“I think I may have overstepped my bounds,” I said as I placed one booted foot on the top step and leaned in after removing my hat. She sipped from a cup of coffee and lowered it. “I may have invited my mother and aunt out for fair week. I’ll find them a motel close to town. I’m not sure what I was thinking. I was just so happy to be speaking to her…”
“Don’t be silly, we have lots of room. You could give her the front parlor and go stay with Ollie while they’re here. Take Dahn with you. Him and Ollie should get to know each other better now you’re dating.”
My mouth fell open. This woman was miles ahead of all of us younger people. “We’re not officially dating,” I managed to say. It was averyweak comeback.
“Oh, are you two not going to the casino for a fancy dinner, some gambling, and a show this Friday, good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise again?” she asked so innocently, it was a wonder a halo didn’t pop to brilliant existence over her pink-orange hair.
“We are yes, but—”
“Then that’s a date, and you’re dating. For the life of me, I don’t know why you boys are always so resistant to admitting you’ve grown a fancy for someone. So, now that that’s settled, we can talk about what they like to eat. Oh! There’s Aiden coming to give the goat her pre-show exam. Best call Ford out of the house so the vet can check him out while he’s checking out that goat.” She tittered as she waved at Aiden Hennessee pulling up to the front of the house. “Aiden, come on up and have some coffee and crumb cake. Just took it out of the oven a bit ago!”
She looked at me. “Right. Off to fetch coffee and crumb cake.”
“You’re a good man, Dodge. Grab me a slice too, won’t you?”
As if I could ever deny her a thing.
***
The next few days sped by or dragged depending on what I was doing.
The shopping trip with Dahn went far too fast. I’d spent the day with the boy I used to know, then, as expected, when I picked him up at the rec center on Thursday, he was once more snippy and insolent. To the point that I had to scold him about his tone with his uncle Baker. Baker, of course, waved off the snide comment about his dumb face, but I was furious. And sent him to bed that night with no TV, movies, or snacks. Needless to say, this morning, I got icy looks and the cold shoulder all the way to the rec center.
“So this is your last class before the fair in a week,” I said as he struggled with his seat belt. “Mind if I stay and watch?”
Ollie was taking the early shift today and had been called out for a raccoon holding up traffic out on Big Bend Road. We texted frequently now. Not always about important things either. For example, I had gotten a photo of said raccoon seated in the middle of a dirt road glutting himself on some corn that had fallen out of the back of a feed truck. He looked quite round and just as happy to sit there in the road forever. Ollie had to take a stick and poke the coon numerous times before it waddled off to the median and tumbled ass over ringed-tail into a diversion ditch. I enjoyed every message he sent my way. It was nice. It felt as if we were truly a couple.
“Just go have lunch with the sheriff. That’s all you care about anyway!” he snapped and flung himself out of my SUV to hit the ground running. The pack, as I now called his friends, ran up to him, clapping him on the back, and as a whole, they tumbled into the rec center. I let my brow drop to the steering wheel. Man, it would be so nice to have someone to vent to about this behavior. It was actually worrisome, but no one at home hadkids, nor did Ollie, and my ex was too concerned with packing up his house and his twink and jetting to Spain. Jesus wept. I took a moment to shake off the wellspring of emotions and went inside to watch.
There were several parents there, all seated in folding chairs, sipping coffee from a table filled with plates of crispy rice treats, cookies, and little plastic bottles of fruit punch as well as a tall coffee urn with creamers and sugar packets.
Not knowing any of them, I grabbed a cup, sweetened it, and sat down next to a woman in jeans with a green tee. She smiled at me. I smiled back.
“Is that your son?” She pointed right at Dahn, who was standing in a line next to Phil. The other wild ones, the pack, were nowhere to be seen. Where they’d gone, I had no clue.
“Yes, that’s my boy. I’m Dodge Bastian.” We shook hands. She thumbed a strand of brown hair from her face.
“Oh, I know who you are. You’re Baker’s brother and the sheriff’s new boyfriend. My name is Lily Hannah. Well, Lily Kanati now. I went to school with Baker. Had a crush on him in seventh grade, but don’t ever tell him that!”
“Your secret is safe with me.” I took a sip of coffee and winced. “Is the coffee always this bad?”
“Oh yeah, Wilton over there makes it.” She pointed at the old man walking down the line of exhibitors, commenting on keeping an alert pose after they’ve set their goats’ feet. He looked to be older than Methuselah. “He insists on making it with half a can of coffee. We think it’s the only thing that keeps his ticker ticking.”
We both chuckled softly. “It’ll keep me going through Thanksgiving.” Dahn and Phil seemed to be having a pleasant conversation. “How does Phil like showing goats?”
“He’s really enjoying it this year now that he has Dahn to hang out with.” That got my attention off my son and on the womannext to me. “They’re becoming quite close. Phil said they’re planning to sleep side-by-side at the goat barn during the fair.”
“Oh. Is that a thing?” I asked and got a quick nod. “Okay then, well, that’s good to know. Phil seems like a nice young man.”
“He’s a good boy. There are a few boys who run wild in this town who like to pick on him because he’s on the pudgy side, but Dahn seems to be uncaring about all of that.”
Huh. I glanced back at Dahn and Phil. They were giggling madly at something or another. “I take it there are adults in the barns when the kids sleep over?”
“Oh yeah, we all pull an all-nighter. Not the best thing for my back, but the kids love it.”
That was good to know. I’d have to volunteer even if the thought of sleeping on the ground in a barn again made my lumbar ache.
“So you mentioned some kids who run wild around town. Since I’m new to Bastian Grange, should I keep Dahn away from them?”
