“That’s me,” Shelby said. “Wow.” Shelby’s hand was moving back and forth. “Are you guys like a thing? Or friends? You don’t work for McCarthy’s because I’ve got your employment information.”
Jocelyn looked at Chance to see how he’d reply to this. There were too many things going through her mind.
First off was that Shelby was innocent enough. Not really mean in school, but her mouth ran more than the school water fountains did when it was ninety outside.
“We’re dating,” he said.
She smiled and stood up. Maverick was playing on the floor with his new fire truck, a stuffed dog running around it in his hand.
“I never saw this coming,” Shelby said. “You look the same, but guess you didn’t end up in jail like many thought. I know, I checked.”
Talk about a rude thing to say. But that was Shelby, blurting out shit all the time.
It was innocent enough years ago, but now not so much. Just went to show what people thought of Chance still.
“No record,” he said dryly. “I’ve got nothing to hide.”
“That’s good, because we’d find it,” Shelby said. “Not to be mean, but we have to know.”
Which Jocelyn thought was a joke, all things considered. That Maverick was living in much worse conditions and a family home life than what he was going to get with Chance.
Nettie had said there was government help that would stop now. Thankfully Nettie didn’t hold on to Maverick for that reason, but maybe with Baylee in jail it wouldn’t have transferred to Nettie.
She didn’t know those things.
“Maverick,” he said. “Come here.”
Chance walked over and got his son off the floor, the stuffed dog still in his hand. “Tuck, tuck. Da. Tuck.”
Her bottom lip quivered some. That was the first time Maverick had said his version of Dad.
Chance swung in her direction. “Did he just say what I thought he did?”
Jocelyn nodded. “Who is that?” she asked Maverick and pointed to Chance. “Who is that?”
“Da, Da.” Then Maverick pointed to the floor. “Tuck.”
“You can have your truck soon,” he said, then cleared his throat.
He was just as emotional as she was over it. One day was all it took for the boy to open up to his father. She didn’t think that would happen this soon.
“You just met your son this week?” Shelby asked and took a seat. Chance sat with Maverick between him and Jocelyn.
“On Sunday. I saw him again on Monday to get the DNA sample, the results came in Monday night, and Tuesday, once my attorney got everything in order, we picked him up from his grandmother’s.”
“He seems comfortable here,” Shelby said, nodding. “I’ve got questions, but a lot of this visit is watching how you interact. Most children would be upset or shy, but I don’t see that.”
“He’s pretty outgoing,” he said. “Or seems to be. Has only gotten upset at bedtime or when we don’t let him shove food down his throat as fast as he wants.”
Shelby opened her laptop and she wondered if Chance shouldn’t have said that.
“He looks thin to me,” Shelby said. “I’m not a medical professional by any means, but he also appears tall.”
“I could get an appointment to bring him in tomorrow morning for a check-up.”
“Good,” Shelby said, typing. “That’s fast. We like to see these things. How about while you’re working? Who is going to be watching him days and nights?”
“I’ve got two daycare centers with openings and will view them this afternoon,” he said.
