Page 32 of Long Road Home

He’d just figured out a whole hell of a lot.

“Let’s go, Toby. Run upstairs and get dressed. I’ll meet you in the truck.”

“But Mom—”

“Needs a few minutes with Paul, I think, yeah?”

That lip of his went to his teeth, a maneuver so damn similar to Destiny it almost made me smile. Then he nodded. “I gotta pee and get clothes on.”

I laughed softly. Freaking boys. We were all the same.

I tugged my shirt on while he was gone, picked up my phone with a screen filled with texts and missed call messages. I’d get to them later. Work could live without me for another day. I snagged my keys and went outside.

Out in my truck, I called in an order to Down Home. It was after eight o’clock, too early for the breakfast rush that always hit after church services, but Destiny had been right earlier. If I showed up with him in town, everyone would know he was mine and the gossip mill would be slammed into fast forward motion.

Toby came walking out of the house a few minutes later wearing black athletic shorts hanging down past his knees and a royal blue shirt with a horse on the front with the words “Mustang Pride,” in bright white. He hadn’t done his hair, still looked half-asleep, and he kept glancing back at the house with that worried look on his face he’d had earlier.

Good kid. Didn’t want to leave his mom in that house with someone he liked a lot based on that hug, knowing that situation he walked into wasn’t a good one. Yeah, she did good with him.

Pride suffused my chest, expanding it so much I ached by the time he climbed up into the passenger seat and buckled up.

His worried eyes were still on the house.

“They’ll be okay,” I said, knowing exactly what he was thinking. “Just need to talk.”

“Paul’s mad.” Was his answer.

Something about the tone made me pause. “He get mad a lot?”

“No.” He shook his head and dropped it toward his lap. “Gets sad sometimes. Heard Mom once say it was because he asked Mom to marry him and she said no. But he never gets mad at her.”

Married? My brain stumbled on that before I caught the part about her saying no. That shouldn’t have made me biting back a smile, but there I was, trying not to grin, my kid in my car, and we were headed to Down Home for the best breakfast pizza in the state. Not that I knew for sure, but I’d wager my hefty savings account on it.

“They’ll be good. And we won’t be gone long, yeah?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled. “Whatever.”

Since it was going to take about a half-hour for our order to be ready, I did a quick drive through town and showed Toby the place where his mom had grown up. I took him by the high school with the newly re-done stadium. We shared it with a nearby community college so the football field was second to none and it looked more like a major university stadium than a slap of grass with high metal bleachers. His eyes had perked up at seeing it, but he still hadn’t said much.

I let him stay quiet. He was worried about his mom and probably feeling caught in the middle of a scenario that wasn’t his fault.

I drove him out to the resort, pushing the time limit on those pizzas.

“This yours?” he asked as he saw the sign for Carlton Resort and Spa. “Bigger than I thought it’d be.”

“Had to be big and impressive to attract the attention I wanted it to have. There’s a hotel with a restaurant and spa inside. I can show it to you some other day if you want.” I didn’t give him a chance to ‘whatever’ me and kept on talking, swinging out of the parking lot and through the neighborhood. “Golf course is pretty sweet. Know you said you don’t like it, but if you want to learn, we’ve got great instructors.”

“You could teach me.”

I looked at him and grinned, unable to bear the pure, beauty of the hope in his voice. “I can do that.”

“Cool.”

“And this is my house,” I said, pulling up to the driveway. I wasn’t intending on going inside, but I wanted him to know where I lived. Where I wanted him to spend time, too.

“It’s enormous.”

“I own the place, I can do whatever I want,” I said to him, winking so he knew I was kidding. I’d had the huge home built, intent on filling it with a family someday.

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