Chapter 14 #3
He wanted more than anything right now to tell Jordy the truth about that missing year. Colleen had urged him countless times to fill in the blanks for the poor kid, once Jordy was a teenager.
Cammie had poisoned him, Moore knew, but it felt wrong to say something negative about her.
Jordy had to spend the majority of his time with his mother and Moore didn't want to create conflict, the internal kind that eats away at you. Putting his son through that just so that the record could be cleared felt like an added burden for a child who should have more emotional freedom.
Maybe, though, Colleen was right. Jordy was obviously struggling with memories that didn't add up.
Shame filled Moore as he took another bite of the delicious breakfast in front of him. Stomach twisting, he paused and set his fork down.
He never regretted having his son, but if events had unfolded differently when he was seventeen, so many lives wouldn't have been disrupted.
Then again, his son wouldn't exist.
"Dad, you okay?" Jordy never checked in on him, so that alone made Moore do a quick head shake.
"What?"
"You okay? You look weird."
"Weird?"
"Like something's wrong. Am I upsetting you by talking about this?"
"No. It's not bad. My head is just really full."
"A lot going on at work?"
"You could say that."
"Dad, I don't ever want to work at the jewelry store. I mean, you know, summers or helping around the holidays from Christmas to Valentine's Day, sure. But even then, I was thinking about getting a job at Love You Chocolates. They'll hire me even though I'm only fifteen.”
Moore gaped at Jordy.
"What?"
“Yeah.” Jordy turned away and began eating the pile of home fries on his plate. Golden, crusty potatoes with seasoning and grilled peppers and onions mixed in. All of the peppers were red, of course, to fit with the red, white, and pink theme of the town.
“Why are you mentioning this now?”
"For when I move here."
"You really have decided?"
"I said so."
"I know you said so before, kiddo."
"What? You didn't believe me?"
"Honestly, no."
"Because Mom's right and you don't want me here?"
"Of course not. Because I thought you'd need more time to decide."
“Being here these last two days means I've already decided. I want to move here."
"Whoa." Wolf happened to walk up with a coffee carafe at the exact moment that Jordy's words rang out. His eyebrows shot up, and he looked at Moore, then Jordy.
"More coffee?"
Moore lifted his hand.
"I need it."
"How're the chaffles?"
"Good." Jordy was chomping on his final bite. "Can I get a loaded brownie, too?" He looked at Moore, who just nodded.
Wolf poured the coffee and walked over to the bakery case, bagging the brownies.
Moore's appetite came back. Suddenly, everything smelled amazing.
As he took bites, Jordy pulled his phone out of his pocket and started thumbing texts.
Ignoring his dad now, he pushed earbuds in.
In the silence, Moore could hear his ears popping as he swallowed, and he marveled at how life turned in a second.
The car accident with Colleen had been proof of that, and here was another moment.
Why did so much of life get crammed into such short periods of time when long stretches of nothingness and routine prevailed?
If he could take some of the excitement of the last month or two and spread it out, he would gladly pace it.
Adrenaline raced through him as the implication of Jordy's words sank in.
This was real.
There were lawyers to call, custody arrangements to make, and conflicts to be had with his ex-wife.
There were long-term travel plans to coordinate so that Jordy could truly know his little sisters.
By moving in with Moore, Jordy would have a relationship with his siblings akin to the relationship that Moore had been forced to have with his own son for the last decade.
There was no way around it.
Either Jordy continued to have a strained, limited relationship with his dad, or he had a strained, limited relationship with his sisters.
Short of convincing Cammie to move back to Luview, Maine, which he knew was never going to happen, Jordy couldn't have it all, and that hurt Moore the most. He wanted his son to have every possible emotional joy and he couldn't give it to him.
No matter what.
Wolf dropped the bakery bag on the counter and went back to the cash register with Moore’s credit card. A small line had formed and as the door bell jingled, Moore looked up to see Luke walking in with his daughter, Harriet, who was now eight.
A pang of emotion hit him in the gut. Luke had been avoiding him. Yes, he had Jordy in town and always spent every possible moment with his son, but this was different. His best friend was mad at him, and Moore knew when he was being frozen out.
It hurt.
"Jordy!" Harriet squealed, racing across the small café to launch herself into his arms. He pivoted quickly and caught her.
"What are you doing here, Fairy Girl?" he asked, brushing her thick, dark curls with his hand. Sure enough, glitter sprinkled to the floor.
"Daddy and I are here to get loaded brownies," she announced.
"I thought you had school?" Jordy questioned her with a pretend adult scowl. "Are you skipping?"
"No, I had to get a shot." She pulled her sleeve up to show the colorful band-aid on her shoulder.
"Ouch," Jordy said in commiseration. "Shots stink."
"Yeah, so Daddy's getting me a loaded brownie."
"I think that's a fair deal."
"Hey, Moore." Luke walked over and sat on the stool next to him looking at the remnants of his breakfast. "You guys headed over to the new school?"
In Love you, Maine, everyone knew each other's business.
"Yeah, Jordy has a tour at eleven. I'm dropping him off."
Jordy and Harriet chattered animatedly about some new anime kids show that they were watching as Luke leaned in and said, "How's it going with him?"
The normalcy of this conversation made something in Moore loosen and ache less.
"It's going great," he confided. "Jordy just told me he wants to move here. Full stop."
"Whoa. Even before he tours the school?"
"I don't think this was ever about the school. I think it's about Cammie being pregnant with his little sister."
"They know it's a girl?"
"Yeah. And Cammie’s been making him take care of Soria way more than any teenager should have to."
"So he has to choose between being close to you and being close to his sisters?" Luke had a way of getting to the heart of matters with a Scud missile-like precision.
"That's right." Moore took a sip of his refreshed coffee.
"That's hard." Luke said, nodding. "You can't give him everything, can you?"
"No." Moore's eyes drifted over to Harriet, realizing that Luke understood that better than almost anyone else. "All we can do is love them and try our best."
"That's more than a lot of kids get," Luke replied.
Jordy and Harriet each dug into their respective brownie bags and took a big bite.
“Yum,” she mumbled, chocolate frosting at the corners of her mouth.
“Double yum,” Jordy agreed.
“Sugaring up the young folk, I see,” said a rumbling voice from behind them. Old Doc Blythe had walked in and put one hand on each man’s shoulder. “Those brownies are–”
“Diabetes in a bag,” they both said in unison. Doc’s words were well known in town.
He laughed and winked at them. “And I’m about to eat one, too. Shhhh. Don’t tell Michelle.” Michelle Blythe was Doc’s new wife.
“New wife” meant they’d been married for seventeen years.
His first wife had left him two decades ago, for a woman.
Poor Doc knew exactly what it was like to be the object of gossip, and he kept a low profile, working long hours to provide for the citizens of Luview and staying out of the limelight.
“Michelle still on that vegan kick?” Wolf called out from the grill.
“Yeah. You have anything vegan here?”
“We do.” He thrust his chin toward a case behind the men. “All the gluten free and vegan stuff is in there.”
“Getting fancy,” Luke noted, nodding with approval.
“We’re trying. People come to our town to get their needs met, right? That’s how we keep them coming back. Moore knows that all too well.”
“Meeting the right needs,” Doc said with a wink that made Moore’s radar go haywire. Was he alluding to catching him and Colleen outside at the hospital?
Wasn’t only Moore’s radar that went off, though. Luke’s eyes narrowed as he looked at them both.
“Dad?” Jordy was looking at his phone. “We need to get going.”
Doc looked up at him. “When did you get so tall?”
“Why does everyone ask me that?” Jordy groused. “What’m I supposed to say? I grew so tall when I was caged in the basement and force fed nothing but pie?”
“Is that a life option?” Doc replied smoothly. “Happy to trade places with you.”
The unexpected bon mot made Jordy burst out laughing, giving the doctor a fist bump that the old man took with a smooth motion that impressed Moore.
“Hope you stick around, Jordy. We need more character in this town.”
“Thanks, Doc.” Wolf lifted Moore’s credit card in the air, the transfer easy and smooth, like everything in his stable, steady little town.
Moore led as they walked out, calling goodbyes to everyone, Harriet squeezing Jordy’s torso with a bear hug. She looked up at him.
“You’ll come to our new house and play, right?”
Jordy smiled down at her. “Of course! You’re my unofficial sister.” Jordy looked at Moore. “Harriet is to me what Colleen is to you.”
“Huh?”
Luke snapped around and looked at Jordy sharply.
“You know. An unofficial sister?”
“That’s right,” Luke said in an arch tone. “Jordy makes a great point.”
Sensing zero positive outcome if he tried to argue or explain, Moore defaulted to his typical mode: affability.
“I’m just glad you two get along so well,” he said to Jordy and Harriet, their comments ringing in his ears. As he and Jordy sauntered out, Moore looked back in through the window. Luke and Doc were talking as Wolf rang up new customers, Harriet’s face smeared with more brownie.
Turning on the engine, he pulled away while Jordy put his earbuds in, goofing off on his phone.
Unofficial sister? No.
More like, unacknowledged love interest.
Moore was being handed what he’d wanted for so many years: his kid living with him, and Colleen.
So why did this all feel so wrong?