Cheryl Harper - Saving The Single Dad
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- Название:Saving The Single Dad
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Leanne needed her help, and Christina couldn’t turn her back on those kids. With her free time, the solution of what to do about angry, self-righteous Brett Hendrix would appear. She hoped.
CHAPTER FOUR
THE FIRST PHONE CALL Wednesday morning was a surprise, but Brett had turned the ringer on his phone off while he listened to a lecture on the importance of diversity in hiring, so he didn’t have a chance to answer it. There was no voice mail. He decided it wasn’t an emergency and didn’t duck out of the lecture.
The thing about both of the sessions he’d already sat through was that he understood the reasoning behind diversity and drug task force de-escalation training, but they were already pursuing both at the reserve. He was living it day to day. Were there any helpful hints or tried-and-true tactics proven to improve either? Not really.
He stifled a sigh as he studied the course outline for the next day of training.
The second time his phone vibrated with an incoming call, he turned it over to see the Sweetwater school district’s number. He closed his eyes for a long moment. Parker’s cough had turned into something more. Of course it had.
And the school was calling him instead of his mother. That was the course he and the principal had agreed on the last time this happened, but it was going to mean an inconvenient string of phone calls. He’d taken an inconspicuous spot in the back row out of fear that this might happen, so he quietly stepped outside.
He hit Redial and paced back and forth in front of the line of tiny windows looking out over the packed parking lot. Praying that his mother would be able to handle whatever the emergency was didn’t help much, but it was all he had.
“Sweetwater Schools,” Janet Abernathy chirped in her perky phone voice. “How may I direct your call?”
“Janet, it’s Brett Hendrix. I assume Parker’s developed a fever and needs to go home?” He crossed his arms over his chest and tried not to imagine how much stress this situation was going to cause.
“Oh yes, he’s a sick little boy. Nurse says he should go to the doctor.” Janet sighed. “Honey, I tried calling your mama, too, but I didn’t get an answer. That’s why you got the double ring.”
The thing about living in a small town like Sweetwater was that everybody was in everyone’s business. Most of the time, that irritated him to no end. Sometimes it could be a help, though.
“I’m in Nashville for training.” Brett pressed his fingers over his dry eyes and tried not to wish for a wife who would help out with things like this. That was wasting brainpower. “I’ll get her on the phone and send her over.”
“Okay, then,” Janet said. “Right now, he’s stretched out on the bed in the nurse’s office, cold compress on his forehead, but I can tell he feels awful. He didn’t even say thank you when I gave him his grape juice and that is not Parker.” Her concern was sweet and easy to hear. If he could pick a grandmother out of a catalog for his kids, she would sound like Janet Abernathy in that moment: caring, steady, ready to jump in with both feet. “Should I call Riley out of class?”
That would be a big help if his daughter could be forced to care about anything other than her own aches. Five years ago, Riley had babied her brother like her favorite toy. Now Brett had a hard time imagining Riley would do anything other than make things worse. Besides that, she was a kid. It wasn’t fair to expect her to take his place. “Not right now. Let me get my mother on the phone. If it will be any longer than fifteen minutes before she’s there, I’ll be in touch.”
As he ended the call, Brett checked the time. Almost noon. Surely his mother was out of bed for the second time by now. She got up to get the kids out the door, and then went back to bed until a “reasonable” hour.
“This better be reasonable,” Brett muttered as he punched his mother’s number. The contrast between Janet Abernathy’s sweet concern and what he expected from his mother was amazing in an awful way. Brett tried to clear his mind. When she didn’t answer the first call, his annoyance ticked up a notch. His job was important, and this was a requirement for the promotion he’d lucked into.
On the third try, his jaw was locked so tightly with tension that it was almost impossible to speak when she answered by saying, “What is it? What is so important?” It didn’t take two seconds to understand why she hadn’t answered immediately.
“Are you at the casino, Diane?” Brett asked. Not that he needed to. Someone close by hit a jackpot, and he could hear the victory music and tinny sounds of fake coins hitting metal.
“I am, but I’ll be home in time to meet the bus.” Her quick answer was evidence that she’d spent some time considering what to say if he called.
The slur on the last word immediately sent Brett’s anxiety into overdrive. “Have you been drinking?”
“Yes, but I’m done now. I’ll be sober in time to meet the kids by three.” His mother spoke carefully. She didn’t want a lecture. He had no time to give one.
“Parker needs to be picked up now. Not at three. He’s sick.” Brett pressed his hand against his forehead as he immediately searched for another option. Leanne was gone. He was hours away. His mother would have time to sober up and collect the kids before he could make it back to Sweetwater, and that was if he drove the whole distance with sirens blazing.
If he did that, he might as well turn in his badge and gun because no law enforcement agency in the country would overlook an abuse like that.
Maybe Ash? If he called his boss, Ash would step up. That was the kind of guy he was.
“Listen, just...” Brett didn’t even know what to say anymore. He hung up the phone with a click, sick with panic and the realization that whatever he did would mean he’d be facing the loss of his job.
Needing his boss to step up for babysitting duty would leave a permanent mark on his record, even if the guy was good through and through.
Brett paced closer to the door, one hand squeezing his nape. He scrolled through his phone, desperate for another solution. Janet Abernathy was so kind she’d step in to help, but could he ask an acquaintance to get his son to the doctor? Besides, she was at work with an important job to do.
When he scrolled back up and passed Christina’s name, Brett cursed under his breath.
Parker loved Christina. Out of all the choices he had, his son would choose her, even above his grandmother. Christina had her issues, mainly a bad reputation she’d earned early and a worse attitude, but she’d always been magic with his kids.
He gulped hard as he hit her number. What would it hurt to ask? He’d owe her a favor. That was easy enough.
“Hello?” Christina said, suspicion clear in her voice. “It says Brett Hendrix, but the Brett I know wouldn’t call me if he was on fire and I had the only bucket of water in town.”
There it was, the reaction he’d expected. Reaching out to her was a mistake. Brett squeezed the phone hard and battled the urge to end the call with a quick jab of his finger.
“I need your help.” His voice was gravelly, like the words were forced out around the brick wall he’d put up between the two of them. With this one call, he was weakening the protection he’d built for Parker and Riley. He hoped he wouldn’t regret it. “Parker needs you.”
“What’s going on?” she said immediately. Every bit of sarcasm was gone. All Brett heard was alert concern. That was the kind of reaction he wanted from his mother. “What does he need?”
Christina would help. Somewhere deep inside, he’d known she would. Some tiny bit of relief trickled into his brain and it was easier to think.
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