Chapter 15
CAL
Cal and Owen met April at a local barbecue joint in town.
The place was rustic and a little loud, but Cal supposed there was no getting around that if he was going to insist on a kid-friendly restaurant.
And Owen had to tag along because, aside from April, Cal still wasn’t comfortable leaving his son with anyone else.
Once again, April had arrived before him, and she had a friend with her, a tall woman who had long, black hair and a sharp wit. April had introduced her as Crystal right before saying, “Nathan will be here soon. He’s always late for everything.”
“Always late,” Crystal echoed. “But it’s part of what we love about him.”
They sat down together at a table with long benches and a red-and-white checkered tablecloth. When the server came to take their order, Cal asked, “Should we not wait for the rest of our party?”
Crystal burst out laughing. “If we waited for Nate, we’d never get anything started. No, he would want us to go on without him.” She said this in a tone of voice that made it sound like she was talking about someone who had recently passed on from this world, but the humor behind it was evident.
Cal cracked a smile. “Well, if that’s what he would want.”
They ordered drinks and dinner. Cal decided to stay sober for the night, considering he had his son with him and would be driving back home.
Owen ordered off the kids’ menu, and Cal was proud to find he had chosen something he hadn’t tasted before.
Cal was often worried that his own overcautious nature would stifle his son’s adventurous nature, but it seemed to be thriving despite Cal’s nearly constant worrying.
Before long, another person came barreling toward the table.
He was thin, with a full head of dark brown hair and the look of someone who worried about nothing at all.
He immediately introduced himself as Nathan, and then he sat down like he was the guest of honor and they’d all been waiting for him, even though they hadn’t.
Cal’s impression was that Crystal had a dry, almost sarcastic sense of humor, while Nathan was more straightforward.
He didn’t waste any time getting to the interrogation part of the evening.
“So, Cal, April tells us you’ve been spending more time in town.
How are you liking it? Most people either hate it or love it to pieces. ”
Cal cleared his throat before answering. “Well, I don’t love it to pieces. I’ll say that much. Hate is a strong word, though.”
Crystal burst out laughing. “That’s an honest answer. I’ll agree. Nathan’s full of it. I don’t always love it to pieces either, but I certainly don’t hate it.”
“What do you do for work?” Nathan asked.
“I’m between jobs,” Cal said.
Owen was quick to correct his father. “He’s a single dad!” he said through a mouthful of fries.
Cal leaned over and muttered, “Swallow first, chief. But thank you.” The fact that Owen felt any kind of instinct to defend Cal meant a lot to him.
The boy was only five, of course, but that instinct meant he was growing into a good man.
That was the one thing Cal hoped for where his son was concerned, that the boy would grow into a good man.
April’s friends seemed equally impressed. Crystal reached across the table to give Owen a proper high-five. “There you go, kid. Ten points to you. That’s the toughest job in the world.”
Cal interjected, “It would be great if it paid better, to be fair.”
Once again, Crystal and Nathan burst out laughing. “I like this guy,” Nathan said. “Aren’t you glad I handed him to you?”
One double-take later, Cal managed to ask, “What do you mean by ‘handed him to you’?”
Nathan shrugged. “You were supposed to be my patient, originally. But it was her birthday, and she was having a less-than-awesome day, and you were exactly her type. So, I gave her a birthday present.”
Cal arched one eyebrow at him, unsure quite how to take that admission. Was it a compliment or an insult? Maybe a bit of both.
Just then, April laid a hand on Cal’s shoulder, and all his confusion melted away. “I’m so lucky to have met you and Owen,” she said. “That’s all.”
“Sounds more like a conspiracy than luck,” Cal said under his breath, and the whole table started laughing again.
The adults’ food arrived shortly after that, and the table fell a little quieter while everyone dug in.
It was an enormous platter of ribs with various dishes of sides that came with it.
All of it was served family style, like an old-fashioned barbecue.
Cal had never eaten there before. The place was new after Owen was born, and Cal had never wandered into town to try it.
Now that he had, he couldn’t help feeling that he’d missed out.
It was delicious, honestly. The meat fell off the bones.
The sides were all perfectly seasoned, and the sauces were to die for.
And Owen seemed to really enjoy the casual atmosphere.
No one even looked their way when he got overexcited and shouted or stood up when he really shouldn’t.
Cal couldn’t help wondering if there were more places in town he was missing out on.
After all, it wasn’t the same town it had been when Owen was born.
In the last five years, a number of new businesses had taken the places of old ones.
Some had breathed life into previously unoccupied storefronts.
And Cal had not visited any of them. Now, thanks to April, he’d been to the library, the local café, and his son had been to the neighborhood bookshop.
There was so much more to Summit Falls than the hardware store and the occasional grocery run.
While he was considering and double-guessing his own past choices, the others around the table kept the conversation going.
Every once in a while, Cal would be asked a question, which he would try to answer as directly as he could.
Because he was in his own world, he was only partly aware of the conversation, so he didn’t want to say too much or miss something important in his answers.
Surely, though, this made him come off cold and terse again, like he had with the lady interrogating him in the café.
He’d been disappointed in his own performance then and had resolved to do better.
But the problem with isolating yourself in your everyday life is that you lose the chance to practice.
Small talk becomes a skill you sort of lose.
Cal was loathe to admit he had lost it, but it seemed he had.
Normally, he might feel some level of shame at what he perceived to be his failure, but the people around this table, including his son, seemed perfectly comfortable with his idiosyncrasies.
In fact, they seemed to enjoy them. And it made sense.
Nathan’s lateness, Crystal’s dry humor, and April’s absurd optimism were qualities that made them more interesting to be around.
This group was like a group of misfits, and what made them misfits was what they loved most about each other.
Cal was so lost in his thoughts that he hadn’t been following the thread of conversation, so he was especially jarred when he heard the voice of his own son say, “She’s going to be my new mother.”
The whole table went quiet at that. If anyone had asked Cal just then, he would have insisted the whole restaurant had gone quiet.
It felt like all the lights in the place had been shut off, the audience’s conversations had ended, and a spotlight had been pointed directly at him.
What was he supposed to say? Outright denying that marriage was a possibility was unreasonably cruel to both April and Owen.
But agreeing could turn out to be equally cruel in the long run.
The only good position was not to take one, but how was he supposed to do that?
Even silence felt like an answer, now that everyone seemed to be waiting for his response.
All he could think to say was a tepid, “Nothing’s impossible.
” But rather than being a good middle ground to stand on, the statement seemed to abandon the middle and stand firmly and simultaneously on both sides.
Cal mentally slapped his own forehead. Luckily for him, everyone else seemed to think it was a very clever joke and laughed.
Only Owen narrowed his eyes, giving Cal a look that would shame the most powerful man in the world if he’d received it.
The look continued throughout dinner, even on the way home.
Every time they hit a traffic light or stop sign, Cal would glance over to find his son giving him the exact same look.
Clearly, Cal had said the right thing according to everyone else at the table, but given the worst possible answer according to Owen.
“Have you got something to say to me?” Cal said finally, having had enough of the look.
Owen folded his arms over his chest. “Why don’t you want me to have a mother?”
“That’s called a straw man, chief.”
“Huh?” Owen said, and Cal realized he should probably wait until his son was in a higher grade before getting into the rules of debate.
This whole situation was making him crazy.
“Well,” Cal said, “what I mean is that isn’t true, what you said.
I do want you to have a mother. But I don’t want you to get your hopes up too high.
April and I have only just started getting to know each other.
It would take a very long time to decide whether she’d make a good mother for you. ”
Owen huffed. “No, it wouldn’t. I’ve already decided. I’m way faster than you, which means I win.”
Cal chuckled. “Not necessarily. Sometimes being slow and careful is better.” He thought a moment and concluded, “Maybe you and I ought to give building miniature models a try so we can learn the value of caution.”
“You’re being silly,” Owen said, and Cal couldn’t help wondering if he was right. “You’re just scared.”
After several minutes of silent contemplation, Cal admitted. “You’re probably right.”
“I know,” Owen said. “I think you should stop being scared already.”
For a child, the boy had easily bored his way into Cal’s heart and planted explosives to expose the truth.
Though Cal had many flaws as an adult man who had suffered the things he had suffered, denial was not one of them.
Once shown the truth, Cal would accept it, even if it wasn’t the best look for him personally.
“You’re right,” he said to Owen, and that was the last thing he said before they got back to the cabin.
Once home, Cal helped Owen out of the truck and into the cabin. “Time to get ready for bed,” he said. “Then I’ll read you a bedtime story.”
Owen did as he was told without much fuss. He’d had a fun night and used up a good amount of mental energy. He was ready to rest. That was one of the benefits of giving his son more opportunities to socialize outside his home, Cal supposed. The used-up energy made for an easier bedtime.
After brushing his teeth and getting into his pajamas, Owen sat in bed and waited for story time. He had already picked out a book and held it in his lap expectantly. Cal sat down with him and opened the book, but the story in the book wasn’t the one he wanted to tell.
“Once upon a time,” he began, “there was a woman who was smart, beautiful, and kind all at the same time.”
Owen pouted. “That’s not the right story.”
“It is,” Cal said. “Trust me. She was amazing, and she won the love of a loyal knight. He knew he would spend his life protecting her, and he was never happier than he was when they were together. Then, one day, she got sick… and she was gone.” He choked up a bit but was determined to finish the story without allowing his grief to cloud it.
“She disappeared from the world, but she left a son behind. And this little boy was as smart and handsome and kind as she was.”
Not one to play games, Owen immediately cried, “That’s me!”
Cal nodded. “Yep, that’s you. The knight loved his son more than anything in the whole world, but he was scared of losing the boy after losing his mother.
He created a fortress for the two of them, and that worked well for five years.
But then the knight and his son met a beautiful princess, and they both fell in love with her.
The boy was brave and quickly said he wanted the princess to join their family.
But the knight was afraid because he’d lost the boy’s mother, and it hurt so bad that he never wanted to feel that way again.
So he waited, and he was too careful, and he took too long to tell the princess how he felt. He didn’t want to lose her, too.”
Owen looked up at his father and had no mercy. “The knight should be braver like his son. If he’s a knight, he should be brave.”
Cal sighed and ruffled Owen’s hair. “Once again, the boy is right. But bravery isn’t always as easy as making a choice. It takes time to learn, I think. The one thing I can promise you is that, from now on, I will do my very best to be brave. Is that going to work for now?”
Owen nodded. “I guess. You can have two weeks.”
“A deadline?” Cal smiled to himself. His son would never let him off easy. That was for sure. “It’s a deal, chief. Give me two weeks to find my courage, and then we’ll talk.”
Cal kissed his son goodnight, switched out the light, and gently closed the door.
He had assumed the two of them were enough, that they were doing fine and would never need anything else in their lives, but he’d been wrong.
More than once, Owen had mentioned wanting a mother figure in his life.
That meant it wasn’t a passing fancy. For Cal, it felt like standing on the edge of a cliff while his own son told him to jump.
Maybe he was wearing a parachute, but he couldn’t feel it and didn’t trust that it was there.
All the same, for Owen, he would give bravery a solid try.