You Never Know by Mary Calmes

Author:Mary Calmes [Calmes, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 978-1-63533-907-9
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2017-07-21T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

AS EXPECTED, the kids lost their minds at my house. The treehouse was a huge hit: the ladder up to the sunroom; the outside deck they could walk all the way around, feel the wind, and smell the ocean and the rain; the TV that came out of the wall; and weirdly, the compost toilet. They also liked Ed, who was the closest thing I had to a pet.

“He looks just like Hedwig,” Ryder gushed.

“Yeah, well, he’s not cuddly like her, so don’t go trying to squeeze him.”

“Can I pet him?”

Since I was outside grilling steaks, I cut a small piece off mine and put it in Ryder’s hand. “Okay, so you keep your hand open and he’ll take it off your palm.”

He nodded happily and walked slowly over to the adult snowy owl perched on the roost on the corner closest to the biggest redwood on my property.

I turned to look at Mitch. “I promise the owl won’t hurt him.”

“Did you hear me ask a question?” He grinned. “Because I didn’t. I trust you. I always have.”

I swallowed down my retort. The oh yeah would have been sharp and venomous—how dare he act like he knew me? How dare he treat me as though no time had passed?

I was hurt, angry, still eaten up by things I’d wanted to say but had never gotten the chance to. He’d left a hole in my heart that couldn’t be filled, and it had taken me so very long—through my time in the Army and after coming home—to find myself again. I was finally me without him, and the idea of taking even one step back was terrifying.

“You have something to say?”

“No,” I whispered before I turned back to watch his son as he reached Ed.

He held up his hand and the owl very slowly leaned down, took the morsel from his hand, and then lifted up to knock it back and down his gullet. He then regarded the boy and took a step closer.

“Okay, bud, now you can pet his chest, but be gentle.”

And with a deliberateness I didn’t think a six-year-old could have, Ryder pet the owl. Then it was Brandon’s turn to repeat the same steps. When they were finished, they leaned on the railing and watched the owl, and looked at the trees and the ground. I knew that until Ed took off for the night, neither boy was leaving his side.

Leaving Mitch outside to finish grilling the steaks, I went back to the kitchen to check on the mac n’ cheese, toss the salad, and mix the lemonade and ice tea everyone agreed they wanted.

“So how’d you get an owl?” Mitch wanted to know when he came inside ten minutes later with the steaks. He looked flushed from the wind.

“Fuckin’ assholes shot his mom,” I explained. “Since they nest on the ground, it makes it dicey sometimes. They were all laughing it up when I caught them.”

“They were on the preserve?”

I nodded.

“They’re lucky it was you. Your mom would’ve shot ’em.

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