The Empty Nesters

by Brown, Carolyn

  “Are you sure about that? The market isn’t up much right now,” the man said.

  “I’m very sure. I’m moving up around San Antonio to be near my aunt. My uncle died a few weeks ago, and I want to be a help to her.”

  “Okay, then, I’ll get the ball rolling. Anything else?”

  “Not today, but if I think of something, I’ll call. And thanks,” Luke answered.

  “I’m here to serve,” he said. “I’ll keep you posted on how things go.”

  At five minutes to three, he crossed the yard to the garage and had good intentions of warming up the truck before he went inside the house for Diana. But she was already in the truck with the engine running and the garage door raised. He slid behind the wheel and put the vehicle in reverse.

  “Thank you for getting the chill out of the truck. I had planned to do it myself,” he said.

  “I got finished with my work a little early, and to tell the truth, I’m excited to get away for the evening. I don’t like scary movies,” she said.

  “But you watch them because everyone else likes them, right?”

  A smile spread across her face. “Yep, but I’d much rather be giving out candy this evening to little princesses and astronauts.”

  That comment shot his pulse up a few notches. He loved kids, always had, and wished that he’d had a brother or a sister, or even two or three of each, his whole life. The biggest disappointment he’d ever had was when he’d learned that he could never be a father—well, maybe not never, but who was counting that one chance in a couple of million?

  He bought two bushel baskets at the Walmart store, and Diana helped him fill the first one with apples, oranges, and bananas. Then he bought five huge bags of candy and filled the second one. This time Diana noticed that he charged it to his own card and not Tootsie’s.

  “Now what do I buy?” she asked.

  “How about we get one more basket and buy a bunch of those popcorn balls?” he suggested. “When I’m home, that’s what I give out. I spend a couple of days making them and wrapping them all up in spooky plastic wrap. The kids in my neighborhood love them. You looked surprised.”

  “It’s just that . . .”

  “That what?” he pressed.

  “Gerald wouldn’t have been caught dead in the kitchen unless it was to make coffee or get a beer from the fridge.”

  “I’m not your ex,” he said. “I’m just plain old Luke Colbert, who enjoys cooking, loves kids and animals, and only served one term in the National Guard, where I was a supply clerk. It’s who I am. And you’re not my ex, either. That woman wouldn’t have ever come to this kind of event with me.”

  “Ex? You were married?” she asked.

  “No, just almost engaged, until that very embarrassing moment when I proposed and she told me that she had decided to get back together with her old boyfriend,” he said.

  “Oh. My. God! That was downright cruel,” she said.

  “So was the treatment you got from your ex,” he said. “But it’s all in the past now. It’s only human for us to compare. We can’t help it, but hopefully we’ll both see that what we have now is better than what we had then.”

  “And that’s why I like you. I can be honest with you.”

  She liked him!

  “As a brother, as a friend . . .” He continued to press a little.

  “If I had a brother, I wouldn’t make out with him on the back church pew.”

  “Fair enough.” He grinned.

  Be satisfied that she likes you, and leave it at that for now, he told himself.

  Diana pushed the cart around to where the baskets were located and selected an orange one, and together they filled it with popcorn balls. “Rebecca and I make caramel apples to give out to our special friends. What are we going to do with these baskets when we’re done with them?”

  “They can be beds for our kittens when we take them home,” Luke suggested.

  “Home in Scrap or in Sugar Run or, in your case, Houston?” she asked.

  “Right now, home in Scrap, but later just home wherever it is. Can you keep a secret?”

  “Depends on who I’m keeping it from,” she said as she paid out and prepared to push the cart out to the truck.

  “From everyone, but especially Joanie, and only for a little while.” He opened up the box of big black garbage bags he’d bought and put each basket inside one before tying the tops shut. “That way nothing flies out on the way to the church.”

  “What’s going on with Joanie?” She looked worried.

  “Not with Joanie as such, but she’s putting her house up for sale, and I’m going to make her a really good offer for it.” He held the truck door for her. “I contacted my financial adviser today and put my place in Houston on the market.”

  “Why would you do that?” she asked as soon as he was in the vehicle.

  “Because I want to be near Aunt Tootsie, and truthfully, I want to be closer to you,” he said.

  “But right on the same block with both of us? Are you nuts? We’ll drive you crazy,” she protested.

  “If you do, I’ll sell it and move somewhere else. Right now, it’ll do for me to start a new business in, and I won’t have to drive so far to date you.” He started the engine and drove out of the parking lot.

  “I’m flattered, but I hope you don’t regret it,” she said.

  That took a little air out of his balloon but not so much that he wasn’t still floating from getting to spend time with her. They arrived at the church parking lot right at five o’clock and had barely gotten parked and pulled their baskets out of the bags when the first kids showed up.

  “Trick or treat,” a little ballerina said timidly.

  “What will it be, darlin’?” Luke asked. “Fruit, candy, or a popcorn ball?”

  “An apple.” She held out her bag. “And candy, too.”

  “Misty!” her mother scolded.

  “It’s all right. One big red apple and a little bit of candy to go with it.”

  “Thank you.” The little girl twirled for them.

  After they’d given out candy to several kids, Luke put his hands on Diana’s waist, picked her up, and set her on the tailgate of the truck. “Might as well give it out sitting rather than standing for the next couple of hours.”

  He put a couple of popcorn balls in the next kids’ sacks and turned to Diana. “Having all these children around me, it makes me want to be a father. What do you say we adopt a couple if we make it through the dating stage and into a permanent relationship?”

  Diana’s look made him feel like he’d grown an extra eyeball right smack in the middle of his forehead. “You are still young enough to be a father, but I’m too old to start all over.”

  “Forty is the new thirty, and you damn sure don’t look or act like you’re a day over twenty-five.” He wished he could take the comment back. It should have been something to be discussed later on down the road instead of before they’d even gone out on their first date. But that night sitting beside her, he’d realized that he did want children and had spit it out before he’d thought it through.

  “If you’re serious about wanting to be a dad, maybe we should take a step back here,” she said.

  “Trick or treat.” A little ghost held out his bag. “Can I have a banana, please? I’ve got lots of candy.”

  “You sure can, sweetheart.” Diana put one in his bag, and he went on down to the next vehicle.

  “So you are definite about no children, like in ever, forever and ever, amen?” he said.

  “Yes, I definitely am.” Her tone left no wiggle room. “I have one and love her, but I would never start over at this point in my life.”

  In true Luke Colbert fashion, he’d just screwed things up big-time. But in all honesty, he’d just realized that moment that he wanted to be a father. He’d never given it much thought before, but something in the way he felt about Diana had him skipping through the preliminary relationship steps and going straight for th
e goal line. And he’d spoken up way too soon.

  He’d killed it for sure. “So does that mean we don’t get to go on date number one?”

  “That’s up to you, Luke,” she answered.

  “And that means?”

  She shrugged. “I like you a lot. But this is where that age difference comes into play. You’re at just the right age to be a father. I’m at just the right age not to want kids anymore. So you know how I feel. That’s why it’s up to you. We can be friends and neighbors if you buy Joanie’s house. Or we can see if we want more. You decide.”

  “Fair enough.” He nodded.

  Diana had taken her stand, something that she’d never done very well with Gerald. She had a little more backbone than Carmen had had with Eli, but she’d still deferred to Gerald too often. She’d never do that again, not even with Luke, and she really liked him—a lot. Had it been Gerald, the rest of the evening would have been miserable. He’d have gone all cold and distant.

  “So tell me, what was your favorite Halloween costume?” Luke’s voice still had warmth in it, and his smile was genuine.

  “I wanted to be Princess Leia, but Mama said I wasn’t wearing a gold bra and harem pants, so I went as Dorothy, and Mama sprayed a pair of my shoes with red glitter,” she laughed. “And you?”

  “The last year I went trick-or-treating, Mama made me a Superman costume. I slept in it until I outgrew it. Can you imagine me as a superhero? I’d have done better to have gone as the scarecrow from Dorothy’s story.” Luke laughed with her.

  They were back on familiar ground, but she could still see a heavy black cloud in the shape of a stork right there in the back of her mind. What if she fell in love with him? What if he regretted not being able to adopt a child?

  She tried to shake it off, but it was still there at the end of the evening when they got home. Everyone else was in the living room, watching the tail end of a scary movie. Luke sat down in the empty recliner to finish it with them. She needed to be alone, to analyze things and get them sorted out, to decide whether to nip this attraction she had for Luke in the bud or let it blossom.

  “I’m going up to write to Rebecca and tell her all about the kids before I forget. I took pictures with my phone that I’m sending, too. She can share with the other girls. See y’all in the morning,” she said.

  “Hey, before you go,” Tootsie yelled over her shoulder, “we made an executive decision while you were gone. We decided to go to Paris and do some Christmas shopping on Saturday. We might even spend a night or two in the motor home. There’s a real nice little park down there, and we can get a driver to take us to town to shop.”

  “Sounds great.” Diana started up the steps.

  That was just what she needed. Two nights cramped up in the motor home with Luke underfoot while they shopped. Just looking at toys everywhere would remind her of their huge difference in opinion on the issue of children. Maybe she’d offer to stay home and take care of Dolly and the kittens. That would give her lots of time to really settle it forever and for good that she didn’t want another child. She really liked Luke, but if she agreed to adopt a baby, it wouldn’t be for the right reasons, and she wasn’t sure what those might even be.

  She picked up her notebook and started a letter to Rebecca. Three pages later, she’d given her an update on the kittens, who now had their eyes open, and told her how much she’d missed sitting on the porch with her and giving out candy. She’d even related the “Trunk or Treat” tales about the kids and how she and Luke had had such a good time. But she didn’t mention anything about bringing a brother or sister into Rebecca’s world, through adoption or otherwise.

  When the envelope was addressed and sealed, she went downstairs to get a stamp. Everyone else had disappeared, but Luke was still sitting on the sofa watching Beauty and the Beast on his laptop. “This is us,” he said.

  “You’re watching This Is Us?” she asked.

  He patted the sofa beside him. “No, I said this is us. You’re the beauty. I’m the beast.”

  “No, Luke, you aren’t. You are the kindest, sweetest man I’ve ever met, and I’m very attracted to you. We just have to figure things out.”

  He shrugged. “Then I didn’t mess it up permanently?”

  She sat down beside him. “Do you know what I like about you the most? That you are honest and open. Like you said, we can’t help but compare. So, that said, I never liked living with a man who couldn’t tell me where he was going or how long he’d be gone. I knew what I was getting into when I married him, but I didn’t know until a few years had passed that I would hate the secrets so much.”

  “Thank you.” He kissed her on the forehead. “Now about that honest-and-open stuff, I’m not going shopping with y’all. I think a couple of days apart is what we need. The pickup has a bench seat wide enough that the four of you can get in it. Surely one of you can drive a stick shift.”

  “Why?” she started to argue.

  “I’ll take care of Dolly and the babies and do a little more maintenance on the yard while y’all are gone. We need a little apart time. I told Aunt Tootsie, and she’s made arrangements for y’all to stay two nights in a hotel,” he said.

  “You’re not only open and honest but the smartest man I’ve ever known.” She stood and then bent down to kiss him.

  He reached around the laptop and cupped her cheeks in his hands. When the kiss ended, he looked deeply into her eyes and said, “Before I forget. The letter you wrote to me—well, I’ll keep it forever. I’ll answer it, but I think I’ll just slip it under your door or put it in your purse rather than mail it.”

  “I’ll look forward to it.” She smiled. “Good night, Luke.”

  “Good night.” He nodded and went back to watching the movie.

  She went up to her room and threw herself back on the bed. Dammit! Why did life have to be so complicated?

  Chapter Nineteen

  It was only an hour’s drive from Scrap to Paris, and although they were a little crowded with four of them in the truck, Carmen grabbed Tootsie’s knee only one time when she was reaching for the gearshift on the floor.

  “Where’d you learn to drive this kind of thing?” Diana was amazed at how smoothly Carmen shifted the gears.

  “My granddad taught me to drive. He didn’t believe in all those gadgets and geegaws, as he called extras on a vehicle, and that’s what he considered automatic transmissions. I was surprised that he even bought a vehicle with air-conditioning, but it was West Texas, and it gets hot out there,” she answered.

  “Well, I never learned to drive this thing, but I can drive that motor home if I need to,” Tootsie said. “Smokey said that since I was the one who wanted it, I could drive it. So I proved to him that I could when I drove it home and backed it up in the yard.”

  “What’d he say then?” Diana asked.

  “He said that he was going to sleep the whole way to Scrap this fall,” Tootsie answered. “I guess he did in a way, but I’m real glad he woke up every now and then to talk to me.”

  “He’s talked to me a few times, too,” Diana admitted.

  “And me,” Joanie said. “When I was worrying with this move, he came to me in a dream. He was younger and looked a lot like Luke, and he said that all y’all would be fine and for me to think of my marriage.”

  Carmen took one hand off the wheel and raised it. “I’ve only heard his voice once, and it was yesterday when he said that we should definitely make this trip.”

  “I’m glad he’s visited with y’all. You are all like daughters to us,” Tootsie said. “Now make this next left, and park as soon as you find a place. Our first stop is that little pastry shop on the corner.”

  Carmen snagged a parking spot close to the door. Diana was the first one out and held out a hand to help Tootsie up the two steps into the shop. “Did you and Smokey come to this place when y’all were in this area?”

  “At least once or twice every year.” Tootsie went to the counter, laid her cr
edit card out, and said, “We’ll have four pumpkin spice lattes, and I’ll have two apple fritters. Y’all come on up here and tell the lady what you want. Joanie, you should have chocolate iced doughnuts.”

  “That sounds wonderful. Can I have two?”

  “You ought to order three. They’re that good,” Tootsie declared.

  “Two is enough, especially with a latte.” Joanie took a sideways step so that Diana could order.

  “One of those bear claws.” Diana pointed.

  “Make that two,” Carmen said right beside her.

  “I’ll bring them out as soon as I get your lattes made,” the lady said.

  “What’s the plan for shopping?” Diana asked when they were seated around a table near the window.

  “We’re skipping the stores and going out to the fairgrounds. The first weekend of November, they have vendors that come from all over the United States and set up for two days. There’s food of every kind, and there’s all kinds of places to buy everything from leather to jewelry. If you can imagine it, we’ll be able to find it there,” Tootsie answered.

  “Kind of like the state fair, only without all the animals?” Joanie asked.

  Tootsie nodded as she wrapped up her second apple fritter and put it in her purse. “We’ll shop until we drop and then go to the hotel. They serve breakfast in the morning, starting at six thirty. I figure we’ll be back at the fairgrounds by seven thirty and start all over again. And I’ve brought each of you a big tote bag to keep your purchases in.”

  “Did you and Smokey do this every year?” Diana asked.

  “Yep, it’s where I always found something unique for y’all and the kids,” Tootsie said. “I hadn’t thought to go this year, but Diana and Luke need a couple of days apart right now.”

  “Why would you say that?” Diana asked.

  “I’m an old woman even if I don’t look a day over fifty.” She winked. “But my gut never lies to me. Something isn’t right between y’all this week.”