The Unexpected Wedding(2)

Scotty nodded again.

Well, he’d at least found a place to stay for a few days. He needed to find a job, too. Then find a place to live more permanently than a B&B. Scotty needed some stability in his life right now.

So he’d find a job, find a place to live… and stay under the radar the whole time. He’d eventually have to figure out the whole schooling situation for Scotty, but since it was summer, he was going to put that on the back burner. He smothered a sigh. Maybe the whole mess would get sorted out before then and everything would go back to normal and he wouldn’t have to worry about finding a school for Scotty.

A random thought hit him like the tornado Becky Lee had just mentioned. He was going to have to find childcare for Scotty while he worked. He raked his hands through his hair. He was so out of his element. What else was he letting fall through the cracks?

Oh, and how could he forget… he still had to blow Becky Lee’s whole world apart.





CHAPTER TWO





Cal pulled his car up to the Sweet Tea Bed and Breakfast. The B&B was a large white house with a wide front porch. Hopefully, they’d have a room and he could get Scotty settled in. The boy looked exhausted. Maybe he’d crash early tonight and finally get some sleep.

“Come on, kiddo. Let’s go see if they have a room.” Cal opened the door for Scotty and they climbed the steps to the front door. A sign said “come on in,” so they did.

A woman in her fifties, he’d guess, came bustling in from the back. “Hello there. Looking for a room?”

“We are. Not sure how long.”

“One or two rooms?” The woman smiled at them.

“One is fine.”

“I’ve got one with a full bed and a twin day bed. How does that sound?”

“That sounds perfect.”

She led the way to a counter near the entryway while peppering them with questions and information about the town as she got them registered. He paid cash for three nights. Would it take him longer than that to find a job and a place to live? He’d no clue. The last ten years or so, he’d usually drifted from job to job without really worrying about the next one. Something always had turned up, and he’d enjoyed the freedom it had given him. He’d reveled in no longer living up to the expectations he’d been raised to believe he had to meet.

“We have breakfast here from seven to ten.” Rebecca smiled at Scotty. “Do you like pancakes?”

Scotty just nodded, of course.

“Good. Well, follow me and I’ll show you to your room.”

Cal and Scotty followed Rebecca up the stairs to a large room on the back of the B&B. She opened the door and handed him the key. “Looks over the garden.” She nodded over to a window seat then pointed to the right. “Bathroom over there. Lots of towels.”

Scotty crossed the room and climbed up on the window seat.

“You let me know if you need anything.”

“We will. Thank you.”

He closed the door behind the woman and dropped the duffle bags to the floor. He hadn’t had time to pack a lot. He hadn’t really known what all to get for Scotty. He’d randomly stuffed clothes in two suitcases, a handful of his books and toys, and his ball glove and bat. That was all still loaded in the trunk of his car. He’d stuffed pajamas, jeans, and shorts in a duffle for the road trip.

He’d realized later he’d forgotten to get any other shoes except for the worn shoes the boy had on. He’d no idea when, or even if, he’d get a chance to go back and get more of Scotty’s things.

“Can I watch TV?”

“You bet you can, kiddo.”

The boy walked over, switched on the TV, and turned it to some kids’ station. He climbed onto the bed, flopped on his stomach, and settled in to watch the show.

Cal walked over and looked out onto the garden below. Tomorrow he’d job hunt. He’d have more money if he could access his accounts, but he didn’t think that was a smart idea at this point. He’d taken a wad of cash… a big one… before he left. Should be enough to tide them over a bit, put down a deposit on an apartment, and pay for some childcare while he worked to get some more money coming in.

The heaviness came again and he sank down on the window seat. Sometimes it was too hard to fight. He gave into it this time and wallowed in his grief.

~ * ~

Cal chased Scotty into a shower the next morning amid a litany of complaints. The boy came out scrubbed and clean with his wet hair plastered to his head and fresh, if wrinkled, clothes on. Getting this kid into the shower and new clothes seemed like one of the hardest jobs he’d ever attempted. Cal was feeling kind of proud of himself for his success when he and Scotty headed downstairs to breakfast. The coffee scent had been taunting him since he’d first awakened.