Page 3 of 12 Months of Mayhem

“No way! It was an assident.” His brow pinched in the center and his bottom lip protruded.

Ralph’s brows shot up.

“Do I even want to know?” I asked the older man.

“No, you don’t,” he muttered as he fought a chuckle.

Anson guiltily buried his face into my neck.

“Sorry the last appointment took longer than I anticipated,” I apologized. I’d thought it would be a super short day because I only had two clients with what were supposed to be small pieces they wanted done.

“Ahh, it’s all good, Dalton,” Ralph assured me.

“Hey, Dalton,” Mrs. Buchanan’s tired voice sounded from the end of the aisle. I looked up to see her resting a hand on her head.

“Amy, why don’t you go upstairs and put your feet up? I can handle the store.” Ralph’s deep voice rumbled from behind me. A fool could see that he had feelings for her, yet it seemed like they stubbornly refused to address it. Or maybe she didn’t know, and it only seemed obvious because I was a guy and he looked at Ryian’s mom the way I looked at Ryian.

“I think I might,” she murmured. The fact that she was agreeable to his offer told me how crappy she must be feeling. Though her doctors were optimistic that they caught her breast cancer early, I knew the radiation treatments were still taking a toll on her.

Once she was upstairs, I turned to Ralph. “How is she really doing?”

Ralph sighed. “She’s sticking to her diet and following the oncologist’s instructions to the T, but she’s stubborn and isn’t accepting a lot of help.”

“I gathered as much from things Ryian has said.”

“I’m glad you were able to come and get Anson. He’s a good boy, but rambunctious, and that’s a lot on her. Though you’d never get her to admit that,” Ralph quietly explained.

“Do you need me to stick around to help out with the store?”

“Nah. Corky will be here in less than an hour. With it being a Tuesday, we likely won’t be very busy. You go spend time with that boy of yours.” With a polite but dismissive nod, he went back to work.

“Well, looks like it’s you and me, little buddy,” I told Anson as we left the store. We passed a guy in business attire as we exited the building, and the hairs stood up on the back of my neck. When I glanced over my shoulder, he was staring at me.

Boldly, I held his gaze. I was pretty sure I didn’t know him. What the fuck was his deal?

“Daddy, why he have black shadows wiff him?” Anson asked with a shiver that shook his entire small body.

“Uh, I’m not sure, buddy.” Unsure what to say to that, it was the best I could do. I got him buckled up in the toddler seat I’d bought him for my truck. I figured he and I could swing by to get some groceries for dinner.

Chambers was on the way, so we turned into the parking lot. Talk about déjà vu. Pulling into that lot was like being tossed back in time, despite the fact that the truck I now drove wasn’t that old beater I used to have. I hadn’t been in there since I left. I’d felt bad about not giving them more notice.

After releasing Anson from his seat, we went inside. All of the cashiers seemed new.

We grabbed a cart, and Anson insisted on helping me push instead of riding in it. Slowly but surely, we got what we needed to make pasta, then made our way to the checkout.

“Dalton?” I heard someone say and turned to look. A blonde woman was approaching, and she gave me a brilliant smile as she stopped in front of my son and me.

“Do I know you?” I curiously asked.

“What? I can’t believe you don’t recognize me!” She giggled as she reached out and gave me a playful swat on my upper arm. “We worked together here for over a year. You were my knight in shining armor when my car wouldn’t start.”

When I continued to stare at her without responding to her attempt at familiarity, she seemed to get the hint. An awkwardness settled over us that was broken by Anson shaking my jeans and saying, “I’m hungwee.”

That’s when she realized I wasn’t alone. “Ohhh… Who is this little guy?” She crouched down to Anson’s level. “Hi! I’m Annette. Who are you?”

“I don’t like her, Daddy.” Anson scowled and leaned further into my legs.

“Oh!” She appeared shocked but quickly covered it up with a tinkling laugh. She stood up, reached into her purse, and pulled out a small notebook. She scribbled something in it, then ripped the sheet off and handed it to me. “Call me, and we can get together to talk about the good ol’ days here at Chambers.”

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