Chapter Five #2
Ten minutes later, he’d found the nickel that had mysteriously gotten stuck in the disposal blades. It took him another fifteen minutes and a pair of needle-nose pliers to get the nickel out.
By then, Shane was back in the kitchen, standing at his side, watching him work as Lenore bustled around getting ready for the party.
“Here we go.” Josh handed the battered nickel to the birthday boy.
“It’s all dinged up, Dad.”
“Yep. Put it in your piggy bank anyway. A dinged up nickel is still a nickel.”
“Thank you so much, Josh,” Lenore gushed. “I don’t know what we’d do without you.”
You would probably stop putting nickels in the garbage disposal, he thought but had the good sense not to say. “You’re welcome, Lenore.” He put the pliers back into the tool kit and returned it to the pantry closet.
Lenore was waiting on the other side of the pantry door when he stepped out. “Why don’t you stay? Josh would love that.”
“Thanks, but he’s got all his friends coming, and he’ll be busy with the other kids. I’m taking off.”
She caught his arm. “Have a cup of coffee at least.”
“No, I really do need to go.” He eased free of her grip.
“Fine.” Shaking her head, she turned away.
He was careful not to get into it with her, not to ask her what was wrong. He knew what was wrong. He was leaving, and she felt driven to try to keep him there.
Shane stood over by the table staring at his cake and probably considering sticking a finger in the frosting.
Josh went to him. “Don’t even think about it.” He dropped to a crouch and wrapped his son in his arms. “Have the best party ever.”
“I will, Dad. Bye…”
From Lenore’s house, Josh headed for Bravo Construction. He could get a lot done at the office on a quiet Saturday morning. For a couple of hours, he reviewed progress reports and checked on materials that he would need in the next week.
Eventually, though, he started feeling hungry. He considered going home. His fridge was full, and he always had chores to tackle. But he tried his cousin Joe just in case he might be available.
You busy? he texted.
Joe answered two seconds later. Fences to fix and cattle to wrangle. You got a better offer?
Lunch. Stagecoach Grill?
See you there in half an hour.
Josh got there first. One of the tables by the west-facing front window was free. He took it and ordered a couple of lagers from Black Tooth Brewing Company. Sipping his beer, he admired the humped backs of the Bighorn Mountains out the wide window until Joe slid into the seat across from him.
“I like it when my beer is right there waiting for me.” Joe took a sip. “Yep. Beats fixing fence, no doubt about it.”
“How’s Macy?” Josh asked.
His cousin explained that eight-year-old Ana had been invited to Shane’s party. “Macy dropped her off,” Joe said. “Then she took the baby to her mom’s shop to catch up on a few things.” Macy’s mom owned Betty’s Blooms a few blocks away on State Street.
Their waitress, Candy Siler, who’d been a few years ahead of them in school, sauntered over. “Okay, you two. What’re you having?”
They ordered steak sandwiches and talked about beef and lumber prices till the food came. Joe stuck a fry in his mouth and then picked up his sandwich. For a few minutes, they ate in silence.
Finally, Joe spoke. “So tell me, Joshy. What’s on your mind?” Joe grinned across the table as he waited to be called Joey. It was a running joke between them. They both hated their childhood nicknames, so whenever they got together, they razzed each other with them.
But Josh wasn’t in the mood for kidding around. He pitched his voice low. “Riley’s pregnant. It’s mine. And you are officially sworn to secrecy about this until I tell you otherwise.”
Joe’s grin got smugger. “I know already. Macy told me. I didn’t say anything because she said if I did she might have to kill me.”
“Can’t say I’m surprised.” Riley and Macy told each other everything.
“So then, cousin. You getting married again?”
“You think she’ll have me?”
“Oh, hell yeah. You got a successful business, your boys are joined at the hip, and the two of you are always together. And you’ve known each other forever. You’ve got trust with each other, am I right?”
“We do. Yeah.”
Joe gave him a long, thoughtful look. “You’re in love with her, aren’t you?”
Josh set down his fork and sat back in his chair. In love…
He’d married Lenore because she was pregnant and it had seemed like the right thing to do. And he’d tried, he really had, to make it work. But it hadn’t worked. After it was over, he’d promised himself that next time he would have what his parents had. Next time, he would marry for love.
Across the table, Joe ate his steak sandwich and waited for Josh to answer.
Was he in love with Riley? Could he be? He asked his cousin, “How did you know that Macy was the one?”
Joe drank more beer. “Are you kidding? I had no clue. Not for a long, long time. Not for years. Not till after I married her, which I talked her into because she’s my best friend.
Then I almost lost her because I refused to see the light and admit how I really felt.
Don’t be like me, Joshy. Life’s too damn short to tell yourself lies about what’s in your heart. ”
* * *
An hour later, back at the office, Josh called his mom.
Abby Heller Bravo had an accounting degree from the University of Colorado. She was the numbers person at Cash Enterprises, the company his dad and his older brother, Ty, owned and ran.
“Mom. I have a great idea. How about if I come over for dinner tonight?”
“Can’t wait to see you,” his mom replied. “I’ll need to order the meal. What are you in the mood for?” Abby was the best mom ever, bar none. But she never cooked, not if she could help it.
“Mom, you know me. I like everything. Just order whatever you’re in the mood for.”
“All right, then. I’m thinking takeout from Carmelita’s.” The cozy Mexican restaurant had been a fixture in town for as long as Josh could remember.
“Sounds great,” he said.
“Six?”
“I’ll be there.”
When he arrived at the big, gray-shingled house on North Street, his mother grabbed him in a hug right there at the door. Then she stepped back. “Come in, come in.”
His dad was waiting in the big living room with its vaulted ceiling and gorgeous slate fireplace.
They drank margaritas and shared an appetizer of chips and salsa as they talked business in a general sort of way.
For the meal, they sat at the small table in the kitchen rather than the impressive mahogany one in the formal dining room.
As they ate delicious carne asada, his mom talked about the party at Lenore’s. She and his dad had dropped by there with Shane’s gift.
“We had space station cake,” she said with a grin. “The kids were adorable—and only a little bit out of control. You know how they get on a sugar high.”
“Oh yes, I do.”
“Shane sure seemed happy.”
“He’s a good kid,” said Josh’s dad.
His mom said, “Lenore really put on a great party. All the children seemed to be having a ball. And Shane—oh, Joshua, he’s not only a good boy. He’s a happy child, too. You’ve done well with him.”
He loved them both so much at that moment.
They were the best, and they always tried really hard not to butt in or make judgments about his life or his choices.
But he hadn’t invited himself to dinner to talk about Shane or his own challenging interactions with his ex-wife.
He was there because his mom and dad had the kind of marriage he aspired to.
He liked to watch them together. They seemed to have long conversations with each other in the space of a shared glance. They were…intimate. Connected. But not in a way that cut out the rest of the world.
His dad was fifteen years older than his mom. Cash had been there the day that Abby was born. Everyone said that back in the day, Cash was like a big brother to Abby. But then, to everyone’s initial surprise, they had married suddenly. Ty was born about seven months later.
“What are you staring at, Joshua?” his mom asked with a hint of a smile.
He answered honestly. “Just thinking that you guys always look so happy together. If I ever get married again, I want that, what you have.”
His mom and dad shared another of those speaking glances, and then his mom said in a tender tone, “I hope you find the right person, Joshua.”
He thought of Riley then, of how much he liked her. How completely he trusted her. How he loved spending time with her—in or out of bed.
Yeah, he’d promised himself that if he ever got married again it would be for true love and true love alone. Not because he’d somehow managed to get another woman accidentally pregnant.
Well, that was then.
Now he really couldn’t imagine himself falling for some woman he hadn’t even met yet.
He wanted Riley. He’d wanted her for months now, couldn’t get enough of her.
He’d kept waiting for the powerful attraction between them to fade.
But it hadn’t faded. On the contrary, his physical desire for her just seemed to keep getting stronger.
Their friendship seemed to grow deeper, too.
Could this be true love? And did she feel the same way? They should talk about that…
“Josh?” His mother stood at his elbow with the coffeepot.
He blinked. “Sorry. Just…thinking—and yeah. I would love some coffee.”
She patted his shoulder and refilled his cup.
* * *
Riley was brushing her teeth at nine thirty that night when her phone chimed with a text from Josh.
How are you feeling?
She rinsed out her mouth and called him.
“Well?” he asked.
“Josh. I’m pregnant, not ill.”
“Yeah, but what about morning sickness and all that?”
“It’s been minor, and I really am feeling just fine.”
“Mind if I come over? We have a whole lot to talk about.”
“Right now? I’m getting ready to climb into bed—and Dillon’s here.”
“Just to talk, I promise…”