Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
WELLS
Wells dropped Allison off in front of Bloom a few minutes later, helping her out of the car.
They got there early, and even though Olivia and Pearl had strictly said that no boys were allowed, he loitered in the front area of Bloom to see if they needed anything.
He’d had to remind Allison two times that she didn’t need to finish everything at her own baby shower.
Allison was the consummate hostess and not used to having attention on her. She was going to have a hard time not waiting on others.
Annabelle wandered through the store, and he waved to her, getting her attention. She was a crafty, smart seven-year-old.
A perfect accomplice.
“I have a business deal for you,” he said, squatting down to her level. “I need your help making sure that Allison rests during this party, okay? For every minute you can make her sit down during the baby shower, I will pay you one dollar.”
“A dollar?” Annabelle gave him a gap-toothed astonished smile. She’d lost another baby tooth last week.
“One whole dollar. She needs to relax and enjoy the party. And what do you do if she tries to get up?”
“Guilt her,” Annabelle said with a zealous glint in her eye.
“Attagirl.” He sealed the deal with a high five.
His spy firmly in place, he was then ushered out the door by Olivia.
Allison’s mom and sister walked toward Bloom, and Wells knew Allison’s mom would be the one to send her in a spiral.
We’ll have a little chat.
He waved a hand in a friendly greeting. “Hi, Mrs. Styles, Molly.”
Molly smiled brightly. “Staying for the baby shower?”
“No, but I am going to make sure that Allison has a good time. We’re not going to have a problem, are we?” He narrowed his eyes at Allison’s mom.
Allison’s mother primly twisted her lips. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“It’s very important to Allison, and therefore it’s very important to me, that she feels supported today.”
“I love that,” Molly said.
Aha, he had an ally.
“Make sure to let her know how pretty she looks. And if you think anything else,” he said directly to Allison’s mother, “keep your mouth shut.”
She looked taken aback.
“Otherwise, I will visit your house every single day to tell your husband exactly what I think of him. Then, as you love to remind Allison, he will be your problem.” He’d said it all with a shit-eating grin. “Got it?”
Allison’s mother nodded primly.
“I like him,” he heard Molly whisper as they walked into Bloom.
He snorted to himself.
A very, very buried part of himself could feel sorry for Allison’s mom. She was caught in the web of her husband’s anger like Allison had been, but the difference?
She should have protected Allison, not used her for problem solving and emotional caregiving. She’d been the adult, and she’d acted like a child, hurting the woman he cared about.
Pleased with himself, he walked to the Credit Union across the square to meet Nash for some mysterious errand. He’d been cagey over text.
His phone pinged as he crossed the square.
ALLISON
Did you know Annabelle is saving up for a new bike helmet?
And that if I don’t sit down I’m specifically preventing her from getting it?
WELLS
Tell her that her rate went up to $2 per minute for A+ guilt tripping.
Wells.
Allison.
Do not weaponize adorable children at me.
Hate to break it to you, but I’ll do whatever it takes to take care of you. Nothing’s off-limits, including our future children.
Welcome to the rest of your life
He waited.
And waited.
Stared at the screen for a reply. Willed her to reply to the text that had floated out so easily, but he realized it came with an innuendo.
He’d be caring about her the rest of their lives.
A text came in from Olivia. It was a photo of Allison staring at her phone, smiling brightly, as Annabelle leaned on her shoulder.
OLIVIA
Had to confiscate her phone because you are a DISTRACTION.
For the love of cheese, please don’t text anything inappropriate while her phone is in my possession. I don’t want to have to bleach my eyeballs.
WELLS
Tell Annabelle her check’s in the mail.
She says cold hard cash only.
Wells barked out a laugh, utterly delighted by his life.
Nash leaned on his car outside the credit union. “Hop in.”
“What’s this mystery errand you need help with?”
“We are needed at the Falls,” Nash said, sliding into his car.
“The Fairwick Falls?”
“You’re a quick one, Maroo. Anyone ever tell you that?” Nash said with a snort as he drove off.
The Falls was a public park that the Donnelly family had donated generations ago, with a small river that cut around the edge of town and turned into a small babbling falls.
“I always forget this is here,” Wells said as Nash pulled up.
Luca and Jack sat talking at a picnic table. Wells slid his eyes over to Nash who smiled.
“What are they doing here?” Wells asked.
Nash only shrugged in response.
They walked over to the picnic table under the giant oak trees with the sound of the river babbling behind them. On the picnic table sat four baby dolls.
“What the actual hell is going on?” Wells said with a laugh.
Luca spread his arms out wide, gesturing to the picnic table in front of him. “Welcome to Girl Dad Academy.”
Wells burst out laughing, turning to Nash and smiling happily. “A girl? You’re having a girl?”
Nash coughed, a move Wells recognized as him trying not to cry. “Yeah,” Nash said finally with an emotional smile.
Wells wrapped him in a bone-crushing hug. “You, too?” he said to Jack.
“Guilty as charged,” Jack responded happily as Wells pulled him in for a hug too.
Their three girls would all be the same age, born within a few months of each other. He was delighted at the idea that his little girl already had potential lifelong friends.
Luca clapped his hands. “Alright. Sit down. We’ve got shit to learn. The first rule in being a girl dad? Always say yes to glitter. The second rule?” He looked at them expectantly.
The three men shrugged in response.
“Rookies,” Luca sighed. “Never leave glitter unsupervised.”
“I think we’ve got a while before that one is relevant,” Wells said, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
Luca snorted as he picked up a doll. “That’s hilarious that you think that. Okay, today’s lesson is: braids.”
Wells looked at the other two men in surprise. This was one of the things he’d been worried about. Was it a coincidence?
“Annabelle donated supplies today,” Luca said, gesturing to the large baby dolls with full heads of hair in front of them.
Wells fumbled the tiny doll hairbrush in his hands as he wrangled the doll’s bright purple plastic hair into a hairband to start. The doll kept tumbling over.
“Wouldn’t this be easier with a real kid?” he grumbled.
Luca burst out laughing. “Yeah, famously, toddlers love to sit still.”
He went over the basics, and after some shockingly poor attempts all around, they started to get the hang of it.
“I’m up next,” Jack said, standing up and stretching.
“You don’t have a girl yet,” Wells said, confused.
“I am, however, excellent at climbing trees,” Jack said, smiling impishly. “Allison said you wanted to have a go at it. There are a couple of excellent starter trees over here, and I think every kid should climb a tree once. Don’t you?”
“C’mon, I need a refresher too,” Nash said with a pat on Wells’s back.
They spent the next twenty minutes stumbling through a gnarled old maple tree with low branches. They teased each other, shouting as they egged each other on to climb a higher and higher branch until Jack waved them down.
“Let’s get a move on; you’re going to be late.”
“For what?” Wells asked, feeling like Alice in a strange Pennsylvanian Wonderland.
“Follow me,” Nash said.
They walked further into the park, through a trail of arched trees. The sunlight turned a dappled green in the cool, leafy space. The rush of water got closer.
“Don’t we need poles to fish, Donnelly?” Wells said, beating Nash to the punch of the next activity.
Rounding the corner of the trail, the falls came into view in the sparkling summer sunshine. A stout little man with two fishing poles and a bucket hat covered in lures sat waiting with an empty chair beside him.
“You pass the first two classes?” Pop said, beaming.
Wells felt a catch in his throat.
“He damn near fell out of the tree, but his braid wasn’t half bad,” Nash said with a laugh. He clapped a hand on Wells’s shoulder. “For this one, you’re on your own,” he said, then walked back up the trail by himself.
Wells had always wanted to go fishing with his dad, like Nash had as a kid.
I guess I get to now.
One fishing pole had a bow on it with a note attached. Pop held it out to him. Wells recognized Allison’s loopy handwriting.
Thought we’d check the last item off your list, so you’d officially know everything. :)
Allison
“I’ve never fished,” Wells said, overwhelmed by all of it—her thoughtfulness, this sweet surprise when she already did so much for him.
Pop settled back down on the camping chair that was nestled under an old oak tree along the river’s edge. “I don’t catch much fish, really. And I always throw them back. It’s just nice being out here. Just being together.”
Wells nodded, settling down into the camping chair. Pop offered him an uncooked hot dog. “Always hated using worms.” He chuckled. “Plus, I always had extra from the diner because—”
“They don’t sell the same number of hot dogs and buns,” Wells said in commiserating exasperation.
“It’s a racket.” Pop laughed as he hooked a bit of hot dog onto the fishing lure. “Fifty years, and I never ordered the right amount.”
Wells shook his head, frustrated with himself. How much easier would his life have been if he’d just asked Pop about how to run the diner? How much less lonely?
The river babbled in the quiet, late summer afternoon. He tried to commit every detail of how perfect today was to memory. With Allison, with his friends, and now with the man who was his dad in all but name.
Pop showed him how to cast, and after a few false starts, Wells was able to get it to land in a good enough spot.
“Thanks, you’re a good teacher,” Wells said as they stood at the riverbank’s edge.
Pop shrugged. “Allison asked if I’d help with this. I’m happy to, but I told her I don’t know anything about being a dad, obviously.”
“Bullshit,” Wells snorted without thinking.
Pop startled.
“I mean.” Wells gulped, not great with feelings.
He studied the blades of grass along the bank as he spoke, unable to look Pop in the eye for this.
“When I thought about how I should handle something or what I should do, I’d think about what you’d do.
How you’d be firm and kind. How you taught me to be a man, really. ”
“Like when I caught you necking in the diner.” Pop chuckled.
Wells snorted. He’d been fifteen and received a painful but needed talk on how to treat a lady right after that.
“You were…” Wells’s throat tightened with emotion, and he shoved it down. “You were always there. And you didn’t even live with us, weren’t even family, but you were…you were my dad in my head, I think. When I needed you, you’d be there every time. And you still are.”
The guilt he thought he’d swept away came back with a vengeance as he imagined himself in Pop’s position.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t talk to you about the diner,” he whispered, finally breaking at the fact that he’d let his real dad down.
His vision blurred with tears, and he wiped one away with his thumb.
“I just...I didn’t want to let you down.
I wanted to show you how much I”—he coughed—“I, um, love you, or whatever.” Is this the first time I’ve ever said it? Christ.
Pop wrapped him in a firm hug, sniffling, and Wells returned it, feeling a tear roll off his nose.
“And I can’t imagine I’d handle it as well as you did if my kid had a crazy plan that screwed up my life’s work.”
“I love you, too, son. And it’s when. When your kid has a crazy plan,” Pop said, wiping his eyes with a hankie. “She’ll be half you, right?”
Wells bellowed out a watery laugh and felt lighter.
More himself.
They went back to their fishing poles as Wells’s phone dinged.
ALLISON
Having fun?
WELLS
You think you’re so cute, don’t you.
I am. I am very cute.
And so are you.
Do not weaponize my panic spirals, Allison Styles.
Hate to break it to you, but I’ll do whatever it takes to make you feel better, including roping in our friends and family.
Welcome to the rest of your life.
Wells laughed to cover the tears that stung his eyes suddenly for some reason.
Why do I want to cry?
At two lessons and a fishing pole. Silly, really.
He’d never been taken care of like this. He’d been the protector and had been used to being the strong one for everyone.
But with her?
He had a soft place to land for the first time.
There were too many feelings jumbled up in his chest, and he didn’t know what to do with them all.
Which usually meant: it was time to make a plan.
A new one. One that took care of her if he wasn’t here for some reason.
He let the wheels spin in the back of his head, pondering on it while he and Pop spent another two hours attempting to fish, catching nothing other than memories.