McKettricks of Texas: Garrett by Linda Lael Miller

that. “Okay,” he said. “That’s fair. I appreciate the honesty.”
    The food came, and Gordon took the time to salt and pepper his burger, line up the little wells of ketchup for dunking fries.
    Julie cut her sandwich in half to make it more manageable and surprised herself by eating a few bites.
    â€œI think I told you about Dixie,” Gordon began. “My wife?”
    â€œYou told me,” Julie said. “Are you still living in Louisiana?”
    Gordon shook his head. “Dallas,” he said. “That’s Dixie’s hometown. Lots of construction going on, so I’ve been working steady.”
    â€œThat’s good,” Julie said carefully.
    She had lived with this man.
    Made love with him, borne his child.
    Even back then, in the throes of passion, she’d known so little about Gordon Pruett. Never met his parents and very few of his friends. She wondered, then and now, if he’d been trying to keep her a secret for some reason.
    â€œDixie’s dad owns the construction company,” Gordon explained, with no trace of apology or defensiveness. “We have a nice home in a good neighborhood and—”
    â€œYou can’t have Calvin,” Julie broke in, frightened again. Still. “I’m all he knows, and I won’t just send him off to live with total strangers, Gordon.”
    Gordon raised both hands in a bid for peace. “Julie,” he said, leaning toward her a little, his voice slow and earnest, “let’s be clear from the beginning. I have no intention— zero —of going after full custody, or even shared custody. I’ll continue to make the child-support payments. But I want to get to know Calvin, and have him get to know me.”
    Julie eased up a little. Although her appetite was gone, she made herself eat a little more, so her blood sugar wouldn’t plunge in the middle of the afternoon.
    â€œAnd how would you go about this? Getting acquainted with Calvin, I mean?”
    Gordon smiled, and Julie was reassured by the kind twinkle in his eyes. “Very slowly and carefully at first,” he replied. “Maybe we’d just go out for pizza in the beginning, or play some miniature golf. Of course, you’d be included in any outings Dixie and I planned for Calvin—we wouldn’t expect you to be comfortable with any other kind of arrangement, at least in the beginning.”
    Julie’s relief must have shown clearly in her face, because Gordon reached across the table, took her hand in a gentle grip and gave it a fleeting squeeze.
    â€œExcept for spending the night with one or the other of my sisters, Libby or Paige, Calvin’s never been away from home,” she said tentatively. “His asthma doesn’t flare up very often, but when it does and it’s bad, he’s terrified. Usually the inhaler works, but sometimes he needs a ventilator.”
    Gordon’s Calvin-blue eyes were solemn. Looking across the table at this man, this familiar stranger, Julie slipped into a time warp for just a fraction of an instant and saw her little boy, all grown up.
    â€œDixie’s an RN,” he said. “She knows all about medical equipment and medicines and the like. And she loves kids. In fact, we’re expecting one of our own next April.”
    Julie felt a too-familiar ache on Calvin’s behalf.
    Gordon was excited about the baby he and Dixie were expecting. He was ready to be a father. Where had all this maturity been when Calvin was born?
    On the other hand, shouldn’t she just be grateful that Gordon wanted a relationship with his son at all? As absentee fathers went, he was surely one of the better ones.
    â€œHow long will you be in town?” she asked, after taking a long sip of iced tea to wet her nerve-parched throat.
    â€œWe’ve got to be back in Dallas by the day after tomorrow,” Gordon answered. “I was hoping you and Calvin could have