,” Timothy smiled sweetly at his birthday boy, “that’s what friends are for, to lift you up.”
The shelves were filled with toys and stuffies and a huge jungle-themed rug laid across the floor.Books lined the bottom shelves, waiting for Timothy to read to his boy at bedtime. One of my favorite things I’ve missed doing these last few years.
“Your bed has a giant puppy paw on it,” Henry said as he pointed it out.
Jamie ran across the room, jumped on the bed and high-fived the paw-shaped headboard. “It’s so bouncy!” Chase stood there staring at both boys. “Are you okay, Chase?”
“I-I don’t know what to do?” My poor boy was overloaded.
“What do you want to do?” Jamie asked as he hopped off the bed and ran over to the shelves. “We have blocks, cars, dinosaurs. Oh, I got a new tea set. Want to have tea party?”
“Okay,” Henry and Chase replied.
“Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” Jamie hollered and ran out the room and straight into us. “Need help.”
“What’s wrong?” Timothy asked him.