Simple Man (12 page)

“She’s my caseworker.”

“Dude, you said she was a shrew.”

“She is.”

“I think our definitions of shrews are way different. She’s like…Smurfette cute.”

Shane turned and narrowed his eyes at Sims. “Smurfette’s a cartoon.”

“So? She’s still hot.”

“She’s blue!”

“I’d do her.”

He shook his head. “You’re an idiot.” He climbed out of the car and flipped the seat up to lift out Logan.

Sims came around the car. “Come on, are you saying you wouldn’t bang a girl just because she’s animated? What about the Little Mermaid or Jessica Rabbit?”

He stepped up to the door and hissed. “I am not having this conversation.”

He smiled at the caseworker. “Hello.”

“Hi.” She fidgeted with the button on her cardigan. This one was Kelly green. “I didn’t think you were home. I was about to leave.”

“We went car shopping,” he explained. She looked different today. Softer somehow. “Uh, this is my friend Sims.”

“Sheldon Simpson,” Sims introduced, holding out his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Shane rolled his eyes and unlocked the door. “Come on in. I just gotta put Logan down and I’ll be right out.”

She eyed Sims as though he were some odd life form then nodded and followed him inside. Shane carried Logan into the bedroom and put him on his back in the crib. When he came out, Sims was explaining the various methods of cloning and Katherine wore an expression like she needed to be rescued.

“Do you want something to drink?” Shane asked as he headed for the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water.

“Is it Wild Turkey?” she asked.

He stilled and turned to face her. Was that a joke? Her lip twitched nervously. Sims gazed at the two of them and frowned.

“No, I have water, juice, and formula if you’re interested, but the formula’s a little thick for my liking.”

She smiled. “I’ll take a water.” She had a nice smile. Was she wearing lip-gloss today?

He handed her a water and signaled for her to sit down. They cracked open their bottles and she asked, “Did you find a car?”

He drew in a hesitant breath. There seemed to be an unspoken truce going on between them. He didn’t like the way she’d spoken to him before and he hadn’t been nice either. She was his caseworker and he didn’t want to make waves, so he was willing to work with this new
let’s pretend we’re friends
thing. “Not yet, but I’m looking. Hopefully I can work something out soon.”

The room grew quiet and Sims’ gaze bounced between the two of them like he was watching a tennis match. Usually Shane would be glad for having him there as a buffer, but at the moment he sort of wanted him to leave. Was she still upset with him?

“I go back to work tomorrow,” he said, trying to make conversation.

She didn’t have her notepad out. “I was wondering,” she said. “Good. What did you decide on for daycare?”

He sipped his water. “Kiddie Academy.”

“Good.”

There was an extended moment of silence. Her gaze shot to Sims and she quickly looked down at her feet. She was wearing jeans today and little tangerine colored slippers. She seemed more casual than usual.

“So you just come here to check on Shane and Logan and make sure he isn’t doing anything stupid?” Sims asked.

Shane frowned at him and Katherine opened her mouth. “Um, yes, basically.”

“Do you like your job?”

She hesitated. “Yes.”

“Shane says you’re a hard ass.”

Shane winced and shot Sims a look to shut it. Nice going, douchebag. Katherine glanced at him accusingly. “I’m only looking out for the baby’s best interests.”

“Sims, didn’t you have somewhere to be?” he asked pointedly.

“No.” He frowned and caught Shane’s look. “Oh,
uh
, yeah. That’s right.” He stood. “It was lovely meeting you. What did you say your name was?”

“Kate.”

Shane tilted his head. Kate? He liked that better than Katherine.

“Well, I’ll probably see you around,” Sims said as he stood to leave.

“Nice meeting you,” Kate said.

They watched as he left. The silence expanded as the sound of the DeLorean drifted away.

“Is he one of your friends?”

“Yeah. Don’t mind him. He isn’t around pretty girls much. He’s a closeted
vidiot
.” When she didn’t get it, he explained, “Video game idiot.”

“Oh.” She folded her hands on her lap and looked down.

“I didn’t think you guys came by on the weekends.”

She looked up at him guiltily. “We normally don’t. I mean we can pop in whenever necessary, but we try to keep it to the weekdays. I, um…wanted to come by and apologize for my behavior the other day. It was very unprofessional.”

He took a moment to mask his surprise. Forcing his eyebrows back down, he said, “It’s already forgotten. I wasn’t very nice either.”

Her knee bounced and he wondered if he made her nervous. “I’m not usually so…harpy-like.”

He smirked. “I’m sure.”

She gazed up at him, her shoulder length blond hair forming a curtain over her one eye. He’d never seen it down like that. It was pretty, shiny.

“Most of my caseloads are women.”

He nodded. That made sense. All the other parents in his class were women.

“If, um...” She fidgeted. “If you really wanted to be reassigned I could talk to my supervisor.”

Did she want to reassign
him
? It was one thing to be the dumper, but no one liked being the dumpy. He gentled his expression. “I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” he said softly and she looked at him. When she wasn’t interrogating and insulting him, she was actually quite adorable.

“Are you sure?”

He nodded.

Her gaze lowered again. She looked chastised and guilt weighed on him. She shouldn’t take all the blame for the way they started off. “Look, Ms. McAllister—”

“Kate.”

“Kate. I’m not a nasty guy. I’ll admit, I’m kind of out of my element here, but I’m trying.”

“I know you are.”

“Why don’t we start over?”

She nodded. “Okay.”

He smiled, tipping his head, waiting for her to meet his gaze. When she did, her pink lips slowly curved into a matching smile. Good. This was better.

Logan squawked and the moment of shy smiles was broken. She stood. “I should go and let you get him.”

For some reason he didn’t want her to leave. Logan’s squawk turned into a cry. He was probably hungry.

She grabbed her bag. “Thanks for accepting my apology.”

He tried to come up with some way to stall her, but Logan was screaming and she was already at the door. “Thanks for accepting mine. When will I see you again?” He winced. That sounded like a completely inappropriate question to ask his caseworker.

She glanced at him and flushed. She looked flustered as she shifted her purse on her shoulder. “I’ll probably be back in the next two weeks to check on things.”

That long?
“Oh.” He tried to hide his disappointment, which he didn’t understand. Her presence made him tense and uneasy, yet this seemed different this time and it felt…nice…having her there. Weird. “Okay. Well, I guess I’ll see you around.”

She nodded then awkwardly slipped out the door. He watched her walk to her car, a jolt of satisfaction hitting the pit of his stomach when she looked back before she climbed into her little green bug.

She pulled away and he sighed then frowned. That was unexpected. It was like dealing with two totally different women. Shaking his head he contemplated how he could suddenly like someone he hated two days ago. He didn’t want to get his hopes up. This could be a fluke and the harpy could return at any time. Turning, he went to get his bellowing little man.

Chapter Eight

The next few weeks were a trial in adulthood. Shane showed up late for work four times. His foreman actually said something, which was uncomfortable and embarrassing.

It seemed there was always something holding him up. Either Logan needed to eat or had an accident or the damn car seat was giving him trouble. One day he forgot the baby purse and had to go all the way back to the trailer for it.

Logan’s teacher, Miss Jill, was very understanding. She looked about his age, but was cute, bubbly. She loved Logan and that made it easier to leave him there each day. It was insane how hard it was to trust him in the care of strangers when he and Logan had been strangers only a week ago.

There’d been a rain out early in the week and he used the time while Logan was still at daycare to visit the dealership again. Carl the eel ran his credit and appraised the S10. The dealership had a small, gunmetal gray, 2005 four door Kia on the lot he could live with. It had a ton of miles and it was a girl car, but the color made it less so, or so he told himself.

Carl offered sixteen hundred for the truck. With the special financing, Shane would be looking at a payment of about one hundred and eighty dollars a month over the next five years.

He knew he was getting ripped off, but it was the best he could afford. Hopefully the car would last that long. It already had ninety thousand miles on it. But it had good safety ratings and as things stood, it was the best he could provide.

When he signed the loan papers and handed over his keys he felt like he was making a deal with the devil. Carl handed him his new set of keys and gave him a reptilian smile. He was doing this for Logan. That’s what he kept telling himself. It was all for Logan.

The upside was that paying for a loan over five long years should straighten out his credit. Having a kid meant having expenses. He needed a line of credit in case there was ever an emergency. So, no matter how much he understood he was getting raped by a forked tongued car salesman named Carl, he knew he was doing the right thing.

When he drove Logan home that day the little guy seemed unimpressed with Shane’s investment. What did he know about cars anyway?

They went to the grocery store and stocked up on some necessities. It was the first time he actually used his government card. Swiping it through the scanner made him self-conscious, like he was on display. He stood so the people in line couldn’t see what he was doing.

He hated knowing he was on welfare. His pride stung every time he admitted he couldn’t do things on his own. It didn’t matter that times were tough and the economy was in the shitter. He was a man and as such he should be able to provide for himself and his boy. Still, his gratitude for such assistance was immeasurable. Logan was already humbling him in uncountable ways.

When the number on the register dropped from a hundred and ten dollars to thirty-seven he almost jumped out of his skin. Holy shit! Seeing the results of assistance programs in black and white made it somewhat easier to tolerate, but he still wanted to get on his feet as soon as he could and get off welfare. There was just some part of him that demanded he try harder and do this for Noel and Logan…and himself.

He was unloading groceries while Logan cooed from his blanket on the floor when the phone rang. Shane pulled his cell out of his pocket and frowned when he didn’t recognize the number. He watched Logan doing his workout and flipped the phone open.

“Hello?”

“Hi, is this Shane?”

“Yeah.”

“Shane, this is Arty, down at Moosen Grill. I got your number from Steve Wallace. I’m looking for some live entertainment over the next few weeks and Steve suggested I give you a call to see if you’re interested.”

Shane mentally pictured the Moosen Grill. It was a decent place. Sort of had a dinner crowd thing going on the weeknights. “Yeah, I’m definitely interested.”

“Great. I can pay you two hundred a night on the weekends and one hundred on weeknights. I’m looking for four-hourly sets. How does that sound?”

“That sounds great. How many nights were you thinking?”

“Well, as of right now I was hoping for Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.”

He quickly did math in his head. Holy shit, that was an extra five hundred dollars a week! “How far in advance did you want to schedule?”

“Well, let’s agree to the next two weeks and renegotiate from there, see how you mix with the crowd. Steve says you do a lot of classic rock.”

“That’s right, but I could add stuff to my list if you were looking for something more. I’m also happy to take requests if I’m familiar with the song.”

“Sounds good. So I’ll see you this Friday? Say you start around seven? You can show up earlier to set up.”

“Okay, I’ll see you then. Thanks, Arty.”

He hung up the phone. “Yes!”

Logan startled and Shane went to the floor, a grin splitting his face. He scooped up the baby and rolled to his back, holding him above his chest like an airplane.

“Sorry, buddy. Guess what! We’re gonna make some money. Baby needs some new shoes and he’s gonna get them. That’s right! Maybe even that neat bouncy thing I saw you eyeing up at the store the other day.”

Logan stared down at him and smiled. As he babbled, a string of drool fell from his mouth onto Shane’s face.

“Ugh, gross. When are you going to get some teeth and learn to control the spit?” He laughed and wiped away the drool. Sitting up, he crossed his legs and propped Logan in his lap. He opened the phone and dialed.

“What’s up, dick breath?” Tucker answered.

“Nice. Hey, what are you doing this Friday night?”

“Nothing. Probably coming over to nag your pansy ass.”

“What’s Lisa doing?”

He could hear the confusion in Tucker’s voice. “Why?”

“Well, I sort of have a gig and I need a sitter.”

“You want my girl to babysit?”

“Well, it’s either her or one of you guys and I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“You don’t trust us? I’m hurt.”

Shane rolled his eyes. “Is this something that really bothers you?”

“Nah, not really. I could ask her, I guess.”

“She likes kids, right?” Shane didn’t really know Lisa. She was nice. She didn’t drink a lot or ever smoke pot. And she was going to college for nursing or something. But mostly she was qualified, because she was a girl. Sexist or not, girls had natural know-how when it came to babies.