Page 68 of Second Chance Fate

“I’m doing good.” Taylor took in a slow, steadying breath that he recognized as her trying to regain her composure. “Better every day. How was your cruise?”

“Well, there was a funny case of mistaken identity, wasn’t there, George?” His mom’s eyebrows arched toward his dad.

“Again?” Caleb turned to his dad. “He’s been dead for a quarter of a century.”

“Caleb’s father used to get mistaken for the Beatles’ drummer of the same name. Not in person, and it wasn’t all bad. Wedid get upgraded hotel rooms, reservations to restaurants, and bumped to first class a few times,” Caleb’s mom explained to Taylor. “But this time he was not mistaken for a rock star.”

Caleb’s parents looked at each other, and his mom laughed as his father grinned and shook his head.

“What?” Caleb glanced between them and noticed his dad’s face getting a little red. “What happened?”

“You brought it up.” His dad motioned to his mom. “You tell them.”

His mom happily obliged. “We were sound asleep in our bed when there was a knock on our door. Your dad got up and answered it, and it was Myrna, one of the women from a group of about twenty people we’d been having dinner with each night. All retirees, all very nice people. She said her husband was having a problem and needed your dad.” His mom looked over at Caleb. “Which, how many nights has someone knocked on the door saying they needed your dad?”

“Yeah, all the time,” Caleb confirmed to Taylor. He honestly couldn’t count how many times. It was just a normal occurrence in his childhood.

His mom continued, “So, honestly, we were tired and didn’t think anything of it. He got dressed and went with her.” His mom looked over at his dad and grinned. “But you did say you should have known something when she asked you what on the way?”

“She asked if I needed my bag,” his dad replied.

“Right, the bag.” His mom chuckled a little, then turned back to his dad. “Are you sure you don’t want to tell it? You should tell it.”

His dad let out a resigned sigh accompanied by a reluctant grin. “Yeah, so we're walking, and she keeps thanking me, which I’m thinking is normal because it’s two in the morning and she woke me up. But halfway there, she says, ‘Don’t you needyour bag?’ I didn’t know what she was talking about, but she’d clearly been drinking, so I just thought maybe she meant Bible. Anyway, we get to the room, and I walk inside, and her husband, Edgar, is sitting on the end of the bed, and he looks upset; he’s sort of hyperventilating like he’s having a panic attack, and it’s obvious he’s been crying. I walk over and ask, “What’s going on?” He pulls back the sheet on his lap, and he was…standing at attention.” His dad made a fist and held up his forearm. “I mean, it was aggressive; he could chop wood with that sucker.”

“What?!” Taylor’s eyes went wide, and her jaw dropped.

His mom was cracking up as she patted Caleb’s arm. “Can you imagine your dad’s face?”

“I don’t have to.” Caleb chuckled as he motioned to his dad, who was as red as a tomato. “I can see it.”

His dad ignored his wife and son’s exchange, continuing, “Edgar starts talking a mile a minute, saying he took a pill and it’s been like that for five hours, he was in excruciating pain, and begging me to help him. I didn’t know if they wanted me to pray over it or what, but I told them, ‘Man, you need a doctor.’ They looked at each other and then back at me, and Myrna says, ‘That’s why I came and got you.’ I told her, ‘I’m not a doctor. I’m a pastor.’ Edgar threw that sheet over his Howdy Doody and made it disappear faster than a toupee in a hurricane. They both start apologizing. I got the heck out of there and went back and told your mother, who, of course, thought it was hilarious.”

“It is hilarious,” she confirmed through laughter. “And a genuine mistake. I knew exactly what happened as soon as he told me. One of the other guys in the group, who looked like your dad, is a doctor. A Welsh man named Bruno.”

His mom pulled her phone out of her purse, which got both the dogs’ attention. They dropped their bones and were at her feet in the blink of an eye. “Oh, do you think Grandma has another treat for you?” She reached back in and pulled out twotreats, smaller than the bones; these were biscuits in the shape of peanuts. “Can he have this?” she checked with Taylor this time.

“Yeah, of course. Thank you.”

After doling out the goods to the drooling pups, she pulled up a photo of a man who didn’t just look like he was related to Caleb’s dad; he looked like he was his dad’s twin.

“Oh my gosh!” Taylor’s hand clapped over her mouth. “That is crazy. I wouldn’t have known that was a different person. He’s your doppelganger.”

“I know, right?!” His mom squeezed Taylor’s forearm.

She was a very touchy-feely-huggy-nicknamey person. He hoped it wasn’t too much for Taylor. He’d seen the way she’d reacted when his mom called her sweet pea.

“Harrison genes are strong.” His mom pointed to the photo. “And Bruno has the dimples, even the chin dimple. I told him that he should do the genealogy site that I had us all do a few Christmases ago. Remember?” she prompted Caleb.

Caleb sensed Taylor tense beside him. That site was the proof she had that Owen was his son, not that she needed any. He’d already known that was the case before she told him. “Yeah, I do. But, wait, there’s a cruise doctor, isn’t there? Why didn’t they go ask him?” Caleb steered the conversation away from the DNA site for Taylor’s sake.

“Ironically, because they didn’t want to be embarrassed,” his dad explained.

“Soooo,” his mom circled back to her original purpose with surgical precision. “Taylor, how’s Hope Falls treating you? I’ve heard you’ve been in town for a while, but we haven’t seen much of you.”

“It’s been good. Really good,” Taylor answered vaguely before pressing ahead with more cruise-related questions: Were there any comedy or singing performances on the ship? What did they think of their port stops? How was the food? Forevery question answered by his mom or dad, another would boomerang right back in Taylor’s direction about Owen, her health, even how it was working at Brewed Awakenings.

It went on like this for half an hour, like conversational ping-pong. She asked questions about the cruise to try and keep the conversation off of her, and his mom turned the conversation back on Taylor; it was impressive.

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