Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Case
I’m aching when the crew finishes for the day. I’d spent five years working out most of my day, doling out beatings and often getting at least a few good licks back, but I’ve never ached like I do after a day’s work building my house. And yet still, I have to outrun my demons before I can sleep.
Rolling my neck and shoulders I look through the trees at Tessa’s house. It’s pretty run down still, even though I’d fixed the front porch and did a bunch of work for Lily before she went to hospice. It looks nothing like it looked the first time I’d come here to ask Lily Harlow about the property. I’m curious how long it’ll take Tessa to pull out her shiny credit card and bring it back to its former glory.
As I pass Tessa’s place a few minutes later, I see a glass of wine on the wooden table on the back porch. There’s an ice pack and a pillow on the opposite chair. She must have twisted her ankle good.I feel a jab of empathy but don’t stop. Firstly, I’m too tired to have a strip torn off me, and secondly, I really should stay away from her.
When my cell starts ringing my favorite tone, I whip it out quickly before I lose signal. Pausing under a tree, I smile. The picture that shows up on the caller ID screen is exactly why I should stay away.
“Well, hello.” I smile bigger into the phone, probably looking like a lovesick fool. Because I am. I’m a lovesick fool over my five-year-old daughter.
“Hello Daddio.”
My heart glugs happily at her greeting. The hello daddio is new and I have no clue where it came from, but it’s fucking adorable.
“Hey, gummy bear, how’s my favorite girl tonight?”
“Are you in a good spot, Daddy? I don’t want to lose you.”
Same kid, same. “You caught me at the best possible spot for reception.” I smile stupidly as my kid cheers on the other end of the line. “So how was your day?”
“Splendid, Daddy. How was yours?”
“Better now that I’m talking to my favorite person in the whole world.” Her giggle on the other end of the phone melts me. “Distract me from my woes, baby.”
“I have a new book from the library.”
“Oh yeah? Which one? Another Harry Potter?”
“No, silly billy, you have to read them to me.”
“Oh right,” I say, a smile spreading even wider on my face. “Chapter ten tonight when you’re all tucked in bed, yeah?”
“Yes, please, Daddy!”
“So, what about this library book?”
“It’s a picture book. I can read other ones, but Mrs. Olden, the librarian, doesn’t like me reading beyond my level. It’s a nice picture book though. It’s about a clever mouse and an imaginary monster.”
I frown. “It’s sound like a fun book, gumdrop, but is Mrs. Olden aware of your reading level? Or is she judging you solely on your age?”
“Probably. She’s ageist.” I hear my little angel sigh, and I suppress a laugh. At first Jeff’s mom was responsible for her incredible vocabulary and reading level but now that she’s traveling in Europe with Reece’s grandfather, my little girl keeps building it with Lulah and Jeff’s help and on her own. Hell, she asked for a word-a-day calendar last Christmas.
“Maybe you should explain to her what ageist means and she’ll see your point.”
“You have great ideas, Daddy, but adults don’t like being told things by little kids.”
“That’s often true. But she probably knows what it means, just doesn’t realize she’s doing it.And you teach me things all the time and I’m good with it.”
“That’s one of the many reasons I adore you, Daddy. Mrs. Olden probably only thinks about it in the old age way. Old people are sometimes treated like little kids. Grandma told me that. And Bea at school says her grandpa wears diapers, but he’s an octo…gen..ar…ian. Grandma taught me that word last week when we had our video call. I gotta practice it more, but it means a person in their eighties. Octo is for eight. Bea says he’s a good grandpa anyway.
I let my little girl talk on about her best friend and their plans for as long as she wants, well, until Lulah forces her to go get ready for bed. I hear Jeff in the background making plane noises as he carries my little girl to her room before Lulah speaks in a whisper.
“Did you ask Janet if you could take Reece to visit the island with you?”
“Yeah, she says if the site is still unfinished it’s a construction zone and she will not allow a child near it. And she said a trailer in a field isn’t appropriate either. I think she’s just being difficult. It’s fully insulated, equipped for all normal weather conditions, and has hookups.”
“And for heaven’s sake, what do they think camping is? And does she think you’ll let Reece drive the excavator?”
“Right?”I shrug as if Lulah can see me. “Who knows?”
Lulah laughs, and says, “Reece has you so wrapped around her finger you’d likely let her if she asked. Maybe this woman is right.”
I laugh then too. “Damn right I would. She’s probably a better driver than the guy who gets paid to do it. And she’d likely read the manual from cover to cover first.” I listen to Lulah bark a laugh and it makes me grin. She’s happy now and it hits me right in the feels. When I first met her, she wouldn’t have laughed even if she were at the dentist’s, under the gas. Life hadn’t been kind to Lulah, but it’s making up for it now.
“I’m also not supposed to take her out of Ontario anyway. Not until I’m awarded full custody.”
Or rather if I’m awarded full custody . But I don’t say that. Jeff and Lulah don’t need the stress of hearing that, especially when it seems my parents have backed off. At least I think they have since they haven’t tried to contact me again and I haven’t heard anything from my lawyer or Jeff and Lulah about them setting up visitations.
Lulah’s voice turns serious. “All you want to do is show her the progress of her home. Reassure her that she’ll eventually be there with you and maybe play a game of snakes and ladders in her new playhouse.”
“Yeah, well apparently we can do that over video chat.”
“Well, fu—screw her!” she says. I picture her flashing eyes. Lulah has always been a force to be reckoned with and I’ve always admired her for it, especially when I was the one in control of her as an enforcer for the Satan’s Ransom. That fire in her now hasn’t been doused, it’s just more of a controlled burn now thanks to her husband, Jeff. Although sometimes I think even he’s in over his head. And that thought takes me straight to Tessa again. I side-eye the porch from my spot under the maple tree not too far away.
“What if I bring her?” Lulah says, forcing my mind back on task. “We have custody so they can’t stop me from bringing her.”
“Uh, you do remember you’re in your billionth month of pregnancy, right? Can you honestly imagine yourself sleeping in a trailer now?”
“Case…” She sighs. “I am not a billion months pregnant. I’m not even in my third trimester. He still has lots of time to be cozy in there.”
“He?”
She groans. “You sound like Jeff.”
I smile. “He wants a girl?”
“I think so.”
“And you don’t?”
“Well, I can teach my boy to treat women right, respect and all that, but a little girl? She’ll have a lifetime of dealing with misogynistic bullshit.”
I swallow hard at that. “Thanks, Aunty Lulah. Now I’ve gotta up my gym routine so I’m in shape to beat the hell out of every boy that looks at Reece funny.”
“First of all, we both know you’re already in shape and ready for that, and second, I don’t think any boy will look at Reece without absolute respect with you and Jeff around. But really, we’re both being silly because with a dad like you, she’ll know exactly how she should be treated and won’t take anything that falls below par.” Lulah pauses and blows out. “So, I guess I don’t need to worry then either.”
“That’s right. And actually, I think the boyfriends might be more afraid of you than Jeff.”
“You hear that, munchkin? I don’t have to worry if you’re a girl.”
She groans. “Maybe it is a girl, they just kicked the hell out of my ribs when I said that.”
“I honestly don’t know how you haven’t found out yet.”
Lulah takes a few deep breaths. “Legs crossed at every ultrasound. I have one more scheduled and I’m crossing my fingers this babe isn’t as stubborn as their daddy.”
“And mommy. ”
“I am the least stubborn person on the planet.” Her voice is serious and high-pitched as if I’ve shocked her with my words, but then she laughs.
I join in. “Should we ask Jeff?”
“Bite your tongue, Case Callen!”
“It’s bitten,” I reply, with a smirk my friend can’t see.
“Can we pick you up at the airport Thursday?”
“Nah, my flight doesn’t land until eight and Reece needs to be in bed on time. Lord knows her teacher can barely handle her after ten hours sleep. Imagine after only seven or eight?” I chuckle. “My baby needs her rest.”
“Big bad Case Callen, you’re a shame to your rebellious brethren. You’re going to be stripped of your tattoosfor this.”
“You’re probably right, but for that little angel, I’ll let them remove every one with a dull needle and battery acid.” I don’t finish the thought because if there’s one person that understands my loyalty, it’s Lulah. And while I do struggle with my identity after being Python for the last five years, I was never the brutal man that everyone thought Python to be either.
There’s another groan through the phone.
“Another kick?”
“Nope, gotta pee for the fifty billionth time this hour.”
“Sorry I’m not farther along in getting Reece back. You need rest and Jeff’s mom shouldn’t have to fly back from Tuscany already to take care of her while you squeeze the little one out.”
“She wants to be here to see her newest grandchild fresh out of the package. And you know she misses Reece terribly.” Lulah sighs. “We’ll miss her too when she’s gone. Life will be busy for a while before we can move there, but I love that little girl like she’s my own.”
Her words send jolt of sadness through me, knowing Reece will feel it too, but it’s gone quickly. They’ll be near us soon enough. There are enough challenges in pregnancy and being new parents without making a move across the country.
“Hard not to, she’s a spectacular kid. But we’ll visit all the time,” I say, knowing she won’t change her mind about Reece living with me. She’s told me too many times that Reece belongs with me. “I can’t miss too much of my nephew growing up.”
I hear my daughter calling for Lulah in the background, so I end the call quickly, with a promise to call back in half an hour to read Reece her bedtime chapters and continue my way to the trailer.
“Not bad enough you have to hammer, saw, and bang all day but now you’ve gotta yap loudly on the phone too?”
I look up to see Tessa. Her angry expression and sharp words don’t take away from her beauty. Her arms crossed; she looks at me from her back deck. It’s small and in need of some new boards and it’s been on my to-do list, but I hadn’t gotten around to it yet. And she probably wouldn’t let me.
“Good evening, Sunshine. Please accept my sincerest apology. This spot here gets the best reception in the area.”
Even from the path I can see her roll her eyes.
“How’s the ankle?”
“There’s nothing wrong with my ankle,” she bites back.
I glance over at the chair with the ice pack and catch her doing the same, but she doesn’t change her story.
“How was the writing today?” I ask, trying to sound friendly.
“Do you always ask people such personal questions?”
“I wasn’t aware it was that personal. Feel free to ask me about my day at work.” I wink. “I promise I won’t be offended.”
She huffs an unfriendly laugh and turns. She doesn’t walk away though and I think I know why. Like a wild animal, she doesn’t want me knowing she’s injured.
I have irked this woman and damned if I know how. But Reece and I are starting fresh and we’re going to need friends. We’re going to need a support system that’s closer than Lulah and Jeff. I look around. There isn’t another house close by.And I promised Tessa’s grandmother.
Besides, I’ve sunk every dime I had into this place, and I can’t turn tail and run now. I must make this work and ignore the urge to spank the attitude right out of her, even though that’s clearly what she needs.
I’ll stop by in the morning. Maybe she’ll be in a better mood then and we can work out a schedule that works for both of us.
“Have a good night, neighbor.” I give a friendly wave to her back and walk down the path, ignoring her indignant snort.