Page 80 of Thick & Thin

Josh smiled uncomfortably before he moved away from the wall and took Caleb’s little chubby hand to shake it. “I’m Josh. Nice to meet you, little man.”

Tears filled my eyes, and I looked at Mrs. Black to see she had a similar response.

“You look like my Poppa,” Caleb pointed out. “I miss him.”

Josh’s face went soft, and he nodded. “I miss him too, buddy. What do you have there?” Josh said, changing the subject and pointing at the toys on the floor.

He followed Caleb over to the toys and then sat beside him on the floor and patiently listened while Caleb showed him toys that he had played with himself when he was younger.

I had never seen it before. At least not until Mrs. Black had handed me the photo of Josh when he was Caleb’s age, but the resemblance was there. Seeing the two of them sitting side by side, their facial expressions matching in so many ways, it wouldn’t be long with Josh in town before everyone started to see the same things. I couldn’t let him find out from someone else. I had to be the one to do it.

I had to tell him soon.

Not today.

Not tomorrow.

But soon.

26

Josh

I didn’t look at Jenny.Instead, I focused on the little boy in front of me, playing with my old toys and looking too adorable for his good. I wanted to dislike him … relay a bit of my hatred for his mother onto him, but I couldn’t. He had nothing to do with our past, and it wasn’t his fault I couldn’t have kids. It wasn’t his fault my mother and father adored him. Hell, I could see his charm. I didn’t blame Mom and Dad.

He held up an old truck I used to play with and showed me how it could shoot small targets out of its side. I pretended to be shocked by what he was doing even though I had shot many a target with the truck when I was little.

“That’s really cool. You should keep that toy if you love it so much,” I said, pushing another car alongside his and pretending to race.

His brown eyes grew wide, and he looked up at me. “This is Poppa’s toy. I can’t take his toy. What will we play with when he comes home?”

I heard Jenny gasp from her seat. I gasped a little myself.

The sweet boy thought my dad was going to come home. He wasn’t quite grasping the concept.

I knew it wasn’t my place, but I answered anyway, hoping I was saying the right thing.

“But Poppa’s in heaven now. It’s too far away for him to come back. Otherwise, I’m sure he would come back to hang with you all the time.”

His large brown eyes grew misty, the resemblance to a puppy dog broke my heart.

“He’s never coming back ever?” he asked, his bottom lip trembling.

I shook my head, hating being the one crushing his gentle heart. “No, little man, I’m afraid not. But guess what?”

My brain worked overtime to come up with a way to ease his hurt.

“What?” he asked, champing at the bit for happy information.

Horses.

I saw the pictures of him and my dad with the horses. Immediately, an idea came to me. I leaned down close to him and pretended I was telling him a top secret bit of information.

“I heard heaven has a farm just for Poppa full of horses for him to take care of.”

His large brown eyes grew impossibly bigger. He sucked in a shocked breath before he whispered, “Really?”

I nodded and looked around like I was trying to make sure no one else heard what we were saying.

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