When he’d enjoyed spending time around her before, there’d always been a kernel of guilt in it. And the memory of sweet brown eyes and a curvy but petite little form to remind him of who he missed. It’d always felt like he was enjoying Lucy’s company when he should be trying harder to gain Chloe back. Chloe had already moved on and he just hadn’t accepted it. This must be what acceptance felt like. He was relieved.
“Hello? Beck? You there?” He could hear lots of noise in the background of the connection.
Beck smiled as he unlocked his truck and hopped in. “You’re never gonna guess what I did, man.”
* * * *
“What did you do?” Patrick asked as he tried to quiet Patrick Junior.
“Hey, is everything okay there?”
Patrick put the pencil and sharp metal ruler out of his son’s reach as he held him at his drafting table and tried to not drop the phone from his ear. “The kiddo just woke up from his nap with a nightmare.”
“Another one?” Beck asked sympathetically.
“Yeah. It’s been two years but he still has them now and then.” His son had awakened just a minute before, shrieking in abject fear, bathed in sweat, and pale as a ghost. He’d suffered nightmares ever since his experience in Stigall’s the day a crazy gunman had showed up in the department store. The same day his life and family had unraveled.
“Poor little guy. Lemme talk to him.”
“Okay.”
Patrick spoke softly to his son as he cried against his chest. “Son, Beck wants to talk to you.”
His son quieted and snuffled and mopped tears and snot across his little face and looked up at him with eyes as blue as the summer sky. He took the phone from his dad and hiccupped before saying, “Hello?”
Patrick took advantage of the distraction to grab some Kleenex and wipe up his son’s tear-stained face and tidy up his nose as he talked to Beck. Animals and small children seemed to always be attracted to Beck. Patrick was grateful for that as his ears still rang from his son’s earlier shrieking.
His little boy suddenly brightened up and chattered excitedly, almost unintelligibly, into the phone. Beck must’ve succeeded with the distraction.
“Okay!” Patrick Junior chirped and handed his dad the phone as he hopped off his lap. “I’m gonna go play, Daddy!”
“Okay, little man.” He put the phone back to his ear as the boy made tracks. “Whatever you said fixed the problem. It’s like night and day comparing how he was a minute ago.”
Beck chuckled. “I told him I wanted to pick him up from pre-school one day early next week and bring him out to the house to help me with the beehives. I need to remove the honey supers and look for queens in the hives. It was too windy the other day. He had fun last fall helping me to prep the hives for winter so he wants to help again.”
Patrick smiled, unsure how much help his four-year-old had been, but he appreciated that Beck had the patience to teach him how to act around the bees. Beck was always very careful and explained to his boy how to treat the bees and Patrick Junior had eaten up the instruction and attention.
Beck was a positive influence in his son’s life and he appreciated that Beck was willing to take time out of his day to teach Patrick Junior. It would mean a quiet afternoon at home working, which was vastly helpful to Patrick as well.
Jarred back to the present by the sound of the back door slamming, Patrick said, “You were going to tell me what you’d done, right?”
“Yeah. I visited Lucy’s place. It’s nice. She gave me a massage.”
“Oh yeah? Feel better?”
“Like I’m back from the dead. Sore in all the right places now.”
Patrick was encouraged by both his words and his tone. He sounded relaxed and more like his usual self. “I’m glad to hear that.”
“I also asked her out for us, for tomorrow night.”
“You did? That must’ve been some massage. What did she say?”
“I had no idea I was going to ask her out going in. I just needed to feel better, and we got to talking.”
“You? Talking? Wow. What a concept.”
“Fuck you, asshole,” Beck said with a chuckle. “Anyway. We talked and kind of cleared the air. I asked her out. Can you get a babysitter for tomorrow night?”
“I’ll call Maizy and ask.”
“Good. Because I don’t want to disappoint her. She seemed happy about it.” Patrick could only imagine.
They ended the call and Patrick contacted his sister Maizy. She was just a year older than him and of his siblings she was the one he was closest to and relied on the most. She’d been the only one to really support him through his hardships with Elizabeth. His older sisters and his father had even questioned why he wanted to keep a child that wasn’t really his. His mother had done her best to be supportive but she’d gone through a lengthy illness that had only recently been properly diagnosed and he hadn’t wanted to burden her. Maizy hadn’t even questioned why he’d want to keep Patrick Junior. His sisters, Rhonda and Roberta, had been a part of Elizabeth’s bible study group and had been of the opinion that she’d had her reasons for her actions.