Last Call (A Place to Call Home Book 3)

by Laura Browning

  "Caleb left us a note to let us know he's out for a morning run."

  "What's morning run?"

  Leah wrinkled up her nose. "Some people like to run for exercise."

  "Why?"

  "I guess they enjoy it."

  "I run too?" He appeared so hopeful, she hated to squash his enthusiasm.

  "We should wait and see about that. You have to breathe really well for that."

  "We make breakfast. I help."

  "Yes, you can help with that." Leah checked the clock. It was still early, so she didn't need to be at work yet. She was going to have to talk to Caleb about getting into town, so maybe making him a decent breakfast would be a smart idea after the way they parted last night.

  Thinking about it started to make her temper flare, but she tamped it down. She was going to be chill about this. This was about Jonah and making sure she could provide him with a decent home and family.

  She had a pile of bacon on a plate, strawberries sliced in a bowl, and was flipping the last piece of French toast when the back door opened. Caleb stepped inside, his face ruddy from the exercise and sweat matting his dark hair to his forehead.

  He smiled a bit tentatively. "Something sure does smell mouthwatering."

  "We make breakfast, Calup," Jonah told him. "See?"

  Caleb picked up the hem of his T-shirt and wiped his face. For a heartbeat, Leah had a glimpse of his taut, tanned stomach. Lust punched her in the gut. Before he saw her reaction, she turned back to the stove.

  "Let me wash up, okay Buddy?"

  Jonah trailed him down the hall, attempting to mimic Caleb's long-strided walk. As soon as they rounded the corner out of sight, Leah blew out a breath and fanned her warm cheeks. Four years had done nothing to lessen the impact of Caleb's body.

  She needed to get a handle on this if she was going to survive in any kind of close proximity to him. She had to set things on a friendly, but impersonal level. Set the tone for how it would be moving forward until she could get everything together and find a place for her and Jonah to live.

  Leah removed the last piece of French toast from the pan and carried the plate over to add it to the collection of food on the table. She had just finished tidying up her cooking utensils when Caleb and Jonah returned. This time, Jonah was riding on Caleb's shoulders and giggling.

  "Go, horsey. Go!"

  "Here you go, safely delivered to the breakfast table." Caleb made sure the chair was pushed all the way up to the table edge before depositing Jonah on the wooden seat. "Can I help you with anything, Leah?"

  She brought the coffee mugs to the table, setting one in front of him before taking hers to her spot next to Jonah. She waited until they were all digging into their breakfast before broaching the subject of work.

  "Could you give Jonah and me a ride into town this morning?"

  Caleb swallowed the food in his mouth. "Don't you think it would be a good idea to rest another day?"

  "I plan on taking it easy, but to be honest, Mack's a little lost if I'm not there."

  Caleb rolled his eyes. "Mack seems a little lost no matter what. I remember him from high school. He was clueless then too. Fortunately for him, he had a dad to leave him a ready-made living."

  "That's mean."

  "It's true, and you know it. You need me to watch the munchkin?"

  Leah glanced at Jonah, whose interested gaze was bouncing back and forth between the two of them.

  "I usually take him to preschool."

  Caleb sipped his coffee and set the mug aside. "I would like to spend some time with him, if that’s okay. I don't have a set agenda. There's nothing firmed up with Last Call until Friday."

  Caleb's offer was so tempting. It would be much easier to concentrate on work without worrying her parents might decide to drop by there, a situation she needed to change right away.

  "I don't want to impose."

  "Not an imposition. Like I said, it's a chance for Jonah and me to get to know each other."

  He didn't add the please. He didn't need to. It was there in his expression, in the hope he only made a half-hearted effort to hide. To say no would be wrong. He was right. The two of them needed the chance to get to know each other.

  "Okay. Thanks."

  He nodded and reached over to ruffle Jonah's hair. "Hear that, Jonah? You and I are going to be buddies while your mama works. Think you can handle that?"

  His eyes rounded. "I stay with you? We can play?"

  "We can do some of that." Caleb arched a brow as he regarded her. "If you don't mind, I'm going to find a car seat for the table and pick up a few things."

  "I don't have any spare cash right now," Leah began, but Caleb held up his hand.

  "I got this. I should make sure I have plenty of stuff for him here, don't you think?"

  So he expected that this situation was going to be temporary if he was planning to duplicate things. She’d as much as told him that in anger the night before. Hearing him put a voice to it suddenly made it not as appealing.

  She nodded, ducked her head, and tucked into her breakfast. They were exploring new territory. He would have to adjust how he did things to accommodate having a toddler attached to him, and she would have to adjust to not knowing exactly what was going on with her son. Their son. That was another adjustment.

  "What if people see you together?" she blurted.

  "I expect people will see us together."

  "What if they say things, ask questions?"

  "I expect I'll answer them."

  "But..." They hadn't addressed the idea with Jonah.

  "I think we should tell him and get it over with," Caleb said as though reading her mind.

  Her every muscle went rigid. Tell him? Just like that? Without any preparation?

  "Leah," Caleb said, obviously trying to calm her down. "Kids are a lot more accepting of things than adults are."

  "How would you know?"

  At this, he laughed. "Seriously? I have four siblings. I have seven nieces and nephews. Watch, I'll prove it."

  "You can't just..."

  Caleb turned his gaze on Jonah. He was totally getting ready to blurt out the fact that he was Jonah's father.

  "Caleb!"

  "Leah!" he mocked. "Relax. Hey, Jonah. What do you know about your dad?"

  The little boy shrugged and continued to gnaw on the bacon he had grasped in one hand.

  "Would you like to know about him?"

  Jonah's eyes widened and he nodded. Obviously he’d picked up on the idea of a daddy from preschool.

  Caleb stared at Leah across the table. "You're on, Mom."

  "But..." she glanced from one to the other in desperation and sighed. "How would you like it, sweetie, if Caleb was your daddy?"

  Jonah eyed him. "He play with me?"

  Caleb arched a brow.

  "Well, he might sometimes, like I do, but he'll be your daddy too."

  "I call Calup Daddy?"

  "You call me whatever feels right to you," Caleb said. "If you want to call me Daddy, then that suits me fine."

  Jonah set his bacon on his plate and grinned bigger than anything Leah had ever seen, including Christmas morning. "Daddy!"

  Caleb slid her a smug look. "See."

  Was it that simple? Nothing in her life had ever been simple, so she had zero confidence that this would be any different.

  Leah checked the clock on the microwave. "I need to get going."

  "Sure. Get your stuff together. I'll get the food put up and load the dishes. Jonah's car seat is in the car, so one job is out of the way."

  "Okay."

  As Leah left the kitchen to brush her teeth and grab her purse, she realized she felt lighter than she had since...well lighter than she could remember feeling since that home pregnancy test had come back positive—three times. It would be easy to depend on Caleb. He made everything simple.

  He stopped her when she began to shepherd Jonah to his car seat.

  "I got this. You worry about wo
rk today. Jonah and I are going to get along fine."

  It might have been the hardest thing she'd done, but Leah stepped back with a smile and let Caleb take charge of their son. This would have been so much easier if Caleb had been a part of Jonah's life from the start. The thought made her wonder.

  Why hadn't he gotten her letters? And then she had called. She had left messages. Was he telling the truth? The problem was whether he was or not, she had no way to prove it.

  "Hop in. I'll drop you by Mountain Plants, then Jonah and I are going to do some shopping."

  As they drove, she peppered him with questions. "You have his inhaler? The emergency phone numbers?"

  "Yes. Wait. What about your cell?"

  Leah stopped in the act of unbuckling her seat belt. "I don't have one."

  Her heart began to pound. What if something happened while they were out, like another asthma attack? How would he get hold of her?"

  "No problem. I'll get you a phone while we're out today." He held up his hand. "And yes, you can pay me back. In the meantime, if something does happen, I'll call the nursery."

  She blew out a breath. "This feels so strange."

  "Who watched him before?"

  "The preschool most of the time, or I brought him to work on weekends."

  "Well, I got him now. Jonah and I are going to be fine, aren't we, dude?"

  "Yup. Daddy."

  Caleb grinned at her. "I like that. Has a nice ring to it."

  Leah grabbed her purse and pushed open the door. She needed to go, get to work, and try to keep her worry about Jonah at bay. Everything would be perfect. What could go wrong?

  Chapter 14

  Caleb studied the selection of cell phones. He wanted Leah to have one with enough features she could make use of it, but not something so complicated it overwhelmed her. Mack's business was still using a mechanical cash register and recording credit sales on customer accounts he maintained on three by five index cards. Given Leah's reaction to the coffee maker, he doubted she'd been exposed to any technology at home.

  "Daddy?"

  Caleb picked up a middle of the road android and examined the functions.

  "Daddy?"

  Jonah's voice finally penetrated. He gazed at the cart. Jonah was wiggling around in the child seat, his hand at his crotch.

  Uh oh. He tossed the phone into the cart.

  "You need to pee?"

  Jonah nodded, eyes round as saucers.

  Okay.

  Caleb's gaze darted back and forth as he searched for the restroom sign. He spied it at last, and thank heaven it wasn't too far away.

  "We got this, dude. Hang on." He turned the cart in a miniature version of a three point turn and hurried toward the toilets.

  "Daddy?" Jonah's tone was getting panicked. Hell, Caleb wasn't even sure how the kid did the deed. Did he sit, stand, what?

  When he started to push the cart into the bathroom, a clerk stopped him. "Sir, you can't take the buggy in there with you."

  Caleb stared at the things he'd thrown inside it.

  "I gotsa pee."

  Caleb released the seat belt and plucked Jonah from the cart, shoving through the door like a running back making a final push to the goal line. One look at the urinals told him they were way above toddler height.

  "You wearing underwear or a diaper?" he asked as he rushed to the one vacant stall.

  "Pull up."

  Great. He knew what those were. He could pull the pull up down and everything would be hunky dory.

  Several minutes later, he was buckling Jonah back in the cart. Perfection it hadn't been, but they had both survived and were, for the most part, dry. Caleb wondered how Leah had juggled all of this.

  His mouth thinned. He could have been there to help all along if she had let him know what was going on. As much as he wanted to believe her, he just couldn't swallow the story that she had made much of an effort to contact him, if she had at all.

  By now, they had reached the checkout line. On either side, they were surrounded by bags of chips, brightly-colored packages of chewing gum, and tasty looking candy bars. This was a fricking minefield.

  "I have candy?"

  Caleb narrowed his eyes on Jonah's innocent expression. His son gazed up at him with adoring eyes, which he batted at the same time he smiled and showed off his dimples. Surely one little treat wouldn't hurt. Caleb studied everything in front of him. Gum was out. He'd better stay away from the chocolate and anything with nuts too. He wasn't sure if Jonah had any food allergies to go with his asthma. Couldn't that be food-related anyway?

  Man, there was so much he did not know. Maybe Leah had a right to be worried. Maybe she shouldn't have turned him loose with the kid.

  "Pwease?"

  Caleb winced. The kid had said please. He grabbed the gummi bears and tossed them in the cart.

  "I wanna eat now."

  "Not until we pay for them. You can have them in the car."

  "Now."

  Caleb lowered his face until he stared at his son eye-to-eye. "Don't try to pull one over on me, kid. I'm betting your mom doesn't even let you eat candy, so I'm probably going to get us both in trouble. Wait until we get to the car."

  Jonah stuck out his lip.

  "Okay?"

  "Okay." He said it around that pouting face, his little brows drawn down so his face was a thundercloud.

  They managed to get out of the store and almost to the car when he saw one of the town's nosiest women approaching. Caleb smiled brightly.

  "Good morning, Mrs. Gatewood."

  Her beady eyes darted from Jonah and back to him. "Isn't this Leah Scott's little boy?"

  "Yes, ma'am."

  Caleb's mind was going a mile a minute. There was no sense putting off the inevitable. One thing was for sure, if he let Betty Gatewood know he was Jonah's father, it was almost as effective as running a front-page article in the Castle County Messenger.

  Her eyes had narrowed again as she scrutinized him, then Jonah, and back to him. "He looks like you."

  "Yes, ma'am, because I'm his daddy." There. He'd said it to someone other than his family and Doc Jenny. Jonah was his. Caleb felt a sense of pride rush through him along with a healthy dose of responsibility.

  "I thought she married someone from out of state."

  "It was complicated, Mrs. Gatewood, but we're attempting to work things out. Privately."

  "Hmph." She stomped on toward the store, and Caleb rolled his eyes.

  "Candy?" Jonah was completely unfazed by anything that had happened, his three-year-old focus still firmly planted on the gummi bears he knew were within easy reach.

  "Yeah." Caleb dug the bag out from their purchases and opened it for Jonah. "Here you go."

  Caleb opened the hatch on his SUV and transferred their bags from the cart into his vehicle. After closing the back, he turned to get Jonah out of the cart. The little boy was chewing in sugary ecstasy, colored drool covering his chin and beginning to drip onto his T-shirt. Without thinking, Caleb reached out and wiped the kid's chin.

  Instant stickiness.

  "Shit!" He grabbed the bandana he kept in his back pocket and tried to wipe the sticky from his fingers.

  Jonah held up his sticky fingers. "Shit," he said.

  Caleb grabbed the water bottle from the console, wet the kerchief, and began wiping Jonah's and then his own hands. "That is not a word for you to say. I'm not supposed to say it either. Got it?"

  Jonah nodded.

  Back in the car again, Caleb turned toward Mountain Plants. He could give Leah her phone, show her everything was going fine with Jonah and him, and then he would get the kid home, give him some lunch, and put him down for a nap.

  He found her out back, transferring small marigold plants into larger containers. She had a smudge of dirt on her cheek, and a thin film of perspiration on her forehead from working in the heat. Mack was nowhere in sight.

  "This is how you take it easy?"

  Leah gazed at him, then smil
ed at Jonah. "Hi, sweetie. Are you being a good boy for Daddy?"

  Jonah offered her a sticky gummi bear he still had grasped in his little hand. "Shit," he said.

  Leah shifted her gaze to Caleb. "Seriously? You have him for an hour and a half and he now knows a cuss word?"

  Caleb tried not to feel defensive. "One slip, Leah. That was it."

  "At this age, it's like having a little tape recorder following you around." She leveled her gaze on Jonah. "Thank you for the gummi bear. That's what you should call it."

  "Gummi bear."

  "Excellent. You want to play with your car in the shade while I talk to Daddy?"

  Jonah nodded, dug in his pocket, and produced a car Caleb hadn't even been aware he carried with him. How did she know? After Jonah had found a spot on the gravel to roll his car, Leah straightened.

  Caleb liked that she looked him nearly in the eye. Today, she had a bit of color in her cheeks, and he would swear a faint dusting of freckles across her nose. She had started to speak, but his attention was caught by the fullness of her lower lip. What would she taste like? They had kissed all those years ago. He remembered it had been hot, but now he studied her and wondered if it would be sweet too.

  "Caleb, did you hear anything I said?"

  He blinked. "No. I'm sorry. My mind wandered."

  To how surprisingly sexy she was standing there with no makeup on and wearing a T-shirt that was at least two sizes too big.

  She snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Hello?"

  "Sorry."

  "Don't feed him too much junk. He's not used to it, and it will give him a tummy ache. He takes about an hour nap after lunch too."

  "That I had kind of figured on. I'll stay away from the junk too. Cut me a little slack, though. This is all new to me."

  He dug in his pocket. "Oh, and I brought you a present."

  He pulled out the cell phone and handed it to her. This time it was her eyes that widened.

  "This must have cost a fortune."

  "Nah. It wasn't expensive. Do you need some help figuring out how to use it?"

  She turned it over in her hand, smoothing her fingers across the girly, pink plastic protective case he'd put it in. She giggled and smiled. Caleb's heart constricted. It was a simple cell phone, not even as fancy as what most people carried in their purses and pockets these days.