Page 19 of Taming the Boss

They made a few minutes of small talk with my brother commenting on Jude being new in town, so did he have local employment and the like. Jude mentioned something about a real estate business with some local guys and that he knew the Hamiltons, which got a raised eyebrow from my brother.

And then we were finally on our way after my brother reminded him to get his light replaced soon.

“Where the hell can I do that?” Jude signaled away from the curb and rejoined traffic.

“Right there.” I tapped the passenger window as we passed by Dare, Gage, and Tish’s auto shop conveniently located near the police station. “Dare will get you fixed right up.”

“Yay. But we’ll get new sneakers for Owen first.”

“Yeah. We just need to keep going straight a bit longer and then take a right at the traffic light and then straight down to the plaza on the left.”

He aimed a quick glance at the rearview mirror. “Owen, leave your shoe on.”

“You’ll have new ones soon.” I reached back to pat his leg. “Hey, can you find a red car?”

“Why?” Jude demanded.

“Not you, Owen. Distraction,” I said out of the corner of my mouth as Jude continued heading up Main Street.

After he turned at the light as I’d said, he kept going as requested until we pulled up to the lot with the shoe store. Quickly, I got out and hurried to take Owen out of his car seat, immediately settling him on my hip still only wearing one shoe.

Jude came around to join us and I could tell he was about to launch his shoe diatribe yet again so I marched ahead with his son, heading into the cheerful store and getting the attention of the salesclerk I knew from college. “Hey, James, this is Owen. Can you help him find some awesome new sneakers? His current ones don’t fit quite right though they’re new.”

“They hurt,” Owen said, sticking out his chin before he aimed a look at his father. “Can I have lights?”

“Lights for what?” Jude asked impatiently.

“Probably on his sneakers,” James interjected. “We have sneakers with lights, kiddo. Let’s just get you measured again and make sure you find some sneakers you love.” James glanced at me. “This your little boy, Maddie?”

I laughed it off. We hadn’t seen each other in long enough that I supposed it wasn’t a crazy question. “You know of some sneakers with lights?”

“Oh, I know lots of things.” He winked at me and headed off into the back, indicating we should follow. He had us sit down on a bench while he got out some foot machine gizmo and set about measuring Owen.

A short while later, he went into the back and returned with a bunch of boxes of different sneakers, some with lights, some without. Owen tried on a couple pairs and then walked across the store in them, flexing his feet as I told him to, and checking himself out in the mirror.

“How do those feel?” I asked as Owen tried on a purple pair without lights.

“Okay.”

“But you want ones with lights, right? How about these?” I grabbed a blue and red pair off a display with lights all along the bottom.

“Those lights even show when you walk.” James indicated a poster on the wall and Owen flashed a delighted smile before trying on that style of shoe in his right size.

“How are those? They fit okay?”

“Yeah, Baddie.”

I started to correct him then just shrugged it off and led him by the hand around the store, following the drawn footsteps on the floor into a maze that made him giggle louder and louder. Then I swept him up on my hip again. “Are these the ones? Do you need some socks too?”

He nodded frantically then pointed to blue and red striped socks hanging near the shoes.

A short time later, we aimed for the exit with a bag full of new socks and a brochure after James mentioned I should call him sometime.

Jude was too busy looking my way to pay attention to James, or so I thought. Until he murmured, “Are you going to call him?”

I laughed him off as I helped Owen re-tie his new sneakers, which unsurprisingly, he did not know how to do yet. So, I showed him what I was doing as I tied them, and then I grinned widely as he wore his new sneakers out of the store.

“Looking good, buddy!” I gave Owen a thumbs up.

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