Chapter 12
CAL
Shopping without his son at his side had been a lot more difficult than Cal had expected.
The truth was, he hadn’t asked April to babysit for his benefit.
He was used to Owen’s presence, used to going everywhere with him.
The boy’s absence felt like a mistake, not a relief.
But April’s suggestion that Owen needed to socialize with more people outside his immediate family had found a foothold in Cal’s thoughts.
He couldn’t see how she was wrong, but he wasn’t ready to drop his son off in a group of people he didn’t know and… trust them.
April was a different story. He was starting to believe her when she told him she’d take good care of Owen.
If anyone would, she would. Despite that, though, going to the café induced way too much anxiety in Cal.
What if they weren’t there? What if only April was there with bad news?
The weather had gotten pretty bad while he was at the hardware store.
No one was expecting that much rain. What if something had happened as a result?
A slip. A fall. Cal’s thoughts would not stop racing.
After all that, it was such a massive relief to walk into the café and find April and Owen already waiting for him. She seemed to be in the habit of always showing up early, and Cal was more grateful for it than he could have expressed in that moment.
“So, how was shopping?” April asked before Cal could get a word out.
He paused to recalibrate. “Oh, it all went smoothly. Thank you again for watching Owen.”
April shook her head. “No, I should thank you. We had so much fun today. Didn’t we, Owen?”
“I got a book!” Owen thrust a plastic bag at Cal, and Cal took it automatically. “It’s the one from story time,” Owen explained before Cal could even ask.
He took the picture book from his son and flipped through it. It was one about trains, which was a topic Owen enjoyed. Cal reached into his pocket for his wallet, but April immediately knew what he was about and put a stop to it.
“No, no,” she said. “That was a gift from me to Owen. For his birthday.” Then she stood, leaned in close to Cal’s ear, and whispered, “It’s a bribe, you see, so he’ll like me.”
Cal chuckled and returned his wallet to his pocket. “If you say so. Are you ready to head home, Owen?” he asked.
Owen whined, “Do I have to?”
“Yes, you do. But we can come back sometime.”
That seemed to satisfy Owen, though he still wore his pouty face. Cal never chided him for expressing negative emotions, as long as he did it reasonably and non-destructively. Just before they were about to leave, a woman Cal had never seen before slid into their conversation.
“Well, Nurse April!” she cried. “Fancy seeing you here.”
April laughed and greeted the woman while Cal marveled at how easy it all seemed to her.
He had never been much of an extroverted person, preferring to spend most of his time in solitude.
It wasn’t that he disliked people. He just knew he wasn’t really what they were looking for when they wanted an amusing conversation or a shoulder to cry on.
He’d spent so much of his life barely surviving, dealing with trauma the only way he knew how, that he kind of forgot how to be with people in such an easy way.
“How have you been, Mrs. Jansen?” April asked the woman with a big smile. “How’s your husband? Is he feeling better these days?”
“Well, we’ve been doing really well, thanks to you. I’ve had to nag him to take his medicine, but when he does, he’s as good as new. He has so much energy that I hardly know what to do with him.”
April elbowed the woman gently. “You’ve got to get that man a hobby now.” She laughed. “Keep him busy.”
“Isn’t that advice for the ages?” the woman said. “You know, he used to enjoy woodworking. Maybe I can steer him back in that direction.”
“A great idea,” April said. “Just make sure he wears a respirator.”
“I will.”
For a while, Cal was enjoying watching April work her magic.
He could have stood there and watched her make everyone around her more comfortable forever.
But then the woman talking to her turned her attention to Cal.
“And who’s this you’re with today?” she asked, as if it was remotely any of her business. “Is this your new man?”
The woman was infuriating all of a sudden.
Cal wanted to snap at her for intruding, but April had far more patience.
“Oh, no,” she said. “My goodness, he’s just a friend.
I was watching his son today, and he’s come to pick the boy up.
” She gestured to Owen. “Mrs. Jansen, this is my friend Owen.” Then she gestured to Cal.
“And this is his father, Cal. We were just saying goodbye for the day, weren’t we? ”
Cal nodded and answered, “Yes.”
Much to his disappointment, the woman kept speaking to Cal. “I haven’t seen you around town, Cal. Do you live near here?”
Every muscle in Cal’s body stiffened. “Not too far.”
“Oh, really? Curious that I’ve never seen you before. I know pretty much everyone who lives around here. Do you make it into town often?”
“No,” Cal answered.
“Does your son attend school in town?” She wouldn’t let up.
Cal took a deep breath. “No, he doesn’t.”
“Oh, is he homeschooled then?”
“He will be.”
“Well, that’s all right.” The woman then went into a lengthy speech about homeschooling, telling stories about her friends who homeschooled, how their kids turned out, and the pros and cons.
Cal was having difficulty making out much of what she was saying.
Her voice felt like noise, moving through him without taking hold.
She wasn’t particularly cruel; she just acknowledged no boundaries, and Cal wasn’t used to people like that.
It made him uncomfortable, irritated. He couldn’t figure out what she wanted from him, but she kept talking.
At the conclusion of her monologue, the woman turned back to April and said, “Friend or no friend, you’d better nail this one down before he gets away.
Lots of girls in town would love to hitch themselves to his wagon. ”
Now that the woman wasn’t looking his way, Cal felt comfortable scowling at her.
He could see that April caught sight of it and laughed.
At least one person thought this was funny.
“Oh, Mrs. Jansen, you are just too much sometimes,” she said with a laugh.
“I’ll see you next Tuesday. Keep your husband busy now. ”
That seemed to do the trick, and the nosy woman finally left. Cal breathed a sigh of relief. When the woman was out of earshot, April whispered a quick, “Sorry about her. She means well. But she’s kind of a lot.”
“Can’t argue with that,” Cal said, frowning.
April didn’t stop smiling despite Cal’s foul mood. “Thank you again for letting me spend the day with Owen. We had a lot of fun, and I’d love to hang out with him again sometime.” She winked and murmured, “If you find you need a babysitter again.”
As quiet as she’d been, Owen apparently heard her. “I’m not a baby,” he muttered.
“Not even a little bit,” April said, ruffling his hair. “But I bet you’ll always be your dad’s baby boy.”
Cal left the café with Owen, and both of them seemed to be in an unusually good mood.
The boy was a delight on the ride home, talking endlessly about the things they’d done that day.
“And she tried to say I had to practice on small slides before I could go on big ones. But that’s not true, is it, Dad? ”
“Sure it is,” Cal said. “Didn’t you know that?”
Owen gave him a withering look. “You’re both silly. And we went to her work to get her camera, and I met her friends.”
“What did you need her camera for?” Cal asked.
“Oh, I can’t tell you,” Owen said as though it were the most normal thing in the world. Then he whispered, “It’s a surprise,” even though there was no one else in the truck.
“I suppose I’ll have to wait to find out,” Cal said. It was never a bad idea to demonstrate patience to his boy. “So when did you get the book?” he asked.
“We were at the park, and it rained. So Nurse April took us to a bookstore instead. She said I could pick out a book to take home.”
“That was very nice of her,” Cal said. “We’ll have to find a way to thank her for it.”
All through the drive home, Owen talked about the day.
He was more talkative than Cal had ever seen him, and that was saying a lot.
Cal would not have guessed that one day with another adult would have been so exciting for a five-year-old.
Was April right about Owen needing more social interaction than he was getting?
Was Cal depriving him of the chance to make friends like a normal kid?
Cal parked his truck in front of his cabin, and he helped his son get out of his seatbelt.
“Can we invite her over again?” Owen said as he hopped out of the truck.
“Sure. I don’t see why not.” Not only did he not see why not, but there was also no chance he wasn’t going to invite her over again.
He was finally beginning to admit how much he enjoyed her company.
For whatever reason, he was happier in her presence.
She filled a gap in his life that he hadn’t wanted to admit was there, but now, denying it had become impossible.
Inside, Owen ran to put his book on his shelves, and Cal started prepping for dinner.
He couldn’t stop thinking about April. She’d spent the day with Owen, and nothing bad had happened beyond some bad weather.
It wasn’t that Cal had doubted she would take good care of his son.
But no matter how normal or mundane the situation might be, where his son was concerned, Cal would worry about every possible tragic accident.
Every single thing that could go wrong went wrong first in his head.
Leaving Owen with anyone other than himself had been a massive step he hadn’t thought he was ready to take.
But April was changing his mind about things, a lot of things really.
They had tacos for dinner that night. Owen had requested it. Owen took a bite and said, “These are good, Dad.”
“Thanks,” Cal said. “I appreciate the compliment. But chew and swallow first, OK, chief.”
Owen chewed in an exaggerated way, swallowed his bite, and washed it down with juice. “OK,” he said. “I’ll try to remember.”
“Thank you,” Cal said. Then he got the perfect idea for how to motivate his son. “Because, you know, if Nurse April’s going to come over for a fancy dinner, we have to learn good manners to impress her.”
Owen nearly stood on his chair before Cal put a stop to it. “Really?” the boy said, clapping. “When? I’ll do good manners, I swear! When is she coming? I want to help cook the fancy dinner. Can I help cook the fancy dinner?”
“Of course you can,” Cal said, grinning and pleased that he’d accurately predicted his son’s response. “I thought I’d give her a call tonight to invite her. What do you think?”
“Yessss!” Owen punched the air like he’d won a big game.
After dinner, Cal read to Owen for a while before tucking him into bed.
He read more than one book, putting off that call he intended to make for as long as he possibly could.
He talked himself down by mentally assuring himself that it wasn’t like he was asking her out on a date or anything.
It was the same type of thing he’d invited her to before.
This time, it was dinner instead of lunch.
This time, he wanted to show off his cooking skills a bit, give her a sample of truly fresh fish, straight out of the river.
He picked up the phone and dialed. “Hey,” he said when she answered.
“I was thinking, you know, I’d like to invite you to mine for dinner.
” He barely moved a muscle as he spoke. “Owen already misses you,” he said.
It wasn’t entirely a lie. Owen was unreasonably fond of the woman.
It made a decent excuse anyway. She’d never understand if he claimed that he felt he owed her, and she’d probably be offended if he took the time to assure her this wasn’t a date.
“I don’t know, Cal,” she said. “I do have to work this week.”
“Do you have any days off? I can work around your schedule.” He hoped he didn’t sound too forward or desperate.
“The only day I have off is tomorrow, unfortunately, but that isn’t much notice.”
Cal grinned. “No, it’s perfect.” The benefit of growing your own food was having everything you needed to make a good meal on hand at all times.
He didn’t have to go to the store to make her dinner.
He simply had to go out back and choose something that would go well with river trout from his variety of plants.
He was worried he might be overwhelming her with too much contact in too short a time, but she seemed more pleased than anything. “Well, I’ll be there then. Thank you for inviting me.”
“No problem.” He hung up and mentally slapped himself for ending the conversation like that.
It sounded like he had offered to do her a tedious favor.
No matter, though, he assured himself. This wasn’t a date, so he had no one to impress.
It was dinner between friends… for Owen’s sake. Yes, that’s all it was.