Chapter 36

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

DUSTY

Friday dawned nice and sunny. I got off shift early that morning and went home to shower. Thanks to a pretty boring night at the station, I felt nice and rested, too. I had the entire day to plan a date worthy of Nova, Ben, and Alice. I was trying to get three people to fall in love with me, which changed the stakes, but I thought I’d probably made good inroads already. Or Leia had.

Toweling off my hair, I tapped my phone to read the text waiting for me.

Tucker

What do you know about Costa Rica?

Dusty

Literally nothing. Is that where June wants to go on your honeymoon?

Tucker

No, but she’s stressed and planning our trip is something I can take off her plate. She said she doesn’t care where we go as long as there’s a beach

Dusty

What did Jack say? Didn’t he and Lauren go to the Bahamas on a cruise? They might have a good recommendation

Tucker

Good point. Lauren would know where we should go. Lauren knows everything

Dusty

I’d take her word, for sure

How are the other plans coming along? You haven’t asked me to a meeting all week

Tucker

June is doing those with my mom and Gracie Mae now. I’m so glad you said something to her at the fundraiser so she would stop making us attend. June feels bad she made everything drag out as long as it did

Dusty

It’s not her fault. I should have said something sooner

I did, in my defense, but I hadn’t been clear enough.

Tucker

You want to come over for dinner later? Invite Nova and her kids? We could throw burgers on the grill

That sounded like a great way to spend Friday evening. Nova and June got along, too. And I knew the kids would love Sadie, Tucker’s dog.

Dusty

Probably. I’ll talk to her and let you know

Tucker thumbs-upped my text. I finished getting dressed and sat on the edge of my bed to pull my socks on. Leia jumped onto my lap, getting in the way, her tail curling under my jaw in a desperate cry for attention. I stroked her soft back. “I know, I know. I miss you when I’m at work, too. Just think, Leia. If Nova and the kids move in, you’ll never be alone again.”

She turned her little orange head to look at me, blinking as though to say, don’t go too far, Dad .

“Okay, fine. We’ll take this one step at a time. But get used to the idea. You’re going to have siblings soon.”

She meowed, then jumped to the floor and walked away. The girl was a tease, but she’d loved all the attention Ben and Alice had given her when they met. I wasn’t too worried.

Grandpa and I had finished the United States puzzle Wednesday, so I’d ordered a new one online that night, and it had arrived while I was at work yesterday. I went downstairs to snap a picture of the New York skyline with a thousand little orange-lit windows and various shades of blue and black shadows, then sent it to Nova.

Dusty

Puzzle level 100. This might be worse than the ocean around America

Nova

Nothing is worse than the ocean. We deserved to have a pattern, at least

Dusty

Agreed

She didn’t text me again, so I hopped in my truck to head to Pleasant Gardens. The late spring air was warm and fresh through my open window. We’d had a few rain showers over the week that had given the countryside a dewy freshness. Trees were green and the grassy fields didn’t seem too far behind. Bluebonnets lined the sides of the roads in rich blue pops of color. It was well into Texas spring, and I was here for it.

A woman jogging on the side of the road moved over further as I approached, her brown ponytail swinging with each step. I knew that ponytail. I slowed my truck until I was crawling just behind her and rolled my window down. She glanced over her shoulder and my face broke out in a grin.

Nova.

She slowed.

“Don’t stop,” I said. “I don’t want to mess with your times.”

“My times…are…crap,” she said between breaths. “How was this…so much…easier…in high school?”

“You probably hadn’t taken a ten-year hiatus.”

She shot me a wry look, then moved to a walk.

I had to stop the truck entirely and wait for her to catch up. “Want a ride back into town?”

Nova reached my passenger window and stopped, her chest heaving, hands on her hips. “And be all smelly in your truck? No.”

I rolled my eyes, shaking my head. “It doesn’t bother me. We can leave the windows down, though, if that makes you feel better.”

She looked from me to the road again. We really weren’t that far from Main Street. “Okay, thanks.” She climbed in, buckled her seatbelt, and shot me a tired smile.

“Did Gigi give you the morning off?” I asked.

“She gave me the day, actually. You know Ashley Hart, Jake’s wife?”

“Yes.” I’d known her since high school.

“Did you know she sells sourdough bread?”

“Yeah, it’s really good.” I drove slowly, but we’d made it to town. I pulled up in front of her apartment and parked the truck, then leaned back and looked at her.

“She came to my house Wednesday night to plan our end of season party, and we got talking about my potential cookie business plans. She was really on board. She has a booth at a spring market in Beeler tomorrow, and she offered to share the space with me since her other partner bailed. If it works out, we might be able to do it all summer.” She shook her head. “I’m not going to get ahead of myself. I just hope to break even tomorrow.”

“Nova, that’s amazing.”

Her smile widened. “I’m kind of excited. I baked nonstop yesterday, and I have a lot to do today to finish up.”

“I won’t keep you then.”

She leaned her head back on the headrest. “I don’t mind if you keep me for a bit. You heading to Beeler now?”

“Yeah. Do you want to come?”

She chewed on her bottom lip. “Are you going to see your grandpa?”

“He’s dying to meet you.”

Nova’s phone started ringing, and she looked down. “Shoot. It’s Carter. I kind of need to talk to him.”

“Go ahead.”

She gave me a grateful smile and, to my surprise, answered it right there. “Hey, thanks for calling me back.”

The phone was so loud I could hear Carter talking. I tried not to listen, but he made it hard not to. “We need to go over a few things.”

“Agreed,” Nova said. “Like Kristen. Ben has been worried your new baby will replace him, and I need to know it won’t.”

Woah. New baby?

“That’s ridiculous,” Carter said, but even then, the man wasn’t an idiot. Surely he could see why his kid was concerned.

“If you proceed with a wedding, I need to be consulted before you tell the kids.”

“You’ll do the same for me?” he asked.

She hesitated. “They live with me, Carter. They’ll know if I’m getting married, and I would obviously plan a wedding around their schedule. You can’t really pretend it’s the same thing.”

He sighed. “What else? ”

“We’ll do calls on Sundays. Standing appointment. We need structure and order if this is going to work long term”

“Fine.”

She exhaled silently, like a weight had been lifted from her chest. I reached across the console and took her hand. “That’s it.”

“Okay.” He cleared his throat. “I’ve given it some thought, and I will…uh…raise your child support payments by five hundred a month, okay? I think we’ve always been good at negotiating terms and coming to an understanding. We don’t need to get the law involved.”

She looked out the window, eyes hard, and clutched my hand. “That makes me think it should probably be much higher.”

“You live in Texas, Noves. You can’t really expect to need the same amount of money you’d need here.”

“We can revisit this later?—”

“Fine. Eight hundred.”

She smiled. “Okay. Eight hundred.”

“And you won’t go to the cops.”

“No, I won’t.”

Did he not know her? She wouldn’t drag him through the mud for the sake of her children alone. Carter never knew what he’d had.

“I need to go,” she said. “We can nail down a time for Sunday calls later.”

“Okay. Bye, Nova.”

“Bye.” She hung up and released a breath. “I didn’t expect that.”

“The money?”

“I’m pretty sure he hid a lot of his money offshore somewhere during our settlement. I don’t know. It was all a blur.” She looked at me. “But he used the same excuse then. We’re good at compromise, so we should just handle it on our own . ”

“Should you take it to the police?”

“Maybe? But now we’ll have what we need. I can pay some rent to Gigi and Alice can join gymnastics. He can afford it.”

Did Nova realize how strong she was? I tugged on her hand until she was leaning over the console.

“Eww,” she said, pulling away. “I’m so gross right now.”

“You’re never gross.” I leaned in, kissing her until her tense posture slipped away and she relaxed against me. Her lips were salty and her hands warm.

“I need to shower.”

“I’ll wait.”

She eyed me. “Okay. Might as well come up. I’ll be quick.”

I followed her. “Take your time.”

Pleasant Gardens was bustling with activity when we arrived, thanks to the Friday Jeopardy game they had going. We found Grandpa at our puzzle table, waiting patiently. He rose when we approached, his eyes running over Nova. “This is your special lady?” he asked, eyebrows up. “How’d you convince her to go for a Hayes man? Think I have a shot?”

“Oh, so this is where he gets the charm,” Nova said, leaning in to kiss Grandpa’s cheek. “It’s so lovely to meet you.”

“Kissing on the first date,” Grandpa said with a wink. “I’m already winning.”

“Settle down.” I plopped the puzzle on the table. “You won’t like her as much when she schools you at the puzzle edges.”

“I welcome the challenge,” he said, his eyes glinting.

The following hour passed in a similar way, with Grandpa and Nova bantering back and forth. Turned out he’d been to New York City before I was born, and they had a few things to talk about .

“I like this one,” Grandpa said when we stood to walk him to his room. He was tired and wanted to nap before lunch.

“Me, too,” I told him.

We reached the door, and Nova gave him a hug.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, son,” Grandpa said, opening the door to his room. “Oh, have you gotten a call back from Dave yet? I left him all those messages.”

My body went rigid. Why had he been trying to call my dad? No, better question: how did he know how to contact him? “No, not yet. Did he, uh, say what he’d be calling about?”

“I called him,” Grandpa repeated. “He should have called by now. Your graduation is next week.”

My graduation. “Which school is it at again?”

Grandpa laughed, shaking his head to Nova like, can you believe this guy ? “Arcadia High. You’re really on one today, aren’t you?”

He went into his room, but my heart was hammering hard. This weird time-warp had something to do with my dad and my high school graduation, but I couldn’t push him or he would get confused.

Nova seemed to sense something was going on, because she backed off and waited against the wall.

I followed Grandpa into his room. “Dave left me a message,” I said. “But it didn’t make much sense.”

“It never does,” Grandpa said. “Probably high as a kite. That’s why I told him to stay away. It’s not good for you to have them around, not when you’re doing so well.”

My chest thudded like a hammer to an anvil. “Right. So he wanted to come to my graduation and you told him not to?”

“He’d just lost his wife, son. You can’t expect him to show up in a good state. I don’t want your big day to be ruined.”

Lost his wife. My breath stopped completely. “How did she die? His wife.” My mother . But I needed to use his language so I could keep getting information .

“Overdose. Can’t tell the boy, though. Really don’t want to ruin his big day. He’s worked so hard for it.”

He’s worked so hard. Who did Grandpa think he was talking to now? It hardly mattered. I nodded, reeling. “Okay, well, have a good nap.”

He lowered himself onto his bed and pointed at me. “I like that one. Always choose a woman who can best you at games. You’ve got a smart one, here.”

A smile bent my lips. “I do.”

When I got back to the hallway, Nova was watching me with concern. Smart one, indeed. I’d left the door open, and she must have understood enough of the madness that had transpired in there to know it was a big deal. “How are you?” she asked, like she would burn the place down if I needed her to.

“Confused. If he had a way to contact them, why didn’t…” That question answered itself. He had been faced with the same dilemma Nova had: subject the kids to a crappy parent or protect them from the pain of repeated rejection? In this case, my grandpa had chosen to protect me in the way he thought was best. I didn’t have to agree with his choice to appreciate that he’d made it out of love for me.

Then again, Carter wasn’t a deadbeat drug addict, so it wasn’t entirely the same. But it was enough.

She crossed the hallway and pulled me in for a hug. “I’m sorry.”

“I’ve always pictured them living in a tent in North Carolina, but I’ve also wondered if they were dead. Fifteen years is a long time to go with no contact. Is my dad alone out there somewhere?”

“Give it time and question him again. You can have the answers you need if you want them.”

I nodded, pulling her closer. “I’m pretty sure I love you.”

“You should. I’m very smart. ”

I chuckled, taking her hand and pulling her away. “Let’s go home. I want to watch you decorate cookies.”

“Okay, weirdo. But you aren’t eating any.”

“Not even one?”

“You can have the rejects.”

I pulled her to my side and kissed the top of her head. “How about we take the rejects to dinner at Tucker’s tonight? He and June invited us.”

She smiled at me. “Sounds good. But first, if you’re coming over, I need your help with something.”

“Anything.”

“We ran out of jam this morning when I was making the kids’ lunches. I’ve got another jar in the fridge?—”

I flexed for her, making her laugh. “Say no more.”