Simple Man (30 page)

He pulled the door partially closed and went to the bathroom, flushing the toilet and washing his hands. Something was off. Although he didn’t want to see the guy who took Logan away from him, it was weird they never crossed paths.

That night, Shane couldn’t sleep. Kate was at her home, because he’d played at the Grill. He lay in his bed worrying. Worrying about his interview, worrying about Logan, worrying about Kate, worrying about what kind of father Will was, and worrying why Nadine had so much medicine on the counter.

She had dark circles under her eyes today. When he’d returned from the bathroom he saw her before she saw him and she looked run down and sad. Nadine did that a lot, frowned when she thought no one was looking.

He liked Logan’s grandmother. He wanted to do something nice for her. He didn’t know what kind of man Will was other than the absent kind, and being that she was a widow, he’d be willing to bet that the patched up cabinet in the bathroom had been waiting to be fixed for quite some time. He decided he’d fix it for her.

The next day when he knocked at the Erickson’s door he had his tools with him.

“What’s all that?” Nadine asked, holding Logan on her hip.

Shane was suddenly self-conscious. “I,
uh
, noticed your vanity in the bathroom was broken. I thought I’d fix it for you.”

She blinked at him and he frowned when he thought he saw tears shimmer in her eyes. “Oh, Shane…”

“If you don’t want me to—”

“Oh, no,” she quickly interrupted. “I’d really appreciate it. How about I set Logan up in his playpen in the hall so he can watch his daddy work and I’ll make you something to eat?”

He frowned, but nodded. Did she realize what she said? His gut tightened uncomfortably. Was Will there? Was she referring to him? He took Logan as she got out the playpen. Once it was set up he went to work on the bathroom cabinet.

When he realized Will wasn’t there, he relaxed. Logan sat up babbling and clapping and drooling all over a teething ring as he worked. He was getting so big. Everyday Shane noted a difference.

The cabinet was a quick fix. When he was finished they ate chicken salad sandwiches. Shane was completely distracted by the fact that Logan was eating Cheerios. Cheerios! He was growing up so fast.

The front door suddenly opened and closed. Nadine noticeably tensed.

“Ma?” Will walked into the kitchen and stilled. “What’s he doing here?”

Shane stared at the other man. He had a drawstring bag slung over his shoulder. Nadine cleared her throat and said, “Will, you know Shane.”

“I thought visitation was only on Tuesdays and Saturdays?”

Shane noticed that Logan didn’t give a flying fuck about the guy’s presence. Nor did he greet Logan. What the hell was going on?

“Shane came by to fix the cabinet in the bathroom.”

Will eyed him. Shane was slightly embarrassed, but tried hard not to let it show. As he held Logan on his knee he stared back at the other man. Something wasn’t right.

“Oh, yeah, I’ve been meaning to get around to fixing that.”

Nadine stood and carried their dishes to the sink. She remained standing at the counter.

“Well, I’ll just put this in the laundry room.” Will said and walked away. A door in the hall closed. Was he sticking around?

There was a long, uncomfortable silence. Logan was getting cranky and probably needed to go in for a nap. “I should probably go,” Shane said.

Nadine took Logan and smiled. “Thank you for fixing my cabinet, Shane.” She squeezed his arm. “Come back any time.”

On the drive home Shane tried to make sense of the situation at the Erickson’s house. The more he thought about it the more pissed off he got. Will didn’t even say hello to Logan.

When Kate called that night, he told her what happened. She was quiet.

“Do you know something?” he asked.

“Shane, you know I can’t talk to you about this.”

He blew out a frustrated breath. “Can you at least tell me if Logan’s in any trouble? I mean, I know Nadine loves him, but Will’s never there. It’s weird.”

“You see him. Logan’s fine. Nadine is wonderful with him. You see for yourself that he isn’t in any danger.”

He finally said what had been bothering him. “But she isn’t his mother.”

“I know. Listen, I talked to Stephanie today and I think you may have a really good chance of getting Logan back, not because he’s in any danger there, but because you’re a good father figure and the circumstances are turning in your favor.”

Her words reminded him of what Nadine said that day. “She called me Logan’s daddy today.”

“Who did, Nadine?”

“Yeah.”

She was quiet. “I don’t know how things are going to work out, but you’re more that child’s father than anyone else in this world. No one can ever take away the time you raised him, Shane. It’s okay to call yourself his dad.”

But he wasn’t his dad. “I’m not ready to say that, not when the court doesn’t see it that way.”

“What about the way Logan sees it?”

Her question jarred him. At one point, Logan had a mom too. Did he miss her? Remember her? Wonder why she wasn’t around any more? He didn’t want to fall into the same category as his sister.

He thought about her question, as he got ready to go play at the Grill. Did Logan see him as his father? Shane definitely saw him as his son.

Chapter Twenty-One

His phone was going crazy. Shane sat up and reached for his cell. When he found it, he rubbed his eyes and squinted at the screen. He didn’t recognize the number.

“Hello?” he answered in a scratchy voice. What time was it?

“Hi, Shane?”

“Speaking.”

“This is Russ Myers from the township.”

He sat up. “Oh, hi.”

“Is this a good time?”

“This is a great time.” Shane looked at his watch. It was eight-thirty, but raining out, so his room seemed darker than usual.

“Good. I was calling to let you know that we really liked meeting with you and have decided to push you forward. If you’re still interested, we’d like to submit your name for the job.”

He was smiling so wide it was difficult to form words. “That’s fantastic! Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome. The raffle will be drawn this Friday and we should have a final answer for you by Monday. Best of luck.”

“Thank you. Thank you very much.”

He ended the call and dialed Kate. She’d already be at work.

“Hello?”

“Guess who made it to the top ten…”

“Really? That’s great!” she shouted then lowered her voice. “I have news too, but I can’t talk to you about it now.”

“Is everything okay?” he asked.

“Everything’s great. I’ll call you tonight when I leave here.”

“Okay. I love you.”

“Love you too. Bye.”

* * * *

Shane was tuning his guitar when Kate called.

“Hello?”

“I’m coming over,” she said by way of greeting.

“Okay. Everything all right?”

“Everything is perfect!”

“Good day?”

“Great day! I just need to know if I should pick up pizza or Chinese on the way.”

“Whatever you want.” Shane didn’t have the pockets to be picky. A little of his manhood withered each time she bought him dinner.

“Pizza. Can you call ahead and order?”

“That I can do.”

A few minutes later the green bug pulled up and Kate climbed out holding a steaming box of pizza. She bounced up the step of the trailer and gave him a smacking kiss. Her happiness, whatever it was about, was contagious.

“I have a bottle of wine in my trunk. Will you grab it?”

Shane went to get the wine and when he came in Kate was carrying two plates of pizza from the counter.

“What’s going on?”

“Wine first,” she said, digging in the drawer for the bottle opener.

He pulled down glasses and she uncorked the bottle.

He poured them each some wine and waited.

“Sit,” she said, cheerily.

He sat.

“Okay.” She took a deep breath. “I talked to Stephanie today.”

His stomach flipped at the mention of Logan’s new caseworker. “And?”

“And you know I’m not allowed to talk to you about that.”

He frowned. “Then why are you bringing it up?”

“Did you ever play Hot and Cold when you were a kid?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s play that game. The warmer you get me the more naked I’ll get.”

“
Um
, okay.”

“Guess how my day was,” she said.

“You’re day was good.” They already established that.

She removed the thin purple scarf around her neck and dropped it to the floor. “Try to guess what else happened.”

“You talked to Stephanie about Logan and Will.”

She unbuttoned her cardigan and put it on the back of her chair. She wore a purple slinky tank top underneath. “What else?”

“They said I could have Logan back,” he hoped.

She pressed her lips together and picked up her scarf, wrapping it back around her neck.

“Will didn’t get a good report,” he said, more realistically.

She smiled and removed the scarf again. “And why do you think that is?”

“Come on, Kate. Is Logan okay?”

She tsked at him. “You know I can’t tell you the details of his case. Logan’s fine.” She took a bite of pizza. Cheese strung from her lips and she wiped her mouth with a napkin.

He sighed and thought for a minute. His mind rolled over the facts, Nadine and the house and Will suddenly showing up the other day. He was never there. “Will missed an appointment.”

She kicked off her shoes, stood and undid her pants, sliding them down and folding them neatly on the chair to her left. She sat in just her panties and a little tank top. “Keep going.”

“It’s hard to think with you sitting there half-naked.”

“And holding pizza. Give me a fresh beer and I’m a man’s wet dream. Keep going, you’re almost there.”

He rolled his eyes. He couldn’t care less about the fucking pizza. He had an appetite for something totally different.

He groaned. “
Um
, Nadine said something in my favor to the social worker?”

She grinned, reached in her tank top, undid the clasp of her bra and slid it off through the sleeve. It was fucking hot.

He knew this was a long shot, but he hoped. “Nadine thinks I should have Logan.”

The tank top came off. His skin tingled as possibilities shot through his mind.

“Are you serious? What did she say?”

She shook her head. “
Ah, ah, ah
… I can’t share that information.”

She sat at his table eating pizza, her bare breasts tipped with rosy tight nipples and an expression on her face that would give the impression she was dressed in a power suit. How did she do that, come off so confident no matter what?

“Is it because she likes me or something Will did?” She shook her head. He needed to phrase the question as a statement to play the game. “Will did something that broke the court order.”

She stood, placed her crust on the plate, and dropped her panties to the ground. She was standing in his kitchen buck-naked.

“Holy fuck, what did he do? This is huge, Kate. You have to tell me.”

“I can’t, but you’re really good at this. I’m really hot.”

He groaned. “You have no idea.”

“Think, Shane. What did you tell me the other day? What was Will holding when he came in.”

“I don’t know. A bag. It looked like laundry.”

She gave him a pointed look.

“Oh, my God. He’s not even living there!”

She threw herself at him and kissed him. He kissed her hard then pulled back. “What does this mean?” he asked, wanting to truly understand what was happening.

“It means that you’ll likely be getting a notice in the mail that your appeal’s been moved up. I, of course, can’t tell you why or share anything I may have been told in confidence, but I will of course be there when you go to get your son back.”

His son.

He kissed her again and she began to ride him through his jeans. “You have too many clothes on, Mr. Martin.”

“I think I can fix that. I’ve been told that I possess great resolution skills.”

Her mouth bit at his neck. “Then you better resolve to get naked.”

He stood, lifting her with him as he headed to his bedroom. “Will this be going into your report, Ms. McAlister?”

“Yes, so you better please me.”

“Oh, I aim to.”

* * * *

Three days later he got a letter from the District Court of Lakota. His appeal date was moved to Wednesday. He brought the letter to Nadine’s that afternoon.

His greatest fear was that this was all a misunderstanding, that Kate was wrong and nothing had changed. But if she was right and Will wouldn’t be Logan’s primary guardian, where did that leave Nadine?

He liked Nadine. She was a good grandmother. But since the beginning with Logan, Shane noticed an inherent gift among women to connect with children. What if Will not being there wasn’t enough for him to get Logan back? What if the court picked Nadine over him because she was a woman? Who would be seen as the best choice, a child’s uncle or grandmother? They both had a link to Logan and, again, Shane feared he wouldn’t be enough.

When they sat at the table he withdrew the letter from his pocket and placed it on the table. “Do you want to tell me what this is about, Nadine?”

She sighed and looked sad, knowing he was watching her. “I’m sick, Shane. I have arthritis and my body isn’t what it used to be.” She smiled at Logan and slid a toy car closer to him. He grabbed it and put it in his mouth.

“Will you be okay?” He liked Nadine. He didn’t want to think of her as unwell.

“I’ll be fine. I just have to be realistic about what I’m capable of. I raised two kids with a good husband there through most of it. I know you know what it means to be a parent. You worry about everything. Are you loving them enough? Are you smothering them? Did you tell them no when you should have and yes when it was right?

“Liz was a great daughter. She never got into trouble, always did what she was told. I raised her and Will the exact same way, I believe, but from the time they were babies they had their own likes and dislikes and were their own person.