Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Good Hope Market, while still very much a hometown grocery, had grown exponentially during the years Callum had been away. After setting up an appointment for Parker at the clinic, Callum swung by the store to stock Brynn’s shelves.
It wasn’t fair for her to be paying for the food they were eating when she was already giving them free room and board.
“Grammy used to take me to the store with her.” Parker smiled when the automatic door opened for him. “She said I was a good fruit picker.”
The affection the boy obviously held for his grandmother both warmed and saddened Callum. He was glad that Parker had spent these years with someone who genuinely loved him and whom Parker loved back.
Since Parker rarely mentioned his grandfather, it appeared that what Linette had told him was correct—her husband had stayed out of the picture and left all of Parker’s care to her.
“Can I ride?” Parker’s question pulled Callum back to the present and to the row of carts sitting inside the entrance.
Callum glanced at his long-legged son. Parker wasn’t particularly tall, but neither was he the size to fit in the basket made for toddlers. He’d missed those years, Callum realized, times when Parker could have ridden in the cart or maybe in one of the ones shaped like a race car.
“I’m not sure you’ll fit,” Callum said honestly in a matter-of-fact tone. Then, because he sensed an argument brewing, he continued without giving the boy a chance to protest. “Besides, if you’re sitting, who will help me pick out good fruit?”
Parker’s mouth shut with a snap.
“I’ve never picked out much fruit. When I lived in Boston, I had my groceries delivered.”
“I can help you.” Parker’s voice shook with eagerness, and riding in the cart appeared to be forgotten.
Callum’s heart swelled at the boy’s desire to help and please. He placed a hand on his son’s shoulder and squeezed. “I’m counting on it.”
The produce section sat just to the left of the store’s entrance. Callum wheeled the cart in that direction. “Let’s start with apples.”
“I like apples,” Parker said immediately.
Callum smiled.
“I bet Brynn likes them.” Parker reached a display. He picked up a Honeycrisp, his expression serious. “Grammy said you don’t want one with soft spots.”
Parker concentrated on feeling the apple, his small fingers lightly pressing the surface. Nodding his approval, he handed it to Callum. “This is what Grammy calls a keeper.”
Callum lifted a visibly bruised apple from the top. “What about this one?”
Parker shook his head and pointed. “That’s a bruise. That’s one we put back.”
The boy took his job seriously. By the time the small paper bag with handles overflowed with apples, Callum felt confident they were all good ones .
According to Parker—and Grammy—green bananas were not ready to eat. “If we wait, they will be, just not right now.”
“You’re so smart, Parker,” Callum told his son. “I’m glad I have you with me.”
The boy flushed with pleasure. “This is fun.”
It was fun, Callum realized as they strolled up and down the aisles, adding more items to their cart.
Callum’s attention was on a display of noodles when a woman stepped in front of him, blocking his cart with hers.
“Callum Brody, I didn’t realize you were in town.” The tone made it clear that any fault lay with him.
He met the gaze of Loretta Sharkey, high school choral director. Callum had thought the sharp-eyed woman had been ancient when he’d been in high school, but last he knew, she was still teaching, which meant she couldn’t have been that old.
“Mrs. Sharkey. It’s nice to see you.” Callum offered her a smile. While music had always been Loretta Sharkey’s life, neither Callum nor his brother had been particularly gifted vocally.
Loretta dropped her gaze to study Parker. Callum saw the shock in her steely blue eyes before she masked her surprise. “Who is this young man?”
“This is my son, Parker.” Callum spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. “Parker, this is Mrs. Sharkey. She teaches singing at the high school. She was one of my teachers when I was a boy.”
“I’m going to be in kindergarten,” Parker told her. “Then I’ll have a teacher, too.”
“I also live across the street from your grandparents,” Loretta added with a sidelong glance at Callum.
The puzzled look on Parker’s face wasn’t surprising. Since Parker had yet to meet Callum’s parents, the only grandparents he knew were his mother’s parents.
“As you know,” Callum said to Loretta, “my parents are on a cruise. They haven’t had a chance to meet Parker yet. ”
“How can that be? If he’s going into kindergarten, he has to be five or six.” The shock had Loretta’s eyes going wide behind her silver-rimmed glasses. “Max or Prim would have told me they have a grandchild. They would not keep that information from me.”
“We’re getting together once they return,” Callum said smoothly. “Now, we have more shopping to?—”
“You’re not staying at the house?” Obviously, Loretta wasn’t through with her interrogation. And until she moved her shopping car, he was going nowhere. “Since Adelyn is staying with a friend while they’re out of town, I’ve been watching the house.”
“We’re staying with Brynn,” Parker said, surprising Callum with his eagerness to converse with a woman who had once intimidated Callum. “She’s really nice.”
Loretta made the connection immediately. No surprise there. Mrs. Sharkey was a master at keeping her finger on the community’s pulse. However, finding out that he was back in town, and with a son to boot, had clearly caught her off-guard.
“Brynn Chapin?” Loretta raised a dark brow streaked with silver. “You and your son are living with Brynn?”
“Brynn and I are friends.” Callum kept his tone easy. “We’re staying with her for a few days.”
Callum could almost see the wheels turning in the older woman’s head. While he didn’t want to be rude, he preferred to answer the questions his parents were sure to have rather than continue this interrogation. “Parker and I would love to talk more, but we need to finish up our shopping and get home.”
“You need to get home to Brynn.” Mrs. Sharkey spoke slowly and deliberately, as if wanting to make sure there was no misunderstanding.
“Well, she’s working right now, but yes. I hope to get all this unloaded before she’s home.”
“Good-bye, Mrs. Sharkey.” Parker startled both him and Loretta by giving the woman a jaunty wave. “It was nice to meet you.”
The action had the woman stepping back and moving her shopping cart out of the way. “It was nice to meet you, too, young man.”
Callum stopped and turned to Parker when they were out of Loretta’s sight. “You have nice manners.”
“Whenever we saw Grammy’s friends, she told me I should say, ‘Nice to meet you,’ or, ‘Nice to see you again.’”
Callum thought back to the first time he’d met Daisy. “You didn’t say that to Daisy.”
“She isn’t old. Mrs. Sharkey is old, like Grammy.”
Callum smiled and clapped the boy on the back. He certainly couldn’t argue with that.
The groceries were loaded in the car, and he and Parker were fastening their seat belts when his phone rang. Callum recognized the ringtone. Connor. Wanting to FaceTime.
“Parker, I need to take this call. We’ll sit here for a few minutes, okay?”
In the back seat, Parker looked up from the book Callum had bought him in the store. “Okay.”
Callum accepted the call, and his brother’s face filled the screen. “How was the wedding?”
When he’d texted his brother on Friday that he had some news to share, Connor had responded that he and Nicolette were on their way to her cousin’s wedding on Whidbey Island in Washington and would be back on Monday. Callum had assured Connor it was no emergency and that his news could wait.
He had to admit, though, that it had felt strange to not immediately share something so momentous with his brother. However, he also didn’t want to affect Connor’s weekend with Nicolette.
The handful of times he’d met Connor’s girlfriend of the past three years, she’d struck him as someone who wouldn’t appreciate having her boyfriend consumed by thoughts of a new nephew on their weekend away.
“The wedding was nice.” Connor gave a little laugh. “Over-the-top nice and extravagant. But that’s Nicolette’s family—nothing but the best. I have to admit that I kept wondering about your news. Are you heading out of the country again?”
“It’s something more personal.” Callum’s heart picked up speed. It was crazy that he was so nervous. He never got nervous.
Surprise lit Connor’s eyes. “Like, how personal?”
“Like I found out I have a son.” Callum angled the phone so the camera picked up Parker. “Hey, Parker, say hello to your Uncle Connor.”
Parker looked up from the book he’d been flipping through. He blinked. “You look like me.”
Connor grinned. “That’s what I was going to say.”
Parker giggled.
Callum shifted the phone back.
“You have a child.” Connor’s expression might have remained easy, but Callum knew the thoughts—and the questions—running through his brother’s head.
Callum answered the number one question without prompting. “I found out about Parker only last week. He just turned six.”
“Wow.” Connor raked a hand through his short hair. “I have so many questions I don’t know where to begin.”
“I’m back in Good Hope for now, and Parker and I just bought groceries.” Callum thought of Parker in the back seat. “We should talk when it’s just the two of us.”
Understanding filled Connor’s eyes. “You’re staying with Mom and Dad.”
It was more a statement than a question.
“Mom and Dad are on their cruise, remember?” Callum kept his tone light. “Parker and I are staying with Brynn.”
“Brynn Chapin? ”
“Yes.” Callum didn’t want to say a lot with Parker right there. Though the boy appeared to be studying his book, Callum had no doubt his son was listening to every word. “As I said, let’s talk later. Text me your availability, and we’ll find a time. I’ll tell you everything then.”
“Be prepared.” Connor chuckled. “I’ll have my list of questions ready.”
A red convertible sat parked by the curb when Callum pulled into the driveway of Brynn’s house. Parker had barely hopped out of the Jeep when a long-legged blonde stepped out of the sports car.
Zoe Goodhue, who’d been Brynn’s BFF since middle school, gave a squeal of delight when their eyes met and recognition flashed. She hurriedly crossed the yard, wrapping her arms around him for a swift hug. “You’re back. What a nice surprise. How long can you stay?”
“I arrived end of last week.” Though Brynn had been busy all weekend, it surprised Callum that she hadn’t taken the time to text Zoe the news. “Brynn didn’t mention I was in town?”
“She didn’t, but then, she knew I was busy. My mom and I did a girls spa weekend at the Pfister in Milwaukee.” Zoe exhaled a satisfied sigh. “It was absolutely amazing. One of my friends—she didn’t go to school here, so I don’t think you’d know her—is their artist in residence this year. Mom got to meet her and see her studio. She?—”
Zoe stopped abruptly as if realizing she’d been rambling. She waved an airy hand. “Enough about me. Tell me about what you’ve been up to.”
Parker, who’d apparently grown tired of sitting in the Jeep, pushed the door open and hopped out .
Zoe’s startled gaze shifted from Callum to Parker, then back to Callum. “Appears there’s a lot to tell.”
“This is my son, Parker.”
“Your son?”
“My son.”
“Well, I never would have guessed it.” Zoe shot him a cheeky smile. “No family resemblance at all.”
Chuckling, Callum pushed a button on his key fob, and the rear trunk lid opened.
“Daddy and I got groceries,” Parker told Zoe.
Zoe helped them carry the paper sacks inside, waiting while he unlocked the front door. “Brynn gave you a key?”
“We live here,” Parker told her. “I have my own bedroom.”
The twinkle in Zoe’s eyes had Callum rolling his own. “I sleep on the sofa bed.”
“Not my business.” Zoe’s innocent expression didn’t fool Callum. He bet that Zoe considered anything that went on with Brynn her business.
Parker helped with the groceries for a few minutes, then raced into the living room when Callum told him he could play until dinner.
“I was sorry to hear your wedding got canceled.” Since Zoe had been part of his friend crowd in high school, Callum had heard bits and pieces about the breakup but had no idea what was behind the last-minute cancellation.
It felt as if one minute, he’d received a save-the-date card. The next, he’d been notified the wedding had been called off.
“Not meant to be,” was all Zoe said, hanging the bananas from the hook.
“You’re back in Good Hope now.”
“I am,” she said as she reached inside the sack and pulled out the apples.
“For good? ”
She turned and shrugged. “For now. I’m working at the Bayshore. I’m the events manager.”
Callum had attended many events at the large conference hotel on the waterfront. “Sounds a lot like what you did in Dallas.”
“Austin,” Zoe corrected. “But yes, very similar.”
“I bet your parents are happy to have you back in Good Hope.”
“They just want me happy.” Zoe’s blue eyes turned serious. “What about you? Last I knew, you were living your best life jumping off cliffs.”
Callum chuckled but didn’t have a chance to respond before he heard the front door open.
“Brynn,” he heard Parker call out. “We went to the grocery store, and I helped Daddy pick out fruit. He didn’t know how, but I teached him.”
“That was so nice of you. Ooh, thanks for the hug. I missed you, too.”
“Daddy is in the kitchen with a woman.”
“A woman, eh?” Brynn stepped through the doorway, and the smile on her face widened. “Zoe. You’re back from Milwaukee. How was the spa weekend?”
“Absolutely fantabulous,” Zoe told her. “You and I’ll have to go sometime.”
“I’d love that.” Brynn turned to Callum and smiled. “I heard Parker taught you how to pick out good fruit.”
Callum grinned. “Absolutely true.”
“Well, thank you, but you didn’t need to buy groceries,” Brynn protested.
“I want to help out. In fact, I plan to make dinner tonight.” Callum turned to Zoe. “You’ll stay? Not sure what it’ll be yet, but I’m going for edible.”
“You are so sweet.” Zoe patted his cheek. “But I need to swing by the Bayshore to check on a few things. I’ll take a rain check. ”
“I’ll walk you out,” Brynn told her friend.
“It was good seeing you again, Zoe.”
“Ditto.”
When Zoe looped her arm through Brynn’s as they strode to the door, Callum considered what to make for dinner.
“Edible” was a low bar. He hoped it was a reachable one.
“I always thought the Brody twins were hot, even in high school, but woo-wee,” Zoe pretended to fan her face as she leaned against the side of her sports car. “Callum is not just hot now, he’s smokin’.’”
“He’s also a new dad,” Brynn pointed out, experiencing what felt an awful lot like jealousy.
Which was ridiculous. Zoe had dated Connor for several months back in high school, but never Callum.
Brynn remembered that neither brother had been interested in dating Brynn. She wasn’t sure why since everyone said she and Zoe looked like they could be sisters, with the same shade of blond hair and blue eyes.
“Doesn’t make him any less hot.” Zoe turned back to Brynn. “Especially if Baby Mama is out of the picture. I assume she’s not around. Where is she, anyway?”
“I don’t know.” Brynn was glad she could answer honestly.
“Come on, you can tell me. You know I won’t say anything.”
“Seriously, I have no idea.”
Zoe’s gaze returned to the house, and she heaved a dramatic sigh. “Having someone like him under my roof would certainly spice up my summer.”
“You can’t go after Callum.” As soon as the words left her lips—and Brynn saw the twinkle in Zoe’s eyes—she regretted them.
Quickly, she tried to recover. “I mean right now. It’s complicated with his son and everything. But then, you know, after a bit, if you’re into him, then yeah, you should go for it.”
Brynn inwardly groaned. She and Callum had shared a couple of kisses, that’s it. She had no business being this bothered by the idea of Zoe making a play for him.
“Naw.” Zoe waved a hand before she settled her gaze on Brynn. “His brother was more my type, not Callum. If you want him, he’s all yours.”