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It wasn’t any of Cal’s business what my schedule was, but he had told me flat-out that he wanted to audition to be in our lives, and that he was going to be around, and I should’ve taken that into consideration. “I could…” This was probably a stupid idea but I was going this far, so why not? “I could use a driver, if you’re interested in the job. That way I can work on my laptop in the car and I won’t lose a whole day of work.”
Cal grinned. “I’d be glad to lend a hand.”
“Do you need to go home first and pack or anything?”
Cal shook his head. “No, I’ve still got plenty of clothes and toiletries at my house in Cincinnati. If you guys are ready, then so am I.”
“Do you want Cal to come with us to Cincinnati?” I asked Fern, peering into the car.
“Yes!” Fern sounded excited—she got even more excited when Cal proceeded to sing along to the radio while he was driving.
I guess that settled it. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and for Fern to get tired of Cal, but so far, that hadn’t happened. Cal hadn’t gotten tired of her, either. I knew I should stay on my guard, but the more time they spent together, the harder that was.
Cal’s singing was… better than I had expected. He got silly with it and made up words to the pop songs on the radio that he obviously didn’t know, but there were also times where he would sing quietly, almost under his breath, while Fern napped in the back. It made it hard for me to concentrate on my work, but like hell was I telling him to stop.
“It’s after Thanksgiving!” Fern announced, once she had woken up from her nap. “So we sing Christmas now?”
I had told her, when she’d started singing Christmas carols the moment that Halloween was over, that Christmas songs weren’t to be sung until after Thanksgiving. And, well, she was right, it was after Thanksgiving.
Cal grinned at her in the rearview mirror. “We sure can, what do you want to start with?”
Fern immediately launched into Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Cal joined in, adding little comments that made her laugh.
“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” Fern sang, “had a very shiny nose!”
“Like an apple!” Cal interjected.
Fern giggled.
I smiled down at my laptop. Having Cal there was definitely better than just going it alone, trying to drive and take care of Fern while worrying about missing out on an afternoon of work, worrying about what I was going to tell people when we got there because someone always inevitably asked me about dating.
Of course, people would still ask me that, but right now it didn’t feel like a pressing question, like impending doom, it just felt like something to deal with later, some distant issue to handle another day.
The whole mood in the car felt joyous. Cal and Fern, giggling and laughing together. My daughter and the man I had feelings for, the man I’d imagined as my life partner.
It was hard not to imagine this being normal.
21
Cal
The drive up with Maggie and Fern was nice—no, more than nice. I had a lot of fun in the car with Fern. I hadn’t ever really thought of myself as the paternal type, or the type to really do well with kids. I wasn’t sure if anyone would think of me that way, at least in the conventional sense. But Fern was a person, and I was good with people, and she was nothing short of delightful.
I didn’t expect to see them for the rest of the weekend, but I didn’t care. I could hang out at my house and take care of business. I’d left a lot of my things in that house and I could always find some artistic thing to do with my surprise. Perhaps do a little painting or sketch for Fern? Nothing too big but something she could hang up in her room? I wanted her and Maggie to move in with me but until then it would be nice to know there was a piece of me in her room and to gift her something—a little thing to make up for all the things I hadn’t been able to gift her for the first few years.
First, though, I had to actually clean my house. I hadn’t hired a maid service for it since I wasn’t sure yet what my schedule would be like, what with Maggie and Fern, so there was a bit of dust in my place. I got to work, and had just finished scrubbing the kitchen when my phone rang.
“Hello?” I answered, not looking at the caller ID.
“…hey, Cal?”
It was Maggie.
The last thing I’d expected was to hear from her this weekend, except a text or two to arrange when we’d be driving back to Nashville together. I tried to smother the balloon of joy shooting up in me and only halfway succeeded. “Hey, Maggie, what’s up?”
