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I want my family, the diner, hell, the whole town to disappear so I can pull her into my arms to comfort her. But now’s not the time for that.
Jedd reads my mind, because he says, “So, you’ve got a couple of options. I could do the work for you, but the camper would have a salvage title. We’d need to make sure that’s allowed in Texas — I’m pretty sure it is — but I’d want to double-check. Or you could sell the camper to a junk yard for parts, I’d have to call around to see what kind of payout that would get you and you could use that toward the purchase of a new camper.” His tone is no nonsense and brisk, which seems to pull Maisie out of her head.
“But either way is going to be pricy?” she asks.
Sheepishly, he nods. “Yeah. Personally, I’d prefer if you went the junk it and buy a new camper route because while I can fix the rig, there’s no guarantee that I won’t find more damage when I get going on repairs — which will cost more. Plus I can only fix it so much. The value of the repairs isn’t going to translate to resale value with a salvaged title. I’m friends with a few of the dealerships around here, I could probably help you get a good deal on a decent used camper that’s newer.”
“Can you call around and get some estimates on what I’d get if I sold it?” she asks, straightening her shoulders and looking my brother in the eyes.
Atta girl.
Nothing seems to keep her down for long, and with every word exchanged as she and my brother discuss the options available to her, the resolve and strength that I saw in her from the beginning start to shine through again.
Duke steals Audra from Jedd, though he belly aches about it for a full ten minutes while we all wrap up eating.
“Hey, Mais,” Jem says from across the table. “There’s a small business women’s get together next week — we meet once a month in my café — and I was going to see if you wanted to come? Might be a good way for you to get some additional business.”
I don’t know her exact financial situation, but I get the feeling that funds are tight if she can’t pay for the repairs and only carries liability coverage on the vehicle. She could probably use the additional work.
“You should go.” The words pop out of me.
“Um. I — I don’t know,” she says, her gaze locked on her daughter. “I don’t — I can’t bring Audra to something like that.”
“Oh, you can absolutely bring her,” Jem says.
“I wouldn’t want her to be a distraction,” Maisie says.
“A few of the women who come already have kids at various ages, so I’m sure they’d understand,” Jem argues. “Plus, if they’re anything like these weirdos, she’ll be a welcome distraction.” Jem waves to my brothers who are all still quietly fighting over Audra.
Bunch of heathens, I swear.
“Or I could watch her for you.” The table goes silent. The elbow Finch was shooting toward Duke’s ribs falls harmlessly to his side. The chattering din of voices from other diners background noise as my families attention turns to me.
More than one of my brothers smirks in my direction, all of their gazes knowing.
Yep. It’s like that.
I’m never going to live this down.
“You want to watch her?” Maisie asks. “As in babysit? A six-month-old infant?”
“Sure. It’s only for a few hours, how hard could it be?”
Finch, who successfully stole Audra from Duke nods. “I’d be down to help babysit.” His nose is practically glued to her head, and I give him a look.
“What?” He shrugs. “She smells nice.”
“If those two yahoos get to babysit then I get to too,” Jedd says.
“I’m the only one out of all of you that’s spent time around other babies. If anyone gets to help babysit, it’s me,” Boone chimes in.
Boone’s friends back in Felt all have small children, out of all of us he’s probably had the most exposure to children, so he’s not wrong — and I could probably use his help.
Maisie’s watching me instead of listening to my brothers fight over who gets to care for her daughter. Her narrowed eyes are searching my face for something, but I’m not sure what.
“Are you sure?” she asks.
I nod. “Yeah. It’s only for a few hours. I can text or call if I need anything. And you’ll be right here in town.”
