I’m barely out of the driveway when my cell rings. Seeing my dad’s name flash on the dash, I reach over and hit Accept. “Hey, Dad.”
“Son.”
“I didn’t do it.” I laugh. My dad is rarely serious. He’s always cutting up and finding the bright side of things in life.
“Read the MC Scoop lately?”
“I have.”
“Well?”
“Well, what? We did, in fact, have to save a cat from a tree yesterday afternoon. The cat and all of my guys are fine. Mrs. Donaldson is happy as a lark to have her precious Pussy back. And before you ask, yes, that’s the cat’s name.”
“No shit?” he asks with a chuckle.
“Yep.”
“Good to know. However, that’s not what I was asking about.”
“I know.” I’ve been meaning to talk to my parents about the MC Scoop, and well… the scoop of what’s going on in my life, but when I pick the girls up, they’re so happy to see me, I can’t find it in me to send them away while I talk to my parents. And, honestly, I’m avoiding. It sounds like my time is up.
“Laken?”
“No. Yes. I mean, I don’t know.” I heave a heavy sigh. “She’s everywhere,” I tell him. “The bookstore when I meet Mom or Christine.”
“She owns the bookstore, Gray,” he says with laughter in his voice.
“I wasn’t finished. She’s at Java Jitters, the market, Pony Up. Hell, she was even at the salon today when I took the girls to get haircuts.”
“She’s a sweet girl. Your mother talks highly of her.”
“The girls like her.”
“Do you like her?”
“Yeah,” I admit. “I think I do. I asked her out tonight. The girls are staying with Christine and Marty.”
“How are you?”
For as much as my dad likes to joke around, he knows me better than anyone. He knows without me saying the words that tonight is hard for me. “I didn’t plan on asking her out.”
“Explain that,” he says. I can imagine him kicked back in the recliner, one hand propped behind his head, legs crossed at the ankles.
“She’s everywhere, including my thoughts. She made brownies with the girls, which I know they told you and Mom all about. Then today, we walked into the salon, and there she was. The girls ran to her, and her face lit up when she saw them. Fucking lit up, Dad. Then she called them by their names, and she was right. She can tell them apart. The girls being the girls, told her something they overheard me tell Ryder, and Laken… she blushed. It was endearing, and I just… asked her out. I have to know what this is. I have to know why I can’t stop thinking about her. I don’t know why she’s suddenly in my life, literally around every damn corner, but I have to find out.”
“I think it’s just your time, son. It’s time for you to pick up the pieces and let yourself be open to love again.”
“I don’t know how to do that. Holly, she was—” My voice cracks. “I haven’t dated anyone but her since I was sixteen years old, Dad. How do I do this?”
“It’s just like riding a bike, Gray. Take the girl to dinner, show her a good time. Talk, and not about the weather or the girls. Really talk to her. Find out if you have anything in common. Let yourself be open to the possibility of loving again.”
“Yeah,” I agree, but only half-heartedly.
“I need to get back inside. Your mom was on the phone with your aunt Darla. If I don’t rescue her, she might make me sleep on the couch.”
“You’ve never slept on the couch a day in your life.”
“That’s because you should never go to bed angry. You never know when your last day here on earth will be.” I don’t reply to that because I know all too well how short life can be. “Bring my granddaughters to visit tomorrow.”
“You’ll see them Monday.” I laugh.
“Doesn’t matter.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I tell him. He and I both know it’s not to see the girls, but for him to make sure I’m okay after tonight and whatever it happens to turn out to be. Good or bad, I know that my dad and my mom will both be there. They’ve helped me so much since losing Holly. I hate to think about where I would have ended up or how my daughters would have ended up without their help.
I’m heading toward home but make a quick decision to turn right instead of left and head just outside the city limits of Mason Creek to the cemetery. It’s been at least six months since I’ve been here. The last time being when I brought the girls for Holly’s birthday to place flowers on her grave. It was January and blistering cold, so we didn’t stay long.