8
Look, Mom, it’s Speed Bump!”
Steven’s truck was in the parking lot of the elementary school when Kaitlyn pulled in to drop Olivia off at school, and his dog was perched on the dashboard staring at the school door as if willing his return. A few of the kids had gathered around, but Speed Bump was oblivious to them.
“Speed Bump, what are you doing?” Olivia jumped out and joined the others, full of importance that she, and she alone, knew the dog and could call her by name.
Kaitlyn sat a moment and watched Olivia revel in her place as center of attention. She had come a long way since she had been suspended for fighting shortly after her arrival in Last Chance. She’d still probably never be voted Miss Congeniality, but she didn’t seem to assume that everyone she met was her enemy either.
The little dog on the dashboard seemed to rivet to attention, and Kaitlyn looked up to see Steven ambling across the parking lot, his hat pulled low over his eyes. She got out and leaned against the door of the Jeep, and he looked up and smiled. But before he could say anything to her, the kids took over.
“Your dog is so cute. Can I pet him?”
“It’s a ‘her,’ but sure, why not?” Steven opened the door, and his dog all but jumped into his arms. He leaned against the seat with his boots still in the parking lot and held the little dog in front of him. The kids gathered around.
“He’s so little.”
“Where’d you get him?”
“Why did you name her Speed Bump?” This was Olivia, and her outrage was unmistakable. “People run over Speed Bumps. Is that what you want?”
“No, of course not. She was on the side of the road when I found her. I was afraid she would get run over; that’s why I picked her up in the first place. And that’s why I named her Speed Bump.”
“That’s still an awful name. You should call her something else.”
“Yeah.” Someone else chimed in. “No one’s going to run you over now, are they, puppy?”
“No Speed Bump?” Steven didn’t sound convinced as he held his dog up and looked into her face.
“No!” The chorus was loud and unified.
“Well, what should I call her?”
“How about Flat Road?”
“Mmmmm. Any other ideas?”
“What about Fluffy? She’s just the fluffiest dog.” A little girl reached over and stroked the curly white fur.
“Yeah, Fluffy! Here, Fluffy. See, she likes that name.”
“How about something like Spike or Fang? See? Look at those teeth. They’re fierce.” Steven turned his dog’s face so the kids could see the tiny canines exposed by Speed Bump’s underbite.
“Noooo.” The chorus came as one voice. “Fluffy!”
If the kids were in agreement that his dog should be called Fluffy, Steven did not seem at all convinced. He met Kaitlyn’s eyes, and his expression clearly said, “Help me out here.” She just smiled.
The bell rang, and each of the kids jostled each other for one last pat of the dog before they headed for the school door.
“Bye, Fluffy.”
“Bye, Fluffy.”
When Kaitlyn and Steven were left alone in the parking lot, she couldn’t help laughing at how dubious he looked as he held his dog up and looked into her face again. “Fluffy?”
“Hey, I think Fluffy’s a great name. I had a guinea pig once named Fluffy. It looked a lot like your dog.”
“Careful. If you make her mad, I won’t be able to control her.” Steven looked severe as he tucked his dog under his arm and stood up.
Kaitlyn laughed again. She had forgotten how good it felt to just laugh. “What are you doing here this morning? Still working off the detentions you racked up when you went to school here?”
“Nope. Got those all taken care of. Actually, Mrs. Martinez wanted to talk to me about a coaching job.”
“Coaching, really? I thought you were going to the police academy or something.”
“I am, but not till spring. This would be volunteer, anyway. We were talking about an after-school basketball program through the winter. We could probably get enough teams together to have some kind of tournament.”
“Girls’ teams and boys’ teams?”
Steven shrugged. “I’ll let them get that all sorted out when they start playing high school basketball. We’ll just have teams. It’s all about fun and learning teamwork, anyway.”
Kaitlyn cocked her head. “You know, I’m kind of surprised to hear you talk that way. I’d heard you hold records that still haven’t been broken yet at the high school. I thought you’d be all about the competition.”
He shrugged again. “As I said, there’ll be time for that later. They’re just kids. And speaking of kids, I’m telling you right now that I’m planning on getting Olivia involved. As tall as she is, I’ll bet she’s a natural.”
“Well, as someone else who was always the tallest girl in class, I’m telling you that’s not always the case. But if she wants to play, I’m all for it.” She glanced at her watch. “I need to get back. I think Juanita has a stopwatch that she times me by. You and Fluffy have a good day now.” She smiled and turned to get back into the Jeep.
“Kaitlyn, wait just a second.”
She stopped with one hand on the door.
“Listen, I know we kind of got off on the wrong foot, but do you think we can start over?” He smiled, and Kaitlyn saw none of the cockiness he had exuded every time they met. “Would you like to go to a movie up in San Ramon this weekend?”
He must have seen in her eyes the apprehension she felt, because he hurried on before she could respond. “Everything really low-key. A movie and maybe a cup of coffee afterward. I really would like to get to know you better.”
Kaitlyn hesitated. Everyone from Sarah and Chris to Juanita had managed to let her know that Steven could be trouble. But something about him today—maybe the interest in coaching kids, or that silly dog, or maybe even that smile that insinuated nothing and promised a lot—made her decide to take a chance.
“Sure. I’d like that.”
When she looked in her rearview mirror as she drove from the parking lot, he was standing watching her go, hat pulled low over his eyes, one hand tucked into his jeans pocket and the other cradling a fluffy white dog.
Only a few of the tables held diners when Kaitlyn got back to the Dip ’n’ Dine, but Juanita still glanced pointedly at the neon clock over the pie safe.
“So what did Dad say about Sarah?” Kaitlyn found Chris behind the counter. She tried to keep her voice low, but Juanita joined them anyway.
“I’d say they got along like a house afire.” Juanita didn’t even try to keep her voice low, but then, she never did.
“What exactly does that mean, Juanita? What does getting along have to do with burning houses? I’ve always wondered.” If Chris was trying to throw Juanita off the subject, it didn’t work.
“It means they got along, Chris. Don’t overthink it.” She barely rolled her eyes before getting back to the subject at hand. “Your dad, on his own, is absolutely delightful, and as you well know, no one can resist Sarah.”
Kaitlyn hid a smile. It sounded like Dad had turned the charm on Juanita as well, and since she had come in this morning still bristling from last night’s near snubbing by Mom, she was more than ready for a little ego balm.
“This concerns the two of you . . . how?” Chris tried to slip past the women standing in front of him, but they held their ground. He sighed and shook his head. “Okay, if you have to know, he said he liked her. Can we get back to work now?”
“That’s all? He liked her?” Juanita never did care for the condensed version of anything.
“Pretty much. We have work to do; let’s get to it.” This time he did push past them and disappeared into the kitchen.
“You know, I’d have thought your dad would have a lot more to say than just that he liked her.” Juanita picked up the coffeepot. “He just hung on every word she said, and
I don’t think I’ve ever heard her talk so much. She was giggling like a schoolgirl. She never acts that way with Chris.”
“I can hear you, you know.” Chris appeared in the window to the kitchen, and he did not look happy. “And so can everyone else, so would you just get to work?”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake, Chris, you don’t need to be so touchy all the time. Between your mother and your dad, I can sure see who you take after.” Juanita huffed an exasperated sigh and went to refill coffee cups.
Chris watched her go and then turned his glare toward his sister, who just smiled at him. “Sounds like everything went great. What’s the problem?”
He shook his head, muttered something under his breath, and disappeared back into the kitchen.
Kaitlyn pushed through the door and followed him. “Okay, so what’s up?”
Chris had dropped back into his chair and pushed back so he could look up at Kaitlyn. After a second or two he got up and gestured for her to follow him. At the back door, he took Carlos’s jacket off a hook and tossed it to Kaitlyn. “You don’t mind if we borrow your jacket for a minute, do you?”
“Nope.” It was good that Carlos was a man of few words, because Chris didn’t even wait for an answer before heading out the back door.
Kaitlyn slipped her arms into the sleeves and sat down beside Chris on the back step. He just stared off toward the distant hills for a while. Finally, Kaitlyn nudged his shoulder with her own. “So? What did Dad really say? He likes her, but . . .”
Chris sighed and leaned back on his elbows. “No, he thinks she’s wonderful, and as far as I could tell, she thinks he’s great too.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“Me. I’m the problem. Dad took me aside before he left and let me know that he was really impressed—even amazed—that I had found someone as special as Sarah. Then he let me know that if I wanted to keep her, I was going to have to set my sights a lot higher than this place.”
“What place? Last Chance or the Dip ’n’ Dine?”
“Both, I think. He said that a class act like Sarah—that’s what he called her, a class act—was meant for better than this, and if I didn’t see it, someone else would.”
“But Sarah loves Last Chance, and the Dip ’n’ Dine too, for that matter. She’s already said she’d never live anywhere else.”
“That’s what I told Dad, but he said that’s what they all say, until they leave.”
“Oh, come on, Chris.” Kaitlyn bumped his shoulder again. “He spent what? Less than an hour with Sarah and he knows everything about her? Sarah loves you. Even more than Last Chance, I think, and that’s saying something. Dad doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
Chris just nodded slowly without turning to look at her. “But you know? Just once in my life I’d like to hear him say, ‘Ya done good.’ Just once.”
“Aww.” Kaitlyn leaned her head on his shoulder and held up a hand where her forefinger gently brushed across her thumb. “Know what this is?”
“Yeah, the world’s smallest violin.” His grin was rueful. “I guess I sound pretty pathetic, huh?”
“Truthfully? I think we’re both pretty pathetic to spend so much time worrying about what Mom and Dad think about us when the reality is that they probably don’t think about us all that much anyway. The disapproval is on autopilot. I pretty much have it coming, but you have never been anything but perfect your whole life long. That’s what makes me mad.”
Chris draped his arm over her shoulders. “Not anywhere near perfect, Kait, and you know that. But you’re not the same person who came through town on that motorcycle last summer either. I wish they had taken the time to notice.”
“You know, I really didn’t expect they would.”
Kaitlyn was beginning to think she was going to have to use her tiny violin to accompany her own pity party when the back door opened and Juanita stuck her head out.
“Here you are. I asked Carlos where you’d gone and he just said you stole his coat and left. I hate to bother you, but if you can spare the time, I could use some help in here.” She was filled with righteous indignation, her favorite kind, and gave every indication that she would stand there with the door open all day if it took that, but she was not going back inside without them.
Chris gave Kaitlyn’s shoulder a squeeze and moved to get up. “Come on. We need to get back at it.”
He went inside, and after giving her another vexed look, Juanita followed. Alone on the back porch, Kaitlyn let her gaze cross the desert to the mountains beyond. Usually they called her, promising highways to places she’d never been, and people she hadn’t met yet, and cities filled with lights. Usually only thoughts of Olivia held her in this tiny town working in her brother’s diner, but the call to run didn’t seem quite so strong this morning, and Last Chance didn’t quite seem the end of the road that it had. She shook her head to clear it and got up to go inside.
Steven checked his list as he got back in his truck at the post office. No one left the ranch without a list of things that needed to be done or picked up while in town, but this one hadn’t been especially long. He hadn’t even had to go to San Ramon, which was too bad. The more he thought about Mrs. Martinez’s basketball idea, the more interesting it sounded, and he would have really liked to have stopped by the sporting goods store to start figuring out what he needed.
“What do you think, Speed Bump? Think we have time to run up there real quick? It probably wouldn’t add an hour to my time, if I really booked it.”
His dog just looked at him.
“Yeah, you’re right. I can get lost in a sporting goods store, and since I want to talk to Uncle Joe Jr. about funding the program, I don’t want to start out on his bad side. Better save it for another time.”
Speed Bump settled into the passenger seat and rested her chin on her front paws. Since she couldn’t see out the window, even with her front paws on the armrest, there was no point in even trying.
“But I think we can spare a couple minutes to run by to see Gran. You need to work things out with Sam, anyway. You’re going to have to go somewhere when I leave for the academy, you know, and Gran’s would be the perfect place for you.”
Gran was right where Steven knew he’d find her—sitting in her recliner with her Bible open in her lap. She looked up when he opened the door, but her welcoming smile faded when she saw his dog under his arm.
“Steven, honey, I’ve told you that dog just worries Sam to death. You really need to let her wait for you in your car.”
“But I want you to get to know her, Gran. Besides, look. Sam’s leaving.”
Sam, who had gone into an ear-flattened crouch on the back of the sofa at the sight of Steven’s dog, leapt down and headed toward the back of the house without ever actually getting out of his crouch.
Elizabeth sighed and set her Bible on the table beside her to make room on her lap. “Well, let me see this little thing then.”
Steven put his dog on her lap, and she rested a gnarled hand on its head. “What did you say her name was?”
“Speed Bump.”
“Steven Braden, you did not call this unfortunate beast Speed Bump.”
“Well, I thought it was pretty clever, but I seem to be a minority of one. The kids at school today made me rename her Fluffy.”
“Fluffy. Well, it’s better than Speed Bump, I guess.” Gran smiled as she continued stroking the little dog. “I keep expecting her to start purring, but dogs don’t do that, do they?”
“She’d better not. I spend half my time trying to convince folks she’s a real dog as it is.”
“With those bottom teeth sticking out, maybe you’d better call her Fang. I think it kind of suits her, don’t you?”
“I do, and I tried to get the kids to go for that one, but they got stuck on Fluffy.”
“Here, take her, honey.” Elizabeth handed the dog up to Steven and struggled to get out of her recliner. “Have you had breakfast? I’m not about to go o
ut this morning, but I’d be happy to fix you something here if you’re hungry.”
“Sounds great. I think I can manage a few more minutes without getting on Uncle Joe Jr.’s wrong side. Besides, there’s something I want to talk to you about.” He followed his grandmother into the kitchen and sat at the table while she poured a cup of coffee and set it in front of him.
“Oh?” She put an iron skillet on the stove and pulled a package of sausage from the refrigerator.
“I wanted to tell you before you heard it from Olivia or someone, but I’m taking Kaitlyn to the show on Saturday.”
Elizabeth turned to him with a sausage patty still in her hand, and the gaze from her piercing blue eyes pinned him to the wall. “Steven, I asked you to leave that poor girl alone. She has more than enough to deal with right now.”
“Gran, I know what you said. And to tell the truth, it kind of ticked me off that you were treating me like I was some kind of predator and she was an unsuspecting lamb or something. I know I’ve been around a little bit, but so has she, you know. She can take care of herself, and I’m not a bad guy.”
Elizabeth’s expression softened. She rinsed off her hands and dried them with a dishtowel before coming to sit across from Steven. “Honey, I know you’re not a bad guy. You have a huge heart. But sometimes you let your own wants take precedence over the needs of somebody else.”
Silence filled the kitchen for a moment, broken only by the gurgle of the coffeepot. Steven didn’t have to meet his grandmother’s eyes to know she was referring to the way he had let his brother Ray put his life on hold to run their father’s bar for him while he was in the military, only to let it go without even a thank-you.
He cleared his throat before he spoke. “Yeah, well, people can change, you know.”
Elizabeth reached across the table and took his hand. “People can try to change. Sometimes they can even do a fair job of it. But, honey, real change only comes when God does the changing, and I haven’t seen him working in your life since you first figured out how to skip Sunday school.”
At Home in Last Chance Page 8
