Along Came Trouble(67)

“About Levi?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

They were silent for a minute while Caleb spread glue. Finally, he blurted out, “I wish she’d told me. I could’ve helped her get home to Camelot after he walked out, at least. But I wish she’d told me back when she married him.”

“I’m sure she had her reasons.”

“I could’ve helped,” he repeated.

“Everybody has to make their own mistakes.”

Caleb had certainly made his share, but he’d have preferred to keep Katie perpetually eight years old, untouched by anything hard and dangerous in life. Untouched by Levi Rider, that was for sure.

Not exactly realistic, but that was how he’d always felt about her.

“She tell you not to say anything to Mom?” he asked.

“Mmm-hmm.”

Mom was going to give her seven different kinds of hell when she found out. “She seems all right, though.”

“You know Katie. Tough as nails, that girl. Takes after her mother. She’ll be fine.”

Caleb spread glue. His dad was probably right. Katie was tough. When he handed the tub back to his father and received the flooring again, Derek said, “I’d like to hang that Rider kid from the nearest yardarm.”

“Draw and quarter the little *,” Caleb agreed.

They began to ease the vinyl in place, lining up the factory edge with the long, uninterrupted wall so the pattern wouldn’t come out crooked.

“Make soup from his guts,” Derek said after a few beats.

“Break all his bones, one at a time.”

“Mess up that smarmy smile of his.”

“Cut off his balls and make him eat them.”

Derek laughed. “Now that’s just plain disgusting, son.”

Caleb smiled, and for a while, he forgot about the stroke and simply enjoyed his father’s company.

By the time they finished up, it was two o’clock, and he needed a shower. He stopped home, cleaned up, ditched the black shirt, and went to his office. Katie seemed disappointed that he’d taken away her comedic inspiration.

She dispatched him to pick up Nana Short from her new place and drop her by Carly’s, which he did, and then Nana asked him to drive to the Village Market for groceries. After that, it was home again for dinner with Katie, a casserole to take to Carly, and he was beginning to feel like an errand boy.

“Stay for dinner,” Nana said. She carried the casserole into the kitchen and emerged to say, “Over at the home, I never get to eat with hot young things like you.”

“Don’t call it ‘the home,’” Carly said from the couch. “You make it sound like we’ve stuck you in one of those nightmare nursing homes from the movies where they neglect you and you get bedsores while they steal all your money. You picked this place out, for crying out loud. It looks like freaking Palm Springs. It’s the nicest condo in the county.”

“If it’s so great, why don’t you move there?” Nana asked. “Bunch of old people sitting around playing pinochle. There’s a reason I never wanted to move to Palm Springs.”

“That bad, huh?” Caleb grabbed a seat beside Carly to eat some of the chips and sour-cream dip Nana had set out for them. He enjoyed listening to Nana and Carly spar. It was like watching Ali and Foreman fight—they were pros.

“Everyone is so wrinkly. It’s disgusting. But on the plus side, I’m getting laid left and right.”

Caleb choked on his chip, which made Nana laugh.

“Don’t encourage her,” Carly said. “Honestly, Nana, nobody wants to hear about your sex life.”

“Tough. It’s my duty as a feminist to talk about it. The media perpetuates terrible stereotypes about mature women’s sexuality, like it’s a crime to want to get some if you don’t have perky boobs anymore.”

“Forget I said anything,” Carly muttered.

But Nana was on a roll. “Just because I’m old doesn’t mean I’m neutered.” She wagged a finger at Carly. “And it sure as hell doesn’t mean I’m going to put on one of those ugly red hats and go on cruises with a bunch of biddies.”

“No?” Caleb asked, having recovered enough to reach for another chip. “I could see you having a good time on a cruise. You know they have open bars, right?”

“Oh, yeah?” Nana’s eyes softened as she forgot about the lecture and started imagining herself on a cruise. “You think I could find myself a boy toy on one of those ships? A rich one who’ll spring me from the home?”