Page 77 of Second Chance Fate

“That’s it.” Mrs. Henley reached out and patted his hand reassuringly. Her presence was a soothing balm to his turbulent thoughts. “That’s all of it. I just wanted you to be aware.” Her empathy radiated through her words—an unspoken promise of support.

"Thank you,” he said sincerely. "It means a lot that you'd come to talk to me in person."

He stood and walked to the door while trying to shake off the weight of Patsy’s actions like a bad dream. He paused before reaching for the doorknob and turned back toward Mrs. Henley. “You’re not going to ask me what’s going on with Taylor?”

Mrs. Henley smiled sweetly as her head tilted to the side. She reached up and patted his face in a very maternal way. “My sweet boy, I don’t have to. I know your heart. You’re not perfect, but you love God, and whatever it is, you have both her and that boy’s best interests at heart, and that’s all that matters to me.”

Caleb felt ten pounds lighter hearing her say that, knowing that she had faith in him. Academically, he knew it didn’t matter what people said or thought, but he couldn’t deny that sometimes it did wear him down. He did feel like he’d lived his life under a microscope, people watching him, judging him. Not that he was complaining. How could he complain? Look at howTaylor was raised. Look at how she’d had to raise their son, not just as a single mom, but in an abusive house. He’d lived a very blessed life. He didn’t have the right to complain.

“Thank you.” He felt himself tearing up.

“Nothing to thank me for.” Her nose scrunched as she patted his face, then walked out of the office.

He took a few minutes to compose himself before heading out, passing Judy on his way. She waved, and he mouthed that he was going to his parents’ house so she’d know where he’d be. She gave him a thumbs-up.

On the way to his mom and dad’s, the console of his Jeep lit up with a call from Josh. He answered, having a pretty good idea what the call was about. “Hey.”

“Did you hear that Nonna went all Mike Tyson for you today?” Josh asked. “She was ready to bite off Patsy’s ear.”

“I just did.”

“Who knew Aqua Zumba was so gangster?” Josh teased. “Renata said she could barely hold her back.”

Renata Blackstone, who happened to be pop star Karina Black’s grandmother, was a community leader and elder in the Washoe tribe. She was not a tiny woman. She was tall in stature and was more than capable of handling herself in any situation.

“I’m sorry, this has gotten out of hand,” he apologized.

“Sorry? Why are you apologizing? I haven’t seen or heard Nonna this happy since she won five blue ribbons at the county fair that year, do you remember?”

“Oh yeah.” Caleb vaguely remembered going to the El Dorado County Fair with Nonna and Josh. They spent the weekend in Placerville. “Didn’t someone tell her that she couldn’t win?”

“Winifred Minton.”

“Right.” Winifred Minton owned the antique shop downtown. She had a sign in her window that read, NOSmoking. NO Profanity. NO Children. That basically summed up her personality.

“Winifred was at Sue Ann’s bragging after she won the best apple pie or something, and Nonna said that she made a good apple pie,” Josh reminded him. “Winifred told her that good apple pies don’t win and not to bother entering because she wasn’t ‘from around here.’ I mean, talk about waving a red flag in front of a bull. Nonna found out every single event that Winifred had ever entered and entered all five of them the next year.”

Caleb remembered there was a pie, jam, tomato sauce, squash, and, if memory served, some sort of quilt. Nonna spent the entire year devoted to perfecting all of her entries.

“And she did it.” Josh chuckled. “She won blue ribbons in all of them.”

“I remember her putting the blue ribbons on her purse,” Caleb recalled. “She had them on there for years.”

“Yeah, she did,” Josh sighed. “Anyway, that was how happy she was today, so thank you. I think you just added years to her life. I’m not even kidding.”

Caleb doubted that, but he could see Nonna getting a kick out of acting up. “I don’t even know exactly what she said.”

Josh laughed. “I do. I’m gonna be honest, I didn’t know she had it in her.”

“Do I want to know?”

“You know how she sometimes gets phrases wrong, so when Patsy was quoting scriptures to her, she told her to stick it where the moon doesn’t light, instead of where the sun don’t shine. But then, she really got in the zone, and things got personal. She told her that she spreads gossip faster than an STD at an orgy.”

“Whoa.” Caleb couldn’t help but laugh a little, thinking about Nonna screaming that at her.

“Yeah, I’m guessing she heard that one from Viv.”

“That does sound very Viv,” Caleb seconded that.

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