by Susan Stoker
Billy nodded.
“Right, so she wants to believe that winning the money is real. That she’ll have the money to move out of the motel to a bigger and safer place, but she doesn’t want to get your hopes up, or hers. You understand that, right?”
Calder waited until the boy nodded before continuing.
“You’re going to go back to school, Billy. But not until your mom knows it’s somewhere safe. Where you can relax and trust the people around you, so you can start talking again. She’s gonna find a safe place to live where you can both let down your guards and just be yourselves.”
Billy bit his lip but didn’t take his eyes from Calder when he pointed to the floor.
Calder looked down but didn’t see anything there. “I don’t understand, Buddy.”
Billy pointed to himself, then to the floor once more.
Calder shook his head in confusion.
Then he watched as Billy mouthed a word and repeated his pantomime. It was the first time Calder had seen him do that. No sound escaped his lips, but he could clearly read the word he was mouthing.
“Here?”
Billy nodded.
“Here what?”
Billy pointed to himself, then to his mom, then back to the floor as he mouthed words again.
“You and your mom would be safe here?”
Billy’s eyes lit up as he nodded once more.
“Oh, honey,” Hope said as she came over to the beanbag. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’ve been doing everything wrong, haven’t I?”
“No, you haven’t,” Calder said before Billy could respond. “Listen to me. Are you listening?” He waited until she nodded before continuing. “I can’t imagine how things have been for you, but I know with everything in me that you’ve done everything exactly right. You’re here, aren’t you? You and Billy? That tells me that you’re an incredible mother, and that when life gave you lemons, you didn’t bother to make lemonade, you crushed those things and made an entire lemon meringue pie.”
Her lips twitched, but he kept talking. “The money’s nice, but you would’ve made it without it. And if the money turns out to be nonexistent, you’ll still make it.” Calder turned to Billy. “You have to trust your mom. I know you want to go to school, and you want to move out here, but until you’re eighteen, you have to go with the decisions your mom makes. That can be frustrating, I realize that, but always remember, deep in your heart, that your mom loves you and only wants the best for you. Can you do that?”
Billy reluctantly nodded.
“Now, I want you to know that you are always welcome here at my house. This will always be a safe place for you. I like your mom. A lot. And I want to date her, and I’d love nothing more if you guys moved into my house for good and for always, but…that’s not my decision to make. And it’s not yours. You know whose it is?”
Billy pointed at his mom.
“Exactly. And we have to trust her to make the best decision for not only herself, but for you too, Bud.”
“Calder,” Hope protested.
He turned to her. “I’m done. No, wait, I’m not. There’s a school a couple blocks from here. I moved to this neighborhood in part because of the awesome school system. I didn’t have kids but I hoped to have them someday, and when I did, I wanted them to get the best education possible. There’s a nice apartment complex not too far from here as well. Once we find out about the scratch-off ticket’s authenticity, I could help you see if there are any vacancies.”
Calder watched as Billy leaned over and tugged on his mom’s blouse sleeve, and once he had Hope’s attention, he clasped his hands together under his chin and gave her the most pathetic puppy dog eyes he’d ever seen.
He tried not to laugh, but he did grin at the pleading look on Billy’s face.
Hope chuckled and rolled her eyes. “You really want to go to school again?”
He nodded.
“Even though you aren’t talking and the kids’ll probably make fun of you?”
Billy nodded again.
“You’ll probably be behind academically. Joseph has been working with you, but it’s still gonna be a lot of work to catch up.”
Billy kept nodding.
Hope looked from her son to Calder, then back to Billy again. “If the ticket is real, and if the money comes in…I’ll look into the apartments near here.”
With a loud whoop, Billy threw his arms into the air and tried to jump to his feet. The beanbag, of course, prevented that. So Calder picked him up and as soon as he was on his feet, Billy ran around the room like a crazy man, his arms waving wildly over his head, looking like one of those air-dancer things businesses used to advertise outside their stores.
“Did you hear that?” Hope whispered. “He made a sound.”
“I did,” Calder told her with a smile. “He also was mouthing words earlier…he’s gonna talk again soon. I know it.”
“I think so too.” Hope got to her feet with a smile, and Calder followed suit.
“I meant what I said,” Calder said. “You and Billy are always welcome here. You’ll be safe with me.”
“Thank you. I…appreciate it, but I’m not ready for that yet.”
“I know. Which is why I suggested the apartments. If I can’t have you in my house, at least you’ll be close by.”
“You really do like me, don’t you?” Hope asked.
Calder couldn’t help it, he laughed. Threw his head back and guffawed like she’d said the funniest thing imaginable. When he got himself under control, she was glaring at him.
Grabbing her around the waist and pulling her into his embrace, he picked her up off her feet and fell sideways onto the beanbag. She screeched, and then laughed when she realized what he’d done.
“Yeah, sweetheart. I like you a heck of a lot.”
Calder let out an umph when Billy threw himself on top of them on the beanbag. Putting an arm around the little boy, he ignored the badge Billy was wearing as it dug into his side and did his best to block out how good Hope’s body felt against his own.
“Now you’ve done it, Billy,” he teased. “Since we’re all in this thing, who’s gonna help us out?”
The giggles that erupted out of the little boy’s mouth were music to his ears.
Three hours later, Calder stood in the doorway of Hope’s motel room. He didn’t want to leave them there. It wasn’t too late and all was quiet in the parking lot, but he knew that could change in a heartbeat. He’d tried to convince Hope to stay the night at his place, but she insisted that since she had to work the next morning, she needed to get back to the motel.
“Will you let me call my dad and tell him about the ticket and get his advice?” Calder asked Hope.
She slowly nodded. “I’m still not convinced it’s real, but if so, I have no idea what to do with the money, so I’ll need help.” She reached into her pocket and took out the ticket in question. “Will you keep it for me?”
Calder blinked. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. Why?”
It hit him then. Deep down, Hope trusted him. There’s no way she’d hand over a million-dollar winning scratch-off ticket if she didn’t. He could call in and claim it himself and there would be no way for her to prove it was hers.
Calder reached out and wrapped his hand around hers still holding the ticket. He flattened it on his chest, the ticket between her palm and his shirt, and leaned down to kiss her.
This time, he took it slow and tried to show her with his kiss how much she meant to him. He felt her lean into him, and he took a step forward, taking her weight against his own. The kiss was deep, but not nearly long enough. He pulled back, well aware that Billy was probably watching them from inside the motel room. “I’ll keep it safe for you, sweetheart. You’ll call tomorrow, right?”
She sighed. “Yeah.”
“Good. Do it first thing. I’ll also talk to my dad tomorrow morning before breakfast.”
“Calder! That’s too early.”
&n
bsp; “Nah, he’ll be up. He’s always been an early riser. Guess that’s where I got it from.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“You don’t have to thank me,” he told her. “I’d do anything if it made you feel safer and more comfortable.”
Then he brushed the back of his hand against her cheek and tucked the ticket into his back pocket. “Goodnight, Billy,” he called out. “See you tomorrow, Hope.”
“Tomorrow,” she echoed.
Calder backed away and said, “Shut and lock the door.”
Hope rolled her eyes. “Bossy.”
“When it comes to your safety, yup,” he returned.
He kept eye contact with Hope until the door was shut and he heard the lock snap into place.
Calder took a deep breath and looked up at the sky. The night had been full of ups and downs, but he also felt as if he was one step closer to his goal of making Hope care about him as much as he cared about her.
Chapter Seven
Hope hadn’t planned on telling anyone at work about the winning ticket…at least not until she’d had it verified by the lottery people that it was authentic. And even though she’d made Billy promise to not say a word, she’d forgotten that he was only seven and that secrets were literally an impossibility for him.
Within ten minutes of Eli walking through the door of the diner, Billy had spilled the beans. He’d written the words “we won” on a napkin and that was that. Hannah, Audrey, Tori, Donna, Joseph, and even the cooks and busboys were all talking about it.
By the time Calder arrived for breakfast, Hope was ready to scream.
“I suppose now that you’re rich and your boyfriend is here, you’re gonna want to take a break and have us serve your tables, huh?” Tori sneered.
“Yeah, little Miss Moneybags doesn’t need to do any actual work anymore,” Donna threw in.
Hannah and Audrey just turned up their noses at her.
“Problems?” Calder asked as he sat in his usual spot.
Hope sighed. “They found out.”
“I guessed as much. Billy?”
Hope nodded. “How’d you know?”
“Hunch. How are you doin’?”
That was one of the things Hope liked most about Calder. He always worried about her. Always wanted to know how she was doing. She’d never had someone so focused on her before. And Earle didn’t count because he was focused on her for all the wrong reasons…namely, to ferret out whatever she’d messed up so he could punish her for it.
“I’m okay.”
“How about you try again, and be honest with me?” Calder asked dryly.
“Fine. It sucks. Everyone’s treating me differently, and I hate it. The customers are giving me the side-eye. The other waitresses hate my guts and the cooks aren’t much better. You know, if someone else had won, I’d be happy for them. I wouldn’t flat-out ask them for money. I wouldn’t try to guilt them into giving me some. I wouldn’t ask for a loan. It’s crazy.”
“Fuck. You’ve been asked for money?” Calder asked.
Hope sighed. “Yes.”
“By who?”
“Everyone. Okay, that’s a lie. Eli didn’t ask me for any, although out of anyone, he’d be the one I’d probably give some to.”
“And Joseph?” Calder asked.
Hope smiled. “Of course not. He has a hard-enough time asking for help with little things, there’s no way he’d ever even hint that he wants some of my winnings. Besides Eli, he’s the only one who’s acting halfway normal.”
“When are you going to call the lottery board?”
“I was going to put it off until this afternoon, but now I’m thinking I need to call as soon as they open.”
“Good idea. What did Eli say when Billy told him about the ticket being a winner?”
“He’s been beaming all morning. He said he just knew one of these days one of the tickets would pay out big.”
“He wasn’t wrong.”
Hope smiled at Calder. “How are you this morning?”
“Good. I missed you last night.”
Hope knew she was blushing but tried to control it. “We weren’t apart all that long.”
“Doesn’t matter. Still missed you. The house seemed empty after you and Billy left.”
Hope opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted by Tori.
“If you’re done chatting, table four needs more coffee.”
Hope looked over and, sure enough, the mugs sitting in front of the couple at the table were empty.
“On my way,” Hope told Tori. “You want your usual this morning?” she asked Calder.
“Of course. But I’ll wait for Billy.”
“Okay. He should be out in a few. Joseph was working on some math with him this morning. He wanted to show him exactly how much a million dollars was.”
“I’ll be here when he’s done,” Calder said.
Hope turned from him, extremely aware that his eyes were on her as she made the rounds to all her tables, refilling coffee and making sure no one needed anything else.
When she went back to the drink station to put down a pot of coffee and start a new one brewing, Tori and Hannah cornered her.
“You know that was supposed to be mine,” Tori said.
“What was supposed to be yours?” Hope asked, playing dumb.
“That lottery ticket. He was sitting in my area the other morning.”
“If I remember correctly, you were happy that you actually got a cash tip instead of the, and I quote, ‘stupid scratch-off.’”
Hannah’s lip curled and she leaned into Hope. “Listen, bitch, you need to split that million bucks between us all. We’ve all served that old coot, and we’ve all gotten lottery tickets, except none of ours was ever worth more than twenty bucks. It’s only fair.”
Hope probably would’ve offered to split the money—if the women she worked with were halfway nice to her. But they weren’t. They were terrible waitresses, gladly leaving her to work their shifts when they didn’t bother to show up, not caring if they were late in the mornings, taking extra-long breaks, and not bussing their tables, leaving that to the overworked and underpaid busboys.
No, she had no intention of giving these horrible women a dime of her winnings. If that made her a shitty person, so be it.
“Why should I give you guys any of it? You hate Eli. You do everything you can to have him sit in my section whenever possible. Hannah, you were even glad when Eli wasn’t in your section the other morning.”
“You might be the boss’s favorite, but that doesn’t mean shit when—”
“Time to get back to work, ladies.” Joseph’s words interrupted whatever Hannah was going to say.
“You’ll regret not sharing that money!” Hannah hissed before she and Tori slunk away to the other end of the counter, where they immediately started gossiping with Donna and Audrey, no doubt telling them what a bitch Hope was and how she wasn’t going to share her winnings.
“They aren’t going to lighten up on you,” Joseph said.
Hope turned to the man who’d literally changed her life and sighed. “I know.”
Joseph opened his arms and pulled Hope into his embrace. She was startled for a moment because he wasn’t an outwardly affectionate man. He hugged Billy all the time, but Hope couldn’t remember a time he’d even touched her other than to shake her hand.
But without hesitation, she snuggled into his embrace. He smelled like onions and grease from the grill. It was somehow comforting.
“It’s time for you to move on, Hope,” he said quietly.
Hope shook her head.
Joseph pulled back. “You don’t want to? Hell, girl, I know you’ve been savin’ every penny you’ve earned here to move, why are you hesitating now?”
“I don’t want to leave you. You’re more like a father to me than my own ever was.”
“That’s sweet and all, but it’s not like I’m gonna disappear. And you’re not gonna move to Timbuktu. Th
ere’re even these new-fangled things called telephones.”
Hope gave him a small smile. “I’m scared.”
“Of course you are. I don’t blame you. But that never stopped you before.”
“What?”
“When you walked in here that first time, I could tell you were scared out of your skull. You thought I was gonna kick you out. You stunk like garbage and had a haunted look in your eyes that I can’t get out of my head, even today. Draggin’ your son along when you asked for a job took a lot of guts, but I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t have left my son alone when I went lookin’ for a job either. But none of that stopped you from asking if I was hiring. You were also scared to ask me if you could bring Billy in with you to work because he didn’t have any other place to go, but you asked anyway.”
“That’s different.”
“It’s not different,” Joseph argued. “The odds of one of those scratch-offs being a million-dollar winner is astronomical. Some rich college kid could’ve won it, but he didn’t. You did. Use that money to get out of here. Get an apartment. Get your son into a good school. Live your life, Hope. As you’ve always meant to live it.”
“I don’t want to leave you in a lurch,” Hope said softly.
Joseph shook his head in exasperation. “You’ve always been such a softie,” he said. “Fine. You keep workin’ here until I find a replacement. But I’m cuttin’ your hours. Morning ’til noon only.”
“But that’s only seven hours!” Hope protested. “I need the hours, I need—”
“You don’t need the hours anymore,” Joseph said, shaking her gently. “You need to look for an apartment. A car. A school for Billy. There’s other things you need to do, and I’m givin’ you the time to do them.”
Hope took a deep breath. Joseph was right, but it was really hard to change her mindset. She’d always worked as much as possible so she could save every penny. But now she didn’t need to do that.
“That money you won ain’t gonna last forever,” Joseph told her. “After taxes, it’ll be a lot less than a million, but it’s a great foundation for starting over. You can find a job that you love and get yourself and that son of yours back on your feet. Not only that, but you need to get out of this neighborhood. You know as well as I do how fast information gets around. By tonight, everyone’s gonna know that one of the waitresses at the Alamo Diner won a million bucks. If you thought the people here askin’ you for money was bad, just wait until you try to walk down the street. Every single person you’ve ever even looked at will be comin’ up to you with their hand outstretched. Be smart with that money, Hope. Get out of here while you can.”