McKettricks of Texas: Garrett by Linda Lael Miller Page A

supper with Dixie and me tonight. The café at the Amble On Inn isn’t much, but they serve a decent meal.”
    Julie would have liked a little more time to prepare Calvin for his first real meeting with his dad and stepmom, but since she’d sort of forced Gordon’s hand by dodging his calls and e-mails for more than a month, the opportunity was clearly lost.
    Gordon had been patient, even kind, but he was nobody’s fool. If he and Julie couldn’t work out a visitation schedule they’d both be able to live with, he would almost certainly take things to the next level and hire an attorney.
    â€œOkay,” Julie said, checking her watch again. Her lunch period was almost over, and after eleventh-grade English literature, she was meeting with Arthur Dulles and several school board members in his office. He was determined to make her set aside the three one-act plays she’d intended to showcase and put on a big, splashy musical instead, because those made more money. And he was rolling out the major cannons. “What time?”
    â€œLet’s meet at the café at six, if that works for you,” Gordon said.
    Julie nodded, pulling her wallet from her purse when the check arrived. Gordon picked it up and waved away her offer to at least pay the tip.
    He stood.
    She stood.
    He said thank you.
    She said he was welcome.
    He walked her back to her car and waited until she was inside before turning to head for his SUV.
    Julie immediately got out her cell phone headset and speed-dialed Paige. “Are you busy?” Julie asked, steering with one hand as she pulled out onto the main road.
    Paige, a highly skilled surgical nurse, worked in a private clinic an hour from Blue River, and her schedule was a bugger. She put in four twelve-hour days every week, and spent most of the other three sleeping off her exhaustion and overseeing the changes she was making in the house.
    â€œMe, busy?” she joked. “Let’s see. Just as I was getting off work last night, search and rescue airlifted an accident victim in from some farm in the next county. Kid chopped off his left arm trying to sculpt a bear out of an oak stump with a chainsaw—but we’re the best. Dr. Kerrigan sewed it right back on. I guess that constitutes ‘busy.’”
    Julie felt slightly queasy. “Thanks for sharing,” she said. “If you don’t have time to talk, just say so.”
    â€œI have time to listen,” Paige said. “What’s going on, Jules?”
    â€œThe cottage is up for sale,” Julie answered. “I’ve been renting that house from Louise Smithfield for five years, and she didn’t even bother to tell me she was putting it on the market.”
    â€œSo we change the renovation plans for the house,” Paige said easily. “We’ll make it a duplex. You and Calvin can live on one side, and I’ll live on the other.”
    Julie parked the car, her palm damp where she was clasping the phone.
    â€œBut you didn’t call to tell me about the cottage, did you?” Paige prompted.
    â€œIt’s Gordon,” Julie said shakily. “He’s in town. He finally just…showed up. Calvin and I are having dinner with him and his wife. Tonight. ”
    â€œJulie?”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œTake a breath. This is a good thing, sis.”
    â€œSo why do I feel terrified?”
    â€œBecause you’ve probably been going over worst-case scenarios ever since you got that first e-mail from Gordon.”
    Ah, yes, the worst-case scenarios.
    Julie knew them all.
    Gordon snatches Calvin and whisks him off to Mexico or some other third-world country, and Julie never sees her child again.
    Gordon has a secret addiction—alcohol, gambling, drugs—maybe all those and more. Calvin is not only in danger when he visits his father, he’s more prone to engage in said addictions himself.
    Gordon is a perfectly good father, and