Justin ate his Stew and listened to Del and the kids talking. Harper was full of opinions, and even Wyatt interjected once or twice. Scarlett contributed with a few shrieks and yells and sounds that weren’t quite words yet, but would be someday soon. The book Del had bought said that she should have been using words by now, and Justin thought that it would happen for her very soon now that people were talking to her. He wondered if, with Mom, she’d just been left in her crib and ignored.
Justin was still eating when Harper and Wyatt carried their dishes back into the kitchen, and Del went with them to load the dishwater.
Scarlett showed him a gummy smile from her high chair.
Could Justin give the kids this without Del? He didn’t want to do it on his own, but couldhe? He didn’t know. He didn’t think so. It was hard to think of his house and imagine it as warm and welcoming as this one. Some nights he didn’t ever want to leave Del’s house, and he knew the kids felt the same.
Still, it was a school night.
Justin finished his Stew and took the plate into the kitchen.
Del was ladling some Stew into a Tupperware container. “The kids aren’t fans, but I thought you might like to take some to work for lunches. You can freeze what you don’t need straight away, and it’ll last a while.”
“Sorry about that.”
“About what?” Del asked, tilting his head. And then he laughed. “About the kids not liking it? Justin, I’ve had reviews of my food that would melt your face off. Trust me, nothing Harper and Wyatt say will even come close to that, right, guys?”
“The ice cream was good!” Harper exclaimed.
“Yum,” Wyatt agreed.
“The ice cream wasgood,” Del agreed with a broad smile. “I’m glad you guys liked it. Now, how about we go and get Scarlett cleaned up, and get you all ready to go home since it’s a school night? Harper, you know the quiche you guys had for dinner? Wyatt and I made some with puff pastry that you can take to school tomorrow for a snack, because it’s just as nice cold.”
Harper grinned and fist bumped him.
Justin’s chest ached. He was so scared that wanting more meant losing this.
* * * *
The moon was bright as they walked down the road from Del’s house to Justin’s. They followed the blacktop instead of cutting through the field and down the gully. The night air was sharp, and Harper and Wyatt, holding hands, skipped ahead a little. The breeze rustled the long tufts of dry grass at the side of the road and, from the trees down toward the gully, Justin heard the low hoot of an owl and the beat of wings.
“One thing I missed in the city?” Del asked. He was carrying Scarlett on his hip, and he reached out with his spare hand to catch Justin’s fingers in his own
“What?” Justin asked softly. He swung the bag with the Tupperware containers in his other hand.
“The stars,” Del said and turned his face toward the night sky. “Sometimes, when I finished work it was three or four in the morning, but I’d get in my car and drive, just to leave the city far enough behind so that I could get out and look at the stars.”
He liked the stars, Justin thought, but they weren’t enough to make him stay, were they? How could they be? Del didn’t belong in a place like Enterprise.
Del smiled. “Clyde thought it was stupid.”
“Clyde sounds like an asshole,” Justin said with more force in his tone than he’d intended.
Del laughed. “Hindsight is twenty/twenty, right?”
“Do you miss him?” Justin asked, his heart pounding.
Del squeezed his hand. “I sometimes miss the man I thought I was married to, but that’s not who Clyde turned out to be. I’m sorry my marriage ended in divorce, even if I’m not sorry I divorced him. Does that make sense?”
“Yeah,” Justin said. “I get it.”
“And I’m not sorry I ended up here,” Del said. “With you.”
“Me neither,” Justin whispered.
Up ahead, Harper and Wyatt had turned off the road and were heading down the dirt driveway toward the house. The house looked small in the moonlight. Small and ugly and ramshackle, like one good storm would knock it over. It probably would.
The thin soles of Justin’s sneakers crunched in the dirt as they turned onto the driveway. He had his eye on a pair of steel-toed work boots that would be better for the feed store. And then he’d look into getting his forklift certification too, since Lloyd was saying he might have more hours for him that way. Things were slowly falling into place, and Justin had no doubt that was all down to Del. He never would have survived that first horrible week if he hadn’t been desperate enough to knock on Del’s front door.