Page 61 of Never Fall Again

He was beside her as they made their way to the table where Chad and Naomi had already settled Eliza and Abby. “Not everyone.” Cal adjusted the plate in his hand and pulled out her chair for her. “Just the people I care about.”

Cal and Landry took their seats and dove into their food.

Landry had never enjoyed eating fried chicken in public. Should she cut it with a knife? Use her fingers? Some combination of the two?

She scanned the tables to either side. No one was using cutlery to eat their chicken. The kids were going in face-first. The adults were following suit with the smaller pieces. Thighs and breasts were being pulled apart with fingers.

Landry pulled a small piece from the chicken breast on her plate. Juices ran down her fingers before she could get it in her mouth. But once she tasted it, she simply didn’t care what she looked like. “This is the best chicken I’ve ever eaten.” She spoke to Cal around bites. “How is it possible that Cassie isn’t already married? I would think chicken like this would garner marriage proposals by the dozens.”

Cal didn’t stop eating but gave her a look that said he agreed with her. He took a drink and muttered, “I hope Donovan was on duty and hasn’t had any of this tonight. Otherwise, we’ll be planning a wedding for spring.”

“What’s your problem with Donovan?” Naomi asked from her spot across from Landry. “He’s a nice guy. Gray likes him. He hasn’t been dating his way through the female population like that other officer did. Do you know something the rest of us don’t?”

“I know lots of things the rest of you don’t.” Cal spoke with false solemnity. “The stories I could tell...”

“Oh, hush.” Naomi waved a chicken leg in his direction. “Fine. You know stuff about Donovan. Is it related to his character? Or just that he has a past? Everyone has baggage. You can’t protect Cassie from that. In fact, maybe we should be warning Donovan. Cassie’s own baggage is heavy.”

Landry listened to the exchange with unabashed curiosity. Cassie? That bubbly young woman? She seemed light and carefree. But Landry knew better than most that young women weren’t immune to darkness.

“Donovan’s a good guy. I’ll stay out of it.” Cal frowned at his plate.

Naomi laughed. “Heaven help us all if you ever have a little girl. Poor thing will have to move out of the country if she wants to date.”

At Naomi’s words, Cal stiffened. Just for a second. Landry didn’t think she would have noticed had she not been sitting right beside him, their elbows occasionally brushing as they ate. He laughed at Naomi’s remark, and the laughter was close to real but somehow...off.

A round, balding man who desperately needed someone to discuss nose hair trimmers with him approached from the left, and Cal and Chad both stood, extended their hands, and made introductions. The man, who turned out to be the middle school principal, took a seat to Cal’s left. Chad and Cal returned to their seats and their meals while continuing the conversation about what sounded like a project the principal wanted them to help with.

Landry suspected that under normal circumstances, Cal would have been annoyed by the intrusion about work on his evening off, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that tonight he was grateful for it.

He had so much. A warm family. A loving community. He was brave, had served his country, and on the surface, had it all. But Naomi’s off-the-cuff remark had hurt him, and Landry found herself unwilling to let that go. Under the table, she reached out her hand, placed it on Cal’s leg right above his knee, and squeezed. Before she could pull her hand back, his hand covered hers and returned the squeeze.

Then they both went back to eating and chatting, and apparently, pretending that nothing had happened.

It took Cal a full three minutes to pull himself together enough before he could look at Landry. When Mr. Brevis left to accost some other poor soul about opportunities to advertise their business in the middle school’s new gym, Cal turned in his seat so his body language hopefully indicated that he didn’t wish to be approached by anyone else.

He made eye contact with Chad. The kind that even their age difference hadn’t prevented them from perfecting over the years. Chad didn’t like Mr. Brevis. He particularly didn’t like it when people tried to talk business while he was with his family.

Naomi patted Chad’s arm. “Thank you for not making things difficult with Brevis. Danté has spent enough time in the man’s office this year. No need to give him any more reason to think the worst of him.”

“It’s extortion is what it is.” Chad stabbed a green bean. “You see who he’s talking to now? The Lancasters.”

Naomi leaned toward Landry and said, “Gretchen Lancaster spends more time in Brevis’s office than Danté.”

Landry pinched her lips together. “Are Gretchen and Danté friends?”

Chad rolled his eyes. “Those two will either change the world for the better—”

“Or become criminal masterminds,” Naomi finished the thought. “Brevis better be careful. The Lancasters are fed up with his treatment of Gretchen. He’s going to get himself called up before the school board.”

Landry leaned toward Naomi and whispered, “I had no idea there was so much drama in Gossamer Falls.”

“Oh, honey. You have no idea.”

They finished their meal, and Cal joined them as they made the trek back down Main Street. The adults spoke to friends while the girls stopped at every booth and loaded up on candy. Cal could sense Naomi’s remark hovering on the edge of his consciousness, but he refused to give in to the temptation to wallow.

Maybe, someday, he’d have a little girl. And he’d rock being a girl dad. The same way he would have rocked being a boy dad. But he couldn’t think about that. Because then he’d start thinking about the boys and wondering what they’d dressed up as this weekend. Or if they’d decided they were too old for such nonsense.

That kind of thinking could put a man into a depression. Been there. Done that. Got the therapy. Knew how to keep from spiraling again. He stayed in the present, and when they made it back to the church parking lot and sat down for dessert, he was able to enjoy the look on Eliza’s face when she tasted Cassie’s banana pudding.

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