Page 19 of Caleb's Salvation
A pack and play. Where in the hell—
“Eve,” she said, dropping Sammy into the thing, “orders all the baby stuff online. It costs a fortune to ship and we have to get Doogie to fly it up. But we made a trade. They handle the shipping costs and I pick up some babysitting shifts when Shelby wants a night off here and there.”
She’d added a kitchen table with a chair for her and a highchair for the kid. I walked over to it and saw that it was plastic, with a plastic seat that would be easily cleanable. Which was sensible. Babies made messes when they ate.
Still, I’d made Emily her own chair. Wood, with cushions you could attach and a big Panda decal on the tray that hooked to it.
Emily had loved to bang on that Panda’s face…
“Caleb?”
I blinked. I hadn’t realized I was staring at the damn chair like it was some creature that might attack me.
I looked around the place and nodded. “Looks good.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, and it was evident there was pride in her voice. “I’m doing well at Bud’s and now I can buy things for me and Sammy. Not just rely on handouts.”
“Good thing people are lazy as shit,” I said. I wasn’t trying to be funny, but she tilted her head back and laughed.
“From your mouth to God’s ears,” she agreed.
There was a knock on the door. Just one before it opened, and Ty was walking in like he lived here.
“Hey, Vivy, you ready?” He turned and saw me. “Oh, hey, Cal. Didn’t expect to find you here.”
“I was in town picking up supplies. Vivienne wanted to show me what she’d done with the place.”
“Looks great, doesn’t it? She’s turned it into a little mini-home for Sammy.” I watched as he picked the baby up out of the pack and play. “Hey there little guy! Give Unca Ty a smile.”
The baby obliged him. And that pissed me off. That he could just pick the baby up. That the baby knew him and smiled for him.
“You shouldn’t use fake words. If you’re sayinguncle, then you should sayuncle. Kid has to learn how to speak.”
Vivienne and Ty both looked at me as if I’d surprised them.
“Sure thing, Cal. Makes sense,” Ty said, putting the kid in the pack and play again. “So I brought this over for you, Vivy.”
Vivy. Stupid nickname. Her name is Vivienne. It’s beautiful. He should use it.
Then I watched as he pulled out a gun from the back of his jeans.
In a second I was on him, taking the gun from his hand. “What the fuck are you doing bringing a gun into a home with a baby?”
“I thought I would show Vivienne how to shoot. She needs to make sure she can defend herself against wolves, bears…well, anything.”
Vivienne got between us, sensing possibly my need to throw Ty out of the house and into the nearest snowbank. She took the gun from my hand and patted my chest as if to sooth me.
“That’s nice of you, Ty,” she said over her shoulder. “But I’ve got it covered.”
“What the hell does that mean?” I asked her. He was stupid for taking the gun out in the kid’s presence, but not for his intentions. She did need to know how to protect herself.
“It means I can protect myself,” she told me.
“This isn’t a game, Vivienne. This is real life. Up here you need to know how to maintain a gun and ammo and use it when necessary. You just don’t do that around a baby,” I explained to Ty, as if he was a moron.
His expression was defensive. “That’s what I was going to show her, Cal.”
It bothered me he appeared to be a bit too eager to be Vivienne’s instructor.
