Page 5 of Beckon

Dear Drunk Stranger,

Take these and drink this, you’ll need it.

Your shoes are in the coat closet. Something smells weird in there; you might need to check that out. Look down if you need to puke. No one hurt you while you were passed out and you didn’t hurt anyone either. You did seem, disturbed, maybe you should talk to someone. There’s no shame in asking for help when you need it. Take care and don’t forget to thank your friend for calling you a ride and keeping you and others safe.

Sincerely, Your Rideshare Driver

“There, that should do it.” Tami was satisfied with her letter… after she read it over and over and over and over, that is.

With a soft click, she closed the door and made sure it locked behind her. She hated leaving for some reason. Not because she was worried. She’d already ensured he’d be as safe as possible. But for the first time since she lost her husband, she wanted the company of another man, the man behind the door she just exited. The man who hadn’t really spoken more than one coherent sentence to her, and that had been rude.

It makes zero sense.

“Maybe it’s because I have a soft spot for broken,” she spoke to his closed door. “Because I’ve been broken myself.”

Her next fare handed her a jacket from the back seat, left by her previous fare. The rest of Tami’s shift was uneventful. A few more drunken fares and she called it a night and headed home to her son.

A sigh left her body when she entered her house. The first thing she did was hang up the drunk stranger’s coat in the closet. She didn’t want to leave it at his door, so she’d have to see about returning it tomorrow. A small shiver of excitement coursed down her spine at the thought of seeing him again. Not drunk.

After she tossed her keys on the table, she made a beeline straight for Chester’s room. She smiled. She stared at his perfect face smashed against the pillow with his mouth open, deep in sleep. “I thought I was incapable of change before you, Mister Man.”

She tiptoed toward the bed.

Before Chester, she came into the house, locked the door behind her, then checked all the windows and the door again, before sitting in the same chair to take off her shoes. Her shoes went to the right, laces tucked inside. Socks got walked to the laundry room. Next was placing her keys on the table, checking the door again, then going on with her night.

Now she locked up, tossed the keys, and headed straight for her son. Her need to breathe in his scent and see him with her own eyes took priority over her routines. That didn’t mean she didn’t still obsess about doing them. Then run through every scenario she could dream up and how it would now play out because she didn’t check and recheck things. She did, but she managed those thoughts now.

That wasn’t always the case. When Reese died, she’d slipped back into her old ways… deep. So deeply, she almost lost Chester. He spent most of his time with her mother because Tami couldn’t obsess about every possible scenario life could throw her way and care for him the way he deserved at the same time.

Brushing back a lock of his blond hair as she sat gently on his bed, she shuddered. “If I hadn’t managed my quirks, I couldn’t be here to snuggle and sing you the sleepy song.”

Tami curled around his little body and sang. Just like she did every night whether she was the one to tuck him in or it was her mom. Just like she’d done earlier with the stranger.

Halfway through the song, Chester stirred and demanded his story time. It had become their nighttime ritual over the last months. Her curious little boy wanted to know all about the people she drove, and Tami couldn’t help but embellish them. Turning her fares into otherworldly creatures of superheroes.

“Well, my first fare tonight I am almost one-hundred-percent certain was a spy.” Chester gasped and turned wide-awake, intrigued eyes to her. Every time she looked into her son’s sky-blue eyes it reminded her that he’d never know the man who gave him those peepers and that squeezed her heart.

“Truly?”

“Yes, sir. But not the bad kind. This man was surely one of the good guys. He was dressed all in black and I’m almost positive I saw some spy gear.”

“I bet he was going to stop some bad guys and you helped him, Mom. You’re a hero.”

“I bet you’re right. Maybe we should come up with code names, what do you think?” Chester yawned.

“Tell me about the others.” Her little man’s sleepy voice said more, but his droopy eyes said enough.

“Well, it was a slow night.” Some rides were not for a kid, even if she could find the embellishment. “However, last week, I had not one, but two famous actresses.”

“For real?”

Chester’s eyes went wide.

“For real, one was, well, let’s just say she’s a bit of a rebel. I must protect her privacy though. Driver-rider confidentiality and all that.” She’d been in the tabloids a lot lately, so Tami recognized her right away. But her son didn’t need to know all that.

“But guess who else?”

“Who?”

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