Page 39
So even though I have a packed day, I make a side trip into town and wander into the Bloom clothing boutique, where I’ve never stepped foot before. Charlyn smiles when she catches me roaming among the racks, and I avert my eyes, trying to put the memory of our one date a year ago in the distant rearview.
“Hey, stranger. Wondered if I’d hear from you again, and now here you are, making my day brighter.” She juts out her hip and puts a hand on it.
“Hey, Charlyn. How’ve you been?” I grumble, flipping through a rack of dresses without looking at them. I have no idea what I’m trying to find.
“Been good, but not as good as you, from what I hear.”
“What’s that mean?”
“Hear you’ve got a girlfriend. Nice to hear. Even nicer to see.”
I panic for a second, thinking Callie was here and worrying about what she may have said about me. About us.
“Oh yeah? You saw her?” I say casually, keeping my eyes focused on the rack of dresses and flipping through them for a second time.
“Not her. You.” I must look confused because she pokes my shoulder with her finger. “I know we haven’t seen each other in a while, but the memory of your surly, closed-off self is burned on my brain.”
I’m not sure what to say to that.
She puts a hand on the rack to stop me from pushing the dresses from side to side. “You look good, Luke. Something tells me you’ve been smiling lately, even if you can’t show it.”
It’s about one degree of separation from the Hitching Post or the preschool to anyone in town, so I don’t have to be a math genius to put two and two together. The word is out. I have a girlfriend. Wildfire season has nothing on an enthusiastic four-year-old and the gossip tree in a small town, so I might as well lean in. For better or worse, this is my new narrative.
“Um, thanks, Char.” And because I need to keep this charade going strong, I go all in. “Can you help me pick something out? I need a gift, and I’m terrible with that, women’s sizing and all. I’d say she’s about your height.”
Charlyn’s smile goes wide. “Say no more.” She begins whisking items off the various racks, piling them onto her forearm, and holding one outfit after another up against herself in the mirror. Dresses, jeans, crop tops, cardigans. The more she shows me, the more confused I get.
“Sure. Yes. That’s good,” I say finally.
“Which one?”
I shake my head, overwhelmed. “All of it. Just…put it in a bag, and I’ll take it.”
After a few hours at my desk, it’s time to pick up Scout. He talks a blue streak about his day and how much fun he had with Lola making a city in the sandbox. He tells me about the painting he made with watercolors and salt. And then he asks the question I’ve been anticipating for the past half hour.
“Is Callie coming over tonight?”
He unbuckles his seat belt and squirms off his seat in my truck while I come around and open the door for him.
“Not tonight. I’m making tacos, though.”
“Cool!” Scout takes off for the house at a run, and I feel a strange emptiness knowing that Callie won’t be coming over tonight. But I push the thoughts away when Scout reaches the front door and points at the two watermelons on the porch. “More watermelon!”
“Special delivery for you.” He rolls one of them, then the next, into the house. Then he looks up at me with one last question.
“Can Callie come over soon? Please?”
I slowly nod, feeling like I’m making a promise to him and to myself. He’s too young to understand the complexity of custody battles and adult relationships, but he’s not too young to want what he wants. The one thing I know for sure is that it’s my job to protect his heart. I need to make sure he doesn’t form an attachment to Callie if she’s going to break his heart.
Yet the sparkle in his eyes is brighter than I’ve seen in a long time. So I give him the only answer I can.
“Sure, pal. She can come over. For now.”
CHAPTER 14
Luke
“Bye, Daddy!” Scout stands at the top of the play structure, watching me round the corner after dropping him off at school. I wave like I always do and head back to my truck, texting Callie as soon as I’m out of sight of my son.
