Rowan knew something was wrong the second his alarm went off.
Not wrong in the world-ending sense.
Just wrong enough that, when he blindly reached across the bedside table and grabbed his phone, he had to squint at the screen twice before his half-asleep brain understood what he was looking at.
It was too early.
Way too early.
His alarm was usually reliable. Rowan couldn't remember the last time he'd accidentally set it for the wrong time, but apparently, at some point, he'd managed it.
He considered fixing the alarm and going back to sleep.
For about three seconds.
Then he sighed, dropped his phone onto the mattress beside him, and stared at the ceiling.
He was awake now.
There was no point pretending otherwise.
Instead of getting up, Rowan pulled the blanket higher and allowed himself a few more minutes of doing absolutely nothing.
No breakfast.
No getting dressed.
No searching for missing shoes.
No convincing a three-year-old that brushing his teeth was, in fact, necessary.
Just silence.
Rowan had almost started enjoying it when he heard the unmistakable sound of little footsteps in the hallway.
He turned his head toward the bedroom door.
The footsteps stopped.
His door slowly opened.
Theo appeared in the gap, his hair sticking up in several different directions, his pyjamas slightly twisted from sleep and his favourite stuffed dinosaur tucked beneath one arm.
Rowan smiled immediately.
"Morning."
Theo didn't answer.
Instead, he pushed the door wider, walked into the room and headed straight for Rowan's bed.
Rowan lifted the blanket without needing to be asked.
Theo climbed up with the determination of someone scaling a mountain before crawling underneath the covers and settling beside his dad.
Rowan wrapped an arm around him.
"What's wrong?"
Theo rested his head against Rowan's chest.
"I had a bad dinosaur dream."
"A bad dinosaur dream?"
Theo nodded seriously.
Rowan rubbed his hand gently over Theo's back.
"Are there good dinosaur dreams?"
Theo lifted his head and looked at him as though Rowan had just asked the most ridiculous question imaginable.
"Yes."
"Oh." Rowan nodded solemnly. "Obviously."
Theo settled back against him.
"What happens in the good dinosaur dreams?"
There was a pause.
"They're nice."
"Right."
"And they don't eat people."
Rowan pressed his lips together, fighting a laugh.
YOU ARE READING
Back To The Ice (COMING SOON)
General FictionThree years ago, Rowan Mitchell became a father overnight. At just nineteen, he lost his older sister during childbirth and made the easiest-and hardest-decision of his life: to raise her newborn son as his own. Now twenty-two, Rowan spends his days...
