Chapter 7
Danny
I didn’t speed down the 5.
Well, not much.
I did stop in at Nice Buns to get some cinnamon rolls and an herbal tea from Ambrose who seemed extra cheerful today. Or maybe that was because I was extra happy today.
Rob called me.
And yeah, I should’ve been at the library in LA studying for my final…but Rob called me. Not James the cyber-geek. Not Colin the money guy. No…me. Who didn’t have any discernible computer skills. Is he comfortable with me or intimidated by the older men? Hard to guess—so I didn’t try. I just grabbed the cinnamon rolls and tea after I parked in his driveway and headed up the front steps.
He opened the front door and gave me what I interpreted to be a nervous smile.
“Hey.”
I handed him the box of buns, gently pushed my way inside, toed off my shoes, closed the front door, and gestured to the laptop. “That it?”
He blinked. “Yeah.”
You’re being pushy because you’re nervous. Just…chill… I pointed to the cinnamon buns. “They’re fresh. If you’re hungry. And an herbal tea.” Suddenly, it occurred to me that he might not even like sugar. He was lanky. Slender. While I was…solid. Not to put too fine a point on it, but I maybe should be eating fewer cinnamon rolls. “Damn, I forgot my coffee.” I held up my finger, handed him the tea, shoved my shoes back on, then hustled outside and back to my car. I grabbed the travel mug I’d refilled at the bakery and headed back inside.
Rob had disappeared—presumably into the kitchen—and I found Thomas toddling toward me as I managed to shut the door just in time. “Hey, little buddy, you move fast.”
“He walks good.” Hallie’s quiet voice came from across the space. She stood by the couch, gripping the arm, and eyeing me.
“He walks great.” As Thomas grabbed my leg, I debated whether or not I should scoop him into my arms. Whether that was a level of familiarity I hadn’t earned. Judging by Hallie’s gaze, I decided not to risk it. Again, I toed off my shoes. I pointed to the books. “What are you reading?”
“Goat in a Boat.” She glanced toward the kitchen.
I stayed where I was, not wanting to spook her.
Moments later, Rob returned. He had two plates. The first he held out for me, with a fork to go with it. “Heated it up. That’s the best way, right?”
“Yep.” I offered a wide grin as I took the plate from him, still balancing my coffee mug.
He walked to the couch and sat.
Thomas immediately released me and followed his father.
Carefully, Rob put a piece of roll on the fork, and he fed a piece to each of his children before taking one for himself. He repeated the process several times over until they’d shared the entire thing.
Hallie brushed at his hair. “Thank you.”
“You can thank Danny.” He pointed to me. “He brought the treat.”
She met my gaze for just an instant. “Thank you.” Then she looked away.
“My pleasure.” My roll was getting cold, but watching the intimacy of the scene had hit me in the chest. My siblings and their kids were always…so chaotic…when I saw them. I was never privy to the moments of quiet sharing. Tranquility.
Rob held my gaze, his hazel eyes conveying something I didn’t quite grasp.
I figured gratitude, but I couldn’t be certain.
“Oh, you need to eat that before it cools.” He rose, dislodging Thomas, who promptly went over to the mat on the floor.
The toddler plopped down and started playing with a toy car.
Slowly, while occasionally glancing at me, Hallie joined him.
Once she was settled, I made my way over to the table. I placed the plate and coffee mug down, then eased my knapsack to the floor. Two chairs sat next to each other, one with the laptop in front of it. I assumed the other was for me, so I dropped into it. “Okay, let’s do this.”
He ran his hands through his hair. “I feel like I’m asking too much?—”
“You didn’t ask. I offered.” I cut a piece of roll. “Those the credentials?” I pointed to the top page.
“Yes.” Slowly, Rob took the seat next to me. He was barely settled before he shifted the chair away from me a couple of inches.
That’s not a good sign. I did shower… Then I gave myself a good kick. I was some strange guy. A big, strange guy. He was being brave just inviting me over. Hardly a surprise he didn’t want to get too close.
“Okay.” I sipped my coffee. “Do you know how to turn a computer on?”
He rolled his eyes.
I held up my hands. “We had to drag Mama into the twentieth century kicking and screaming. She only just got a smart phone. I don’t want to make any assumptions.”
Slowly, he nodded. “I know how to turn a laptop on. I used the school computers back in high school. But…” He cleared his throat. “I dropped out at sixteen and haven’t used one since.”
I blinked. “Okay.” I hid my wince. Barely. Who didn’t have a computer these days? Which was incredibly snobby of me because lots of people couldn’t afford them. That being said, phones were basically just mini computers. “Do you have favorite websites you like to visit?”
He ducked his head. “I don’t, uh, go on the internet.”
Another slow blink. I pointed to his phone.
“No data.” He shrugged. “This is where I pathetically say that my husband did everything.”
Confirmation things were even worse than I’d imagined. And I’d gone to some pretty dark ideas over the past day. “Okay. Well, we can set up your phone to get a Wi-Fi signal here so you can have internet access on your phone right away. Then you’re not tethered to the computer. Helps when you’re chasing little ones.” I scanned the papers. “Ah, here’s the Wi-Fi password. Let’s get your phone set up first. And I’ll make certain the settings are such that you can login to other WiFi networks as you come across them. I know Nice Buns has access. Surely other businesses do as well. And the library.”
“Oh, I liked the library.” Rob smiled. “Anthony’s husband Scott works there as a librarian. They have twins who are Hallie’s age.”
“Really? That’s great.” I was a little distressed to find Rob’s phone didn’t have a password, but not entirely surprised. I made a note to set one up when I was finished connecting everything. “Do you think Hallie would want to play with the twins?”
Rob bit his lower lip. “Anthony is, like, my caseworker.”
“Ah. Professional relationships.” I configured the Wi-Fi and used the password. “Oh, hey, do you want to change this password?”
“Why would I?”
“Well, James knows it. I’ll know it?—”
“I trust you. I trust James.” Said with such innocence. He shouldn’t, of course, trust any of us. We were all strangers. Except, in his life, I got the idea that the people who hurt him were the people who were supposed to love him. Perhaps that was why strangers didn’t trigger him the same way.
“Okay. Well, it’s an easy password to remember, but hard to crack, so that’s good. You shouldn’t have it written down.”
“Do you have yours written down?”
“Not exactly. I have a password manager.”
“What’s that?”
I hesitated. “Okay, let’s finish getting your phone set up properly.”
“I don’t know how long I’ll have it.”
“He’s going to take the phone back?”
“What? No, he doesn’t know where we are.” He scratched his nose. “But he pays the bills.”
“Okay, so he can cut off your phone, but he can’t disable the device. You can still use Wi-Fi even if the cell phone part of it isn’t working.” I handed him the phone. “You want to enter an eight-digit password. Don’t make it your birthday or either of the kids’. Ideally, don’t make it a mashup of that either. Something that’s truly unique.”
“That I’ll remember.”
“That you’ll remember.”
“What’s your birthday?”
I blinked. Okay, not what I was expecting. Like, at all. Without thinking, I rattled it off.
He grinned. “That’s next month.” He swiped and typed and grinned. “I added it to my calendar.”
For some reason, that made my insides light up. I wasn’t huge on birthday celebrations—although Mama was. Regardless, I had something to look forward to in January. Thinking about my textbooks and the studying I wasn’t doing, I realized a text from him might be the best thing that happened all next month.
“Okay, what’s yours?” I yanked out my phone. With a little coaxing, I got his as well as the kids’. Three more excuses for contact. More importantly, I got the sense he didn’t often celebrate things in his life. Not something specific he said…just the vibe he gave off.
“Okay.” I indicated the laptop. “Let’s do this.”
He glanced over at the kids.
Thomas lay on the floor with his head on a pillow and a little blanket over him. His eyes were closed, and he had his thumb stuck in his mouth.
Hallie sat next to him, a book on her lap.
Their utter stillness struck me. Leticia and Felicia’s kids were never still. Being unknowingly sexist, I’d assumed Leticia’s three girls would be calmer than Felicia’s three boys.
Nope. All six children were chaos incarnate.
Are kids supposed to be this quiet? Are they this way because they’d get in trouble if they weren’t? Questions I was dying to ask but wasn’t certain I wanted the answer for.
At the login screen, Rob entered his credentials. He quickly glanced at me, then back at the screen.
“Okay, so you know about search engines?”
“We had Google.” He winced. “Sorry, that came out wrong.”
I gently nudged his shoulder with mine. “Not coming is wrong. We’ll figure this out together.”
As I’d hoped, he got the innuendo and turned a nice shade of pink. Is teasing him the right thing to do? Am I being too forward? I mean, this can’t be anything more than an innocent flirtation… Somehow, though, I wanted him to see me as a good guy. A safe guy. A potential friend. Which meant putting a lid on flirting.
“Okay, so I’m going to assume you don’t have email.”
He shook his head. “That’s where I get stuck.”
“Easy to fix. Let’s set you up with a Gmail account to start with. It’s free. There’s a mailbox size limit, but I suspect it’ll take you a long time to get to that point.”
He blinked.
I smiled.
We got to work.
A while later, he took a break to prepare a snack while I created a list of all the websites I thought could be helpful for him. Anywhere that might have loyalty points, coupons, or any other discounts. He was going to wind up on some mailing lists, but I’d explained how to just delete the emails that weren’t relevant and to not get sucked into buying something he didn’t need.
He'd commented he didn’t have money for it anyway. Then ducked his head.
I’d resisted the temptation to tip his chin toward me, hold his gaze, and say he didn’t ever have to worry about me judging.
Apparently, he didn’t even have a bank account. Anthony was taking him to the credit union in town on Monday to set up an account. I would’ve stayed to help, but my exam demanded I head back to LA soon. Coming south to Gaynor Beach had been an impulse I should’ve checked, but I was really bad at ignoring a request for help.
Which reminded me I needed to call the doctor tomorrow.
I eyed Rob. What happens if he gets sick? Or one of the kids gets sick? Does he have insurance? Does he have cash in his wallet? Questions I wanted answers to but had no right to ask.
“Papa?”
Rob glanced up from the computer, his eyes a little unfocused.
We both turned to find the kids watching us.
“Yes, Hallie?” Rob cleared his throat. “You okay?”
“We’re hungry.”
“Sure, I can get you a snack…” He glanced at the computer. “Damn. Uh, darn. It’s lunchtime.” He turned to me. “You’ll stay?”
I wanted to. God, I was so tempted. “I really need to head back to LA. I’ve got an exam coming up and some other stuff to arrange.”
He offered a smile. “A sandwich for the road?”
“I won’t refuse that.” I didn’t like the idea of taking food from him, but I sensed he felt obligated because of the substantial help I’d offered this morning. I still couldn’t believe a man in his mid-twenties was so clueless about the internet. I didn’t spend a lot of time on social media, but I had ways of communicating with friends. With his permission, I’d added my email as well as James’s and Colin’s to Danny’s contacts. And told him to use them as well as our phone numbers.
He'd balked.
I’d pointed to the kids and suggested having people he could reach out to would be a good thing.
After a bit of clear consideration, he’d agreed. Forcing friends on someone who’d never really had them was tough. I didn’t know if he’d email me. Or text me again. I was trying not to be overbearing while, at the same time, trying to make him see he wasn’t alone anymore. I didn’t know Gaynor Beach well, but from the little I’d seen, I knew he’d be okay.
As long as his ex doesn’t find him. Pushing that thought aside, I sat on the floor and played cars with Thomas while Danny made my sandwich. Hallie watched, but kept her distance. I couldn’t blame her. Stranger in her space. Big dude too.
“I’ve wrapped it.” Rob held out my sandwich.
With no grace, I managed to stand. I took the sandwich from him with a grin. “You’re a good man, Rob.”
His gaze dropped to the floor and, I supposed, his children. “I try.” Finally, after a long moment, he looked at me. “I’m going to make the effort, Danny. I promise.”
At a loss for words, I simply nodded. “Whatever you need. I’m just a text or a phone call away.”
“Right.” He made a weird gesture I couldn’t interpret.
“Okay.” Reluctantly, I made my way over to the table and grabbed my knapsack. I walked over to the front door and shoved my feet into my shoes. “Bye.” I waved to the kids.
Thomas waved back enthusiastically.
Hallie merely watched.
Rob placed a hand over his heart. He looked…forlorn.
If I could’ve stayed, I absolutely would have. Even if I didn’t have a role to play, I could see a man in need. Still, I waved, made my way to my car, and headed back to LA.