I offered him a small wave, and the Silverado’s reverse lights lit up. I told Mama as I walked through the door, “Alan Callahan.”
Papa was walking toward the living room with two glasses of lemonade in his hands and stopped to address my mom. “Alan Callahan… isn’t that the man Kevin told us about?”
“I think so.”
He then looked at me. “What about him?”
“He gave me and Ruthie a ride home from the bakery.”
Papa nodded, then asked, “Is he dating your boss?”
I knew in my dad’s eyes dating equaled fornicating.
My parents would lose their shit if they knew Lainey was actually living in sin with Alan’s brother.
“No. Nothing like that. He’s from Massachusetts but is in town visiting family.” Trying to steer the topic away from Lainey, I added, “And I think Chief O’Shaughnessy is trying to get him to come work for the police department.”
“Oh. Kevin said he was a baker.”
Well, Kevin sure has been chatty, hasn’t he?
“No, nothing like that.” I tried to sound nonchalant. “I think he said he used to be in the Marines.” And even though he’d told me he was a homebuilder, telling Papa that would bring up a whole host of more questions. I didn’t want to keep the conversation about Alan going, so I said, “I’m not sure what he does now. What time do the Braves play tonight? How do you think Lopez is going to do against the Dodgers?”
And just like that, we were talking about baseball.
My mother briefly narrowed her eyes at me, as if to convey she knew that trick.
Where did she think I’d learned it from?
She reached for the handle of Ruthie’s car seat and said, “Kevin’s here. Go take a shower before dinner.”
“And wear something pretty,” my father inserted before heading toward the living room where I assumed his guest was.
I grabbed my phone from the diaper bag and walked upstairs. The smells emanating from the kitchen told me that something was already in the oven, so at least I didn’t have to cook.
I came to a dead stop outside my bedroom door as a thought hit me.
Wait. Why do I need to “wear something pretty”?
Chapter Twenty-Three
Alan
I didn’t want to leave Jess and Ruthie. I could just imagine Kevin leering at Jess from across the dinner table or trying to play footsie with her or some shit.
That thought made me almost make a U-turn and head back to the farmhouse. But what would I do once I got there? There was no way Jessica would challenge her parents and go to dinner with me. She was too good a girl, and I’d be a dick to put her in a position where she felt like she was defying her mom and dad.
But I knew she had a feisty side hiding just below the surface, and I hoped I got to see it come out.
Before I knew it, I turned into the neighborhood of Craftsman homes where I was staying. I loved that architectural style and filed away the idea to explore it with my next housing project. I decided to see if there were any for sale while in Haven Springs that I could walk through for comparison purposes.
Adam’s Bronco was in his drive when I pulled into Brian’s garage next door. I appreciated Brian letting me stay at his place while I was in town. It was close to my brother, Lainey, and Conor—and now my parents, but I also had my own space.
Instead of going inside, I headed over to my brother’s. I was curious to see how Lainey was holding up. Adam had told me she’d been stressed about meeting our parents, despite his assurances they were going to love her and her son.
When I walked in through the garage door, my mom was sitting at the kitchen table with Conor in her lap and the biggest grin I’d ever seen on her face.
My dad was sitting right next to her making silly faces at the baby.
