White Space Season 2

she didn’t shrug him off.
    Jon was about to remind Cassidy that the girl was his daughter, softly and without using those words, and explain that Emma would never see her mother again, and likely cry herself to sleep many nights. She deserved another place to find solace. But he said nothing as he heard Houser’s door open at the other end of the hall.
    Houser stepped into the room, “Hey, we having a party?”
    Emma spun toward the door, yelled “Houser!” then ran across the soft carpet toward him, her arms parted as if Houser was her long lost, best friend.
    “Hey, kid,” he said, limping toward her. “Hey, Cass, how’s it going?”
    She hugged him, “It’s going OK. I didn’t know you were staying here, too.”
    “Yeah, Hollywood can’t stand not having me around.”
    Emma looked up and laughed, “I like when you call Daddy Hollywood.”
    Jon rolled his eyes.
    “I hope he’s not making you work too hard,” Cassidy said looking down at Houser’s artificial right leg which began just below the knee stump, the same spot Emma was staring at, looking as though she was trying to draw a picture with her mind.
    The leg was a prototype prosthetic from Conway Industries, a dark, alloy blade attached to a fully functional robotic foot, all controlled by a tiny chip in Houser’s head. He looked half-cyborg and all badass.
    “How’s the leg working out?” Cassidy asked.
    “I’m finally getting used to it. I should be able to go back to work, and get out of Jon’s hair in another couple of weeks.” He lifted his right leg and showed off the robotic foot, spreading the mechanical “toes” of which there were four, along with one in the back.
    “Weird,” Emma said, giggling. Immediately, she turned red-faced, and met Houser’s eyes, “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to … ”
    “It’s OK,” Houser said with a big smile. “It is pretty weird.”
    Cassidy kneeled beside Emma and said, “OK, well, I need to run a few errands before work. Is it cool if I leave now?”
    “Yeah, I’m good,” she said, her eyes still on Houser’s false leg.
    “OK, well I can’t compete with Mr. Roboto here,” Cassidy said winking at Houser. She hugged Emma goodbye.
    “I’ll walk you out,” Jon said.

    **

    As they stepped outside, Jon reached for Cassidy’s hand, “Listen, I didn’t mean to go overboard. I just, well, I didn’t want to get too little.”
    “She doesn’t need all that stuff, Jon. It’s like a goddamned Neverland Ranch in there. How are we supposed to compete with that? She’ll never want to come home.”
    “I’m sorry,” Jon said. “But it’s not a competition, and I don’t like that word. I swear, Cass, I only want to give her a space to call her own. It’s not like I filled it with games and toys, I just gave her a place to grow. I’m not trying to steal her away. You know that, don’t you?”
    Cassidy looked down, not wanting to meet his eyes. He lowered his head to enter her line of vision. “You know that, right?”
    “Yeah, I know,” she said, almost reluctantly. “But seriously, even if there aren’t games and toys, that’s too much shit. Six fucking beanbag chairs and a giant 3-D spot in the wall? Really, Jon? Emma doesn’t need all that. No child does. All kids need is your love, and to know that you’re there for them.”
    Jon knew Cass was speaking from personal experience.
    He opened his arms and pulled her into a hug. “If there’s something you think I should send back, then OK, I’ll agree. Just give me a list and I’ll do it tomorrow when she goes back home. I can even tell her there’s something wrong with the optics so we can’t get TV reception in her room. She can watch with me in the front.”
    “Oh, sure, make me look like the bad guy.”
    “I’ll say it’s me, that I overspent on my credit card or something.”
    “Yeah, right,” Cassidy said, laughing, but just barely.
    “Listen,” he said, pulling back to meet her eyes again, holding Cass’s hands. “You know you can stay here, too?”
    “You mean stay the night?”
    “No, I mean move in.”
    Cassidy looked down, “Oh, I don’t know about that.”
    “Why not?” Jon said, feeling like a rejected freshman.
    “I don’t know. It’s just, so much, and too fast. I mean, we don’t even know what this is between us, do we? Besides, I still keep thinking maybe we should move into Sarah’s house, that maybe she’d be more comfortable there, even if I’m