About the Boy

by Sharon De Vita

  “How you doing, honey?” she called, about thirty minutes later, wondering why it was so quiet in Rusty’s bedroom.

  “Fine, Ma.” His voice was muffled and so dejectedly put-upon she had to smile. He’d been in his room, trying to unpack his boxes and set up his room since he’d come home from Sean’s.

  “We’ll work just until it’s full dark, honey,” she called, “and then how about if we get a pizza?”

  “With sausage?”

  She laughed. “With anything you want,” she promised, opening another box. “We just need to get our bedrooms in some order so we can sleep, and I need to get a few more boxes unpacked so we can at least move around a bit.”

  The doorbell rang and Katie frowned, wondering who on earth was at the door. Probably just a neighbor. Or her mother and aunt, she thought, wondering if her mother had ever remembered what she wanted to tell her. Her mom had called the office two more times today, but unfortunately she still couldn’t recall what she wanted to tell Katie.

  Pushing her hair back again, Katie carefully threaded her way over the stacks of boxes to the front door.

  She paused for a moment and glanced down at herself, then groaned. Some impression she was going to make if it was a new neighbor. She’d had on her oldest, paint-stained jeans that were a few sizes too small now and worn white nearly everywhere. The sweatshirt she wore had lost its sleeves somewhere and was also full of paint—unfortunately it didn’t match the colors on her jeans.

  She’d yanked her hair back into a ponytail, but that had been hours ago, and now, strands were loose and drooping around her face.

  When the doorbell pealed again, Katie forgot her appearance and yanked open the front door. Her mouth dropped open, almost hitting her tennis shoes.

  “Lucas?”

  Before he had a chance to respond, Rusty’s scream of fear shattered the silence. “Ma! Help. Get it off me! Ma, hurry!” Before she could even move, Lucas was gently nudging her aside.

  “Where is he?”

  “Down the hall. Third door on the right,” she said, pointing as Rusty screamed again.

  “Rusty? I’m coming, honey.” She tried to follow Lucas, hurrying behind him, but his legs were much longer and he’d traversed the line of boxes in a few short steps, racing down the hallway toward her son’s bedroom.

  With her heart beating a percussion rhythm, she hopped over the last of the boxes, and headed down the hall at a run. She pushed open Rusty’s door just in time to see Lucas sitting on the floor, cradling her prone son.

  “You’re okay now, son,” Lucas soothed, glancing down at the boy as he held him close. “You’re okay.”

  “Rusty?” Terrified, Katie went to her son and knelt down beside him, running her hands over his arms and legs, wanting to assure herself he was all right. “What happened?” She glanced around, saw his box spring and mattress were not where they were the last time she was in his room.

  “He tried to move his bed,” Lucas said. “He couldn’t quite manage it and the box spring came down on top of him.” Lucas glanced down at Rusty. “But he held his own for awhile there,” he said, not wanting to embarrass the boy further.

  “Hey, mister?” Confusion glistened in Rusty’s green eyes. “Uh…who are you?”

  Lucas laughed, his gaze meeting Katie’s over Rusty’s head.

  “I’m sorry,” she said with a shake of her head. “Honey, this is Lucas Porter, the chief of police.”

  “Police?” Rusty said, his eyes darting from his mom to Lucas then back again. “You’re a cop?” He craned his neck around Lucas to see his mother. “Am I in trouble or something, Ma?”

  Laughing, Lucas slowly stood, righting the boy as he did, making certain Rusty’s legs were steady before he released him. “No, son, you’re not in any trouble.”

  “Then how come you’re here? I thought cops only came if there was trouble,” Rusty said.

  “I’m not here because I’m a cop or the chief of police,” Lucas explained. “Actually, I’m here looking for…” He pulled a piece of paper out of his back pocket and glanced at it. “I’m looking for Jed Jackson Murphy,” Lucas said, glancing at Rusty again.

  “That’s me,” Rusty said. “I’m Jed Jackson Murphy. But everyone calls me Rusty.” Wide-eyed, he stared up at Lucas and swiped at his nose as he frowned. “So why you looking for me if I’m not in trouble?”

  With a smile, Lucas folded the piece of paper slowly, putting it back into his pocket. “Well, son, it seems that I’m your buddy.”

  “Huh?”

  “You?” Katie said, trying to hide her shock. “You’re Rusty’s buddy?” She shook her head. “Wait, I don’t understand. I didn’t sign Rusty up for a…” Her voice trailed off. “Mother,” she said, nodding her head in understanding. “Now I know what she kept forgetting to tell me.” Her mother must have signed Rusty up for the Buddy for a Boy program and that’s what she kept forgetting to tell Katie. “You’re Rusty’s buddy? Really?” She wasn’t quite sure she believed this, it was as if her mother and the Gods were conspiring against her, doing everything in their power to throw her and this man together.

  “Afraid so,” Lucas said with a sheepish grin, slipping his hands in his pockets as she sagged against the bedroom wall.

  “Uh…Ma?” Rusty looked at Katie nervously. “Sean’s my buddy,” he clarified with a confused scowl. “I know Sean. We been buddies forever.” Her jerked a thumb at Lucas. “I don’t know this guy, so how can he be my buddy?”

  Chuckling, Katie ruffled her son’s hair, frowning when he winced. “Rusty, Lucas isn’t that kind of buddy,” she absently explained, slowly running her fingers over his scalp to search for any signs of injury as she talked. “A Buddy is a special program in Cooper’s Cove.”

  “May I?” Lucas asked with a lift of his brow.

  “Be my guest,” she said, extending her other hand to encourage Lucas to go ahead. She couldn’t wait to see how he handled this. And her son.

  “Rusty, my name is Lucas Porter, and I am the chief of police. But I’m also what’s called a Buddy.” He smiled at the suspicion in the boy’s eyes. “What that means is, we have a special program in town, one that lets boys who don’t have fathers…sort of borrow…fathers, but they’re not really fathers, they’re friends. Friends who don’t have any children. So, we take a boy with no father and a father without a child, and we match them together so they can learn from one another and teach one another. And be buddies.”

  “You mean buddies like Sean’s my buddy?”

  “That’s right,” Lucas confirmed. “You and I will be buddies just like you and Sean.”

  “Yeah, ’cepting you’re bigger.” Rusty tilted his head back. “Much bigger.”

  “That’s right. But I don’t just get to be a buddy to you. You get to be a buddy to me.”

  “I get to be your buddy? So what do I gotta do?”

  Lucas shrugged. “Nothing really. Nothing more than friends would do. Men friends,” Lucas said pointedly. “We can watch some games together, play some ball, shoot some hoops, maybe take in a game. Do whatever you like.”

  “A real live game?” Rusty asked, his voice lilting up in excitement.

  “Yep, a real live game.” Smiling slowly, Lucas realized it was time to pull out the big guns. “I used to work security for the Chicago Bears during college. I get tickets every year, go into the locker room, talk to the players. So I thought since the season just started, maybe you’d like to take in a Bears game some Sunday?”

  The boy’s mouth fell open as his eyes widened. “The Chicago Bears,” he repeated in whispered awe. “You’re gonna take me to see a real live Bears game?” Shaking his head in disbelief, Rusty grinned. “Awesome.”

  Grateful he’d scored some points, Lucas smiled. “There’s some things I know how to do that I’ll be happy to share with you and show you. If you’ll show me and share with me some of things you know and like to do. Isn’t that what buddies do?”

  “I guess.�
�� Rusty paused, then grinned suddenly. “I can spit almost seven feet,” he crowed proudly, pushing his tongue between the space between his two front teeth, ready to demonstrate.

  “Rusty!” Katie’s breath hissed out as Lucas’s lips twitched.

  “That’s quite impressive.” Lucas rocked back on his heels, tucking his tongue in his cheek. “But I held the third-grade record.” His grin was full of masculine pride. “Seven feet, six inches.”

  “Sweet,” Rusty said with a grin of his own, impressed. “So what else can you do?”

  Lucas was thoughtful. “Well, let’s see. I thought maybe we could build a clubhouse—”

  “A real clubhouse? Just for guys? No wussy sissy girls allowed?” Rusty said, glancing at his mother.

  “Hey, watch it,” Katie cautioned with a smile. Watching her son, seeing the excitement shimmering in his eyes at the prospect of doing things—male things—with an adult male made her heart ache for all that her son had missed by losing his own dad so early. And made her wonder how on earth Lucas could have such an easy, instinctive rapport with a child when he apparently didn’t have any.

  “Definitely just for guys,” Lucas said, ignoring Katie and giving her son all his attention.

  “With steps and a floor and everything?” Excitement had Rusty all but dancing in place again.

  “Steps and everything,” Lucas confirmed, straightening.

  “So what else can you do, huh? Can you play baseball?”

  “Starting pitcher in high school.”

  “Can you play football?”

  “Quarterback. Varsity team, junior and senior year.”

  Rusty whistled, impressed. “What else?”

  “Well, instead of just telling you, how about I show you?” Lucas asked, watching delight glisten in the boy’s eyes as his feet danced in excitement.

  “Show me? Now? Like right now?” Rusty asked, nearly bouncing out of his tennis shoes.

  “Rusty,” Katie cautioned, glancing around the room. It was pitch-black outside and a mess inside. “Right now isn’t exactly what I’d call a good time.”

  “Your mom’s right, son. How about if I help you unpack some of this stuff and get your room set up?” Lucas smiled. “Then tomorrow after school we can talk some more if it’s all right with your mom?” Lucas shrugged, glancing at Katie for approval. He waited for her nod before continuing. “Then this weekend I thought maybe we could drive up to Cooper’s Cove Lake and do some fishing.”

  “With real live bait?” Motioning Lucas down so he could whisper, Rusty gave his mom a weak smile. “My mom hates worms,” he whispered to Lucas. “So I ain’t never used night crawlers.”

  “Nor proper English,” Katie said mildly to no one in particular.

  Nodding in understanding, Lucas straightened. “Well, I know this bait shop right near the lake that sells only fresh night crawlers. I’ve got some poles and a couple of tackle boxes filled with fishing gear, so if we can maybe talk your mom into making us some sandwiches we can have a real picnic.” He glanced at Katie. “And some weekend if you and your friends want to have a campout or a sleepover at the lake—with your mom’s permission of course—we can arrange that as well.” He smiled at the boy, who was staring at him, nearly slack jawed. “I own a cabin up at the lake,” he said by way of explanation.

  Rusty’s grin, quick and bright, warmed Katie’s heart. “Can I tell Sean and the guys?”

  Letting out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, Lucas smiled, ruffling Rusty’s curly hair. “You can tell anyone you like.”

  “Awesome,” Rusty said, then frowned, rubbing his empty stomach. “Ma, when can we get our pizza? I’m starving,” he added with a groan.

  “I tell you what,” Lucas said before Katie had a chance to open her mouth. “Let’s get your room pulled together and then I’ll take you and your mom out for a pizza.”

  “Really?” Rusty cocked his head. “With sausage and cheese and stuff?” His brows furrowed. “But no ’shrooms or spinach. Weeds and fungus. Yuck.” Holding his stomach, he made a barfing sound that had Katie rolling her eyes and Lucas chuckling.

  “My sentiments exactly,” Lucas said, his gaze meeting Katie’s. He ignored the hot rush of desire that coiled inside of him, pushing it aside to concentrate only on the boy.

  The kid was the spitting image of his mother both in looks and personality. Definitely a spitfire with a zest and curiosity for life that was infectious.

  Feeling better than he had in a good, long time, Lucas held out his hand. It was the first lesson he’d learned from his own father and had taught to his son. When a man gave his word, he shook on it, and kept it. “So, do we have a deal?”

  Grinning, Rusty wiped his hand down his jeans, then solemnly took Lucas’s hand and shook it, puffing out his chest at being treated like a man. “Deal. Buddies?”

  “Buddies,” Lucas confirmed with a nod.

  Watching them, Katie nervously rubbed her own hands together. “Uh, Lucas, are you sure about this? It’s not necessary, really.” She wasn’t quite sure why the man unnerved her so, but his presence was so powerful, so masculine, it made her feel as if her lungs had somehow come up short of oxygen.

  She glanced at Rusty, saw the joy on his face, the excited anticipation, and knew she hadn’t seen such joy in his face in a long, long time. It warmed her heart and made it ache for all that she couldn’t give to her son.

  Her son needed this, she realized with a pang. Needed the presence and influence of a man perhaps more than she’d ever realized. And regardless of how nervous Lucas made her feel, or how she felt or didn’t feel about him, she had to do whatever was in her power to give this precious gift to her son.

  “It is necessary,” Lucas corrected with a smile, taking her by the shoulders and turning her around to show her the door. A quick flash of need and desire swept through her from his touch, scaring her. “Really. Now give us about…” He glanced back at Rusty for confirmation. “An hour?” he asked with a lift of his brow and Rusty nodded. “I promise by then we’ll have the room set up, and some of these boxes unpacked and put away, and then we’ll go for pizza.”

  “But—”

  “Go,” Lucas said softly, his hands still warming her shoulders, his voice soft and gentle as it fluttered against her ear, making her entire body shiver. “This is called the bonding part,” he whispered in her ear. “A chance for us to get to know one another, without mom.”

  She wasn’t certain she liked the “without mom” part, but she realized with a sigh that Rusty was growing up and did need the calm, stable influence of a man—a man who could teach him all the things a father would have, all the things a boy needed to grow up to be a good person, a good man, a good father and husband.

  “All right,” she said with a nod and started toward the door. “An hour,” she repeated numbly.

  Shaking her head, Katie scrubbed her hands over her face, trying to make sense of all of this. Well, she conceded, heading back into the living room to tackle some more boxes, she wanted Rusty to have this, she wanted her son to have everything good in the world he needed to grow up to be a good person. And if that meant having Lucas Porter in his life, well, she was simply going to have to accept it, and curtail her own emotions and feelings for her son’s sake.

  Opening one of the boxes and staring blindly at the contents, she realized that, as for her own wayward feelings about Lucas, she’d just revert back to Plan B.

  She’d treat him like a big brother. She couldn’t go wrong with that. Unfortunately what Lucas made her feel didn’t seem very brotherly, Katie thought and closed her eyes on a sigh. But for her sake and her son’s sake that’s all Lucas could ever be.

  Realizing this, Katie felt a deep yearning in her heart, a yearning she hadn’t quite been so aware of until she ran into Lucas Porter.

  But she just had to pack that yearning away in the same place she’d packed away all her youthful dreams, along with the one about having children and a wonde
rful, loving partner and husband, and of course the happily-ever-after.

  She’d had it, for a little while, she recalled sadly. But those weren’t the cards she’d subsequently been dealt. What she’d been dealt was a life where the responsibilities of protecting her son and her mother came first. And as for the rest, well, she had to be grateful for all that she had, since it was so much more than most.

  But still, she thought as she leaned against the living room wall, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to just daydream a little bit about Lucas, and what never could be.

  Chapter Four

  “I’m done, Ma,” Rusty said, shoving away his plate with a half a piece of pizza still left. “I’m stuffed.” He rubbed his stomach and grinned. “Can I go play some of the video games now?”

  Katie glanced at her watch, then at the noisy crowd in the pizza parlor. Every booth and table was full, and there was a line at the counter, and behind almost every video game in the place.

  Apparently they weren’t the only ones celebrating the first day of school with a pizza.

  “Rusty, I don’t know. It’s a school night and—”

  “Ma, come on,” Rusty wheedled, fidgeting in the booth next to her. “It’s early yet, and my room’s all done, right, Lucas?” Grinning, Rusty looked across the booth at him for support.

  “Yeah,” Lucas said slowly. “It is,” he admitted sheepishly. “We finished his entire room before we left, Katie, dressers and all.” He shrugged his apology, not wanting to appear as if he was taking sides.

  “And I don’t got any homework, so all I gotta do is fall into bed when I get home. Come on, Ma, please? Only fifteen minutes. Please? Please?”

  Laughing, Katie reached in her purse to get some money from her wallet. Lucas had already insisted on paying the pizza bill and leaving the tip. “Okay, fifteen minutes and then it’s straight home, and a shower,” she added, causing Rusty to make a face. “And then to bed,” she corrected, handing him the bill for the video games.