Page 18 of Lost and Found Cowboy
“Yes, you have. But it makes me wonder…” She looked down as she ran her finger along a small scratch in the table beforeraising her eyes to meet his gaze again. “Do you already have kids?”
He shook his head but kept his gaze trained on hers. “No. I don’t. But for a while, when I was younger, I was around little kids quite a bit.”
“How so?”
“When I was around ten or eleven, we lived in this crummy little apartment building in a small town in Texas. Our neighbors across the hall were this nice young couple who had four kids, all younger than me, including a baby. The woman—her name was Anna Maria—” He smiled fondly when he said her name. “I think she must have noticed that my mom was gone a lot and tended to leave me alone for days or weeks at a time, and she sort of took me under her wing.”
Lorna noticed how he just blithely mentioned that his mother left a ten-year-old boy alone in an apartment for weeks at a time, and her heart broke for the boy he’d been.
“She started out asking if I could help her watch the kids while she went to the basement to change the laundry or to run a quick errand,” Mack continued. “Then she’d end up inviting me to stay for dinner, and most nights sent leftovers home with me, so I’d have something to eat for lunch the next day.”
“Wow. That was kind of her.”
“She was one of the kindest people I’ve ever known. But don’t be mistaken.” He flashed her a good-natured grin. “She made me work for it too. But I never minded. It made me feel less like a charity case to eat with their family if I’d spent the afternoon watching the kids or helping fold clothes or doing odd little chores for her. Dante, her husband, gave me some basic tools and taught me how to fix small things around the apartment like changing lightbulbs and how to stop a leak in the sink. And Anna-Maria taught me how to shop for cheap ingredients and how to cook simple meals so I could feed myself and not starvewhen my mom took off again. She taught me how to do my own laundry and how to make homemade tortillas and chocolate chip cookies. I don’t think my mom ever baked a cookie in her life.”
Hearing that made Lorna thankful for that sweet mom who took on another woman’s child, and felt even more convinced Mack would appreciate the surprise she’d made for him.
“The year we lived in that apartment building was probably the happiest one of my childhood. Even though my mom was gone a lot, and my dad had already taken off by then, I still got to experience what it felt like to be part of a family. To have someone happy to see me when I got home from school and to ask about my day or praise me for a good grade. And her kids were like the siblings I’d always wished for. Every time one of them asked me to do a puzzle or playCrazy EightsorGo Fishor watch a cartoon with them, I always said yes. And I never cared about changing diapers or taking out the trash or washing dishes, as long as I got to be with them.”
“They sound great. Do you still keep in touch?”
He shook his head. “Nah. My mom met some guy, and we moved to another town, and I never saw them again. But I never forgot the impact they had on my life.”
“Thank you for sharing that story with me,” she told him, her tone as solemn as the occasion called for. They stared at each other, both seemingly thinking about that ten-year-old boy. His story had taught her something about him. And it touched her that he’d trusted her with something so personal from his past.
“I like to playCrazy Eights,” Max said, picking up two white Lego pieces and sticking them together. “And you can watch cartoons with me whenever you want. Have you ever seenBluey? It’s a show about a Blue-Heeler puppy, and she’s six, like me. And she gets into trouble sometimes.”
“Also like you,” Lorna said, grinning at her son and the way he so effortlessly lightened the conversation.
“I have not seen it,” Mack told him. “But I do like Blue-Heelers, and I’d be glad to watch it sometime with you.”
“How about right now?” Max flashed his mom an innocent grin.
“How about we focus on the pirate ship for right now,” she said. “And maybe we can watch an episode after supper.”
“Ohh-kay,” he sighed, then turned to Mack. “Will you stay and watch one show with me? Just one. Or maybe two. They’re really funny.”
Mack laughed. “Sure, bud. If it’s okay with your mom, I’ll commit to at least one.”
Lorna shrugged. “Who am I to stand in the way of a new Bluey convert? But speaking of supper, it’s after five, so I’d better get the noodles going or we’ll never eat.”
Izzy seemed content in Mack’s lap, so Lorna slipped away to the kitchen to start the pasta and get the bread into the oven.
Mack was a decent man, thoughtful and kind, and it made her happy for her son to spend time with him. But they’d spent time together before and then Mack had left for months. She was in dangerous territory here, letting herself, and her little family, get close to another man. She sure as hell didn’t want her boy to have to go through the heartbreak of another guy walking out of their lives.
When she had everything ready and the food on the table, she headed back toward the family room but stopped to listen to the conversation happening between Mack and her son.
“I can’t believe how quickly you put that part together,” Mack was saying. “You’re really smart, Max.”
“No, I’m not. I’m dumb,” Max answered way too matter-of-factly.
“What? Why would you say that?”
“Because that’s what my daddy used to say,” Max said, and a piece of Lorna’s heart tore in two. “He always called me a little dummy.”
“Well, he’s wrong.” She could hear the shock in Mack’s tone.
“I know I’m not smart, I get my letters mixed up a lot. That’s why I have trouble reading. But I don’t mind being called dumb. He said my mama was a dummy too, and so that makes me just like her, and she’s awesome.”
