Jacqueline Diamond - Paris or Bust!

He forgot everything else as he helped the boys pick out clothes. Both wanted jeans, and they were delighted when Callum agreed to buy them new sneakers, as well. With a pang, he realized how tight money must be for Jody. Thank goodness he’d learned about the twins while they were little.

Ben’s taste ran to T-shirts with pictures of teddy bears and puppies. Jerry fell in love with a black-and-tan short-sleeved shirt much too large for him and refused to give it up. “I want it! It’s mine!”

“That’s an adult small,” the storekeeper, Al Banyon, commented. “It’ll come down to his knees.”

“I don’t care.” Jerry thrust out his lower lip.

What good was a father if he couldn’t indulge his child? Callum reflected. “I’ll tell you what,” he said. “We’ll buy this, but you have to pick out at least two other T-shirts that are the right size.”

His son reflected and came to a decision. “Okay.” He walked to the racks, grabbed two plain blue T-shirts, and returned with a triumphant smile.

“I’m hungry,” Ben said after Callum finished paying.

He checked his watch. Three o’clock. Usually he sent his secretary out for a latte about now. “Let’s stow these in the trunk and see what they’ve got at the Downtown Café.”

They sauntered along the sidewalk to the corner of Main Street and Mesquite Avenue. The sight of children playing at the elementary school across the street unlocked happy memories of Callum’s own school days.

Inside the gleaming eatery, a couple of cowboys were chowing down one of the café’s famous round-the-clock breakfasts. The only other occupant was a pretty, dark-haired waitress mopping the tile floor.

Callum chose a table near the window. The waitress disappeared, exchanged her mop for an order pad, and returned.

“Hi, I’m Evelyn,” she said. “Hello there, Ben and Jerry. What can I get for you folks?”

“Can we have a sundae, Daddy?” Ben asked.

When she heard the name “Daddy,” the young woman dropped her pen. Apologizing, she scooped it up. “I didn’t realize…I mean, you must be…I, uh, guess you’re a good friend of Jody’s.” She smiled.

“That’s a safe bet. I mean, yes, I am,” he said. “Let’s make that three sundaes. Is chocolate okay with everyone?” Two small heads nodded. “One coffee, too, please.”

“You bet!”

“I’d like to say hello to Ella Mae, if she isn’t busy,” he added.

“I’ll tell her right away!” The young woman gave an excited skip as she hurried to the kitchen.

“Do you guys eat here often?” Callum asked.

“Grandpa and Grandma used to bring us,” Jeremy said. “Mommy says we can’t ’ford it.”

“They make yummy burgers.” Ben rested his chin on his palm.

“From now on, you and Mommy can eat here a lot more often.” Callum hoped Jody wasn’t going to argue about his paying her a generous monthly allotment. If they got married as she’d suggested, there would be no question about his helping to support them. That was one point in its favor.

While the boys amused themselves by identifying letters in their plastic-covered menus, Callum’s mind remained fixed on Jody. Just thinking about their embrace this morning made him want her so much he ached. If she hadn’t interrupted their kiss, history might have repeated itself.

She was right, though, that attempting to have a real long-distance marriage might blow up in their faces. Neither of them had any experience at maintaining intimacy even under ideal conditions. As for a marriage of convenience, however, he didn’t see how they could be sure of resisting the temptation they hadn’t been able to resist in the past.

In order to make a decision, Callum needed some criteria. What would the rules be, and did they have a chance at succeeding? If only there were some way to test their resolve…

“Oh, look!” Ben jumped up. “It’s Abner!”

“Who’s Abner?” Callum hoped this wasn’t going to turn out to be another rival for Jody’s affections.

Jeremy pelted past him. “Hi, Abner!” He squatted to stroke a large calico cat. Joining him, Ben ran both hands through the thick fur.

The cat rolled onto its back, purring so loudly the sound echoed from the restaurant walls. “He’s certainly friendly,” Callum observed.

“He’s so outgoing, Ella Mae says he thinks he’s a dog.” Evelyn poured him a full mug.

A clap from the kitchen doorway announced the presence of a large-boned woman in her sixties. “Abner! Bad cat!” cried Ella Mae. “Go on, boy! Out!” Startled, the feline let out a disappointed sound halfway between a groan and a whine as it got to its feet and slouched away. “Sorry, folks,” the owner announced. “He’s not allowed in here, but he gets curious.”

After shutting the door behind the cat, Ella Mae fetched a plate of homemade cookies and passed them out to her customers. “This is by way of an apology,” she told Callum as she took a seat across from him. “It sure is good to see you. You’ve been gone far too long.”

“It’s good to be back,” he said, and meant it. His mother had died not long after he graduated from college and his father, who liked to visit cousins in Arizona, used to drive there and on to California once a year in his motor home until his death five years ago. As a result, Callum had become almost a stranger around here.

Evelyn returned with three scrumptious sundaes. The kids dug in. He ate at a more leisurely pace while he and Ella Mae brought each other up to date on their lives. She nodded appreciatively when he admitted he was the boys’ father.

“I always wondered about that,” she said. “The older those boys get, the more they look like you. I figured maybe something had gone on between you and Jody, but she didn’t like to let on and I’m not one to pry.”

“How come other people didn’t notice?” Callum asked. “Or did they?”

The café owner gave him a knowing smile. “People see what they want to see. Besides, Jody had another boyfriend before the kids were born. He moved away when he realized she could never really love him, or so I heard. I never did believe she had a fling with that rodeo rider, though, no matter what people said.”

“What rodeo rider?” He glanced at the boys, but they were absorbed in making mush out of their ice cream.

“Nobody to be concerned about,” Ella Mae said. “Now, I wanted to talk to you about Abner.”

“The cat?” Callum remembered about the contest. “Oh, right. You want to take him to Paris.”

She folded her arms on the table. “I entered the contest after I saw a picture on the Internet of some cats traveling with their owners. They looked real cute, but the more I think about it, the more I worry that Abner might get lost. I appreciate your making me a finalist, Callum, but I won’t feel bad if I lose.”

He thanked his lucky stars that she’d smoothed over the situation. “I’m sure our readers found the idea amusing.”

“Ever think about moving back here?” Ella Mae asked abruptly. “We’ve got a lot of nice things happening in central Texas. Maybe you could run your business from here.”

“I’d love to spend more time with my boys, but I don’t know if that’s feasible.” Callum had a packed schedule: supervising weekly story meetings, mediating staff disputes, handling sudden emergencies. Sometimes his ability to crank out a last-minute cover story or charm a celebrity averted disaster. Family Voyager needed him at the helm, in person.

“Well, you’d better do something before we end up with our own soap opera.” Ella Mae indicated the waitress, who was disappearing into the kitchen. “Evelyn’s got it bad for Bo Landers, and he’s got it bad for Jody. Or hadn’t you noticed?”

“I noticed,” Callum said between bites of ice cream. “The part about Bo and Jody, in any event.”

“She doesn’t look sick,” Jerry said.

“Excuse me?” Ella Mae leaned over and ruffled the boy’s hair. “Nobody’s sick, sweetheart.”

“You said Evelyn’s got it bad.”

She uttered a bark of laughter. “When somebody has it bad, that means they’re in love. My point is, this whole tangle needs to get resolved and your father is the only person who can do it.”

“Any suggestions?” Callum asked.

“Follow your heart,” said the café owner.

He wasn’t accustomed to following, he was accustomed to leading. Maybe that was part of the problem, he conceded. Maybe he talked too much and listened too little.

That was going to change. Callum intended to listen to Jody, even if it meant facing the possibility that a marriage of convenience was the right way to go.

IF JODY had figured she could spread the word quietly that Callum was the boys’ father, her hopes of discretion received a knockout punch on Sunday morning. As the four of them arrived for church, Ben greeted everyone he knew by announcing, “This is my daddy!”

“Mine, too,” Jeremy said, a bit defensively.

Although a few people had already heard the news from Ella Mae and Bo, most were startled. Jody caught a disapproving frown from Melody Lee, a former PTA president who’d tried to get Jody fired from her teaching job when she became pregnant. Others shook Callum’s hand, glad to see him again and willing to suspend judgment.

“The Prodigal Son has returned,” he told the preacher ruefully.

“To stay, I hope,” came the response.

“We’re working on that,” Callum said.

He’d certainly been working at being a father. Last night, he’d introduced the boys to the game of dominoes. Although they couldn’t add their scores, they’d relished the challenge of counting and matching the dots on the tiles.

Jody’s throat tightened as she recalled childhood evenings at the kitchen table playing with this same worn set in the company of her parents and friends. That was the way family life ought to be. If only she could have that kind of closeness with Callum for more than just a few days.