style="font-size:15px;"> “That’s smart.”
“Mmm,” she agreed, unwilling to let Cade know how hard it’d been to find someone who would barter the move. Rachel had never had a lot of money, and paying for Tommy’s specialists and therapists was a constant strain, but it was worth it. Already the weekly speech and occupational-therapy sessions had made a difference.
“Where is his dad, Rachel?” Cade asked quietly.
Rachel glanced quickly at Tommy before moving away from his door and walking back to the kitchen. “Calgary,” she said, picking up the plates Cade had rinsed and adding them to the dishwasher.
Cade drew out a chair at the table and sat down. “He’s Canadian?”
“No. David’s from Dallas. I met him at a bar in Fort Worth one night when I was out with Mia and some of the other girls.” She added the root-beer glasses to the top rack, closed the dishwasher door and faced Cade. “From far away David looks like you—tall, dark, handsome. But he wasn’t you.” She grimaced and shrugged. “Definitely wasn’t you, and we only went out a couple times, but I somehow still managed to get pregnant.”
“And David doesn’t want to be part of Tommy’s life?”
“He gave me money for an abortion before leaving town.” She lifted her chin, looked Cade square in the eye. “I didn’t love David. He was a rebound thing, but there was no way I could get rid of the baby. So I took the seven hundred and fifty dollars he gave me and opened a savings account for Tommy’s college education. And maybe Tommy won’t go to college, but he’s going to have an amazing life. I’ve given up on a lot of dreams these past few years, but I’m not giving up that one.”
Chapter Five
Before Cade could think of an answer, Tommy walked into the kitchen with the television remote.
“Show,” Tommy said, holding out the remote to Cade.
Cade glanced at Rachel. “Can I turn on the TV for him?” he asked, rising.
Rachel sighed and rubbed at her forehead. “Yes, but he won’t be happy. He wants a particular program—”
“Show,” Tommy interrupted, impatiently pushing the remote into Cade’s hand before walking out. He glanced over his shoulder at Cade and gestured for him to follow. “Scooby.”
Cade followed him to the living room and hit Power on the remote. It took a moment before the old TV flickered on.
“Scooby,” Tommy repeated, looking expectantly at Cade.
“Scooby-Doo?” Cade answered. “You like that show? I do, too.”
Tommy flinched, facial muscles twitching before he nodded and smiled, a jerky little smile. “Scooby. Shaaag...Shaaggy.”
“Scooby and Shaggy are my favorites.”
Tommy’s mouth twisted again but this time no sound came out and he simply smiled.
“Hey, Rache, what channel is your Cartoon Network?” Cade called to her, thinking she was still in the kitchen.
“We don’t get cable anymore,” she said quietly from right behind him. “Just the regular free stuff. But he doesn’t understand. We won’t have cable until we move.”
“Don’t you have a DVD he could watch?”
She sighed. “It broke last month.”
“Scooby,” Tommy insisted.
Rachel raised her voice. “Tommy, we can’t watch Scooby-Doo right now, but I’ll see what else is on,” she said cheerfully but firmly. “Maybe we can find a kids’ show on another channel.”
The boy’s mouth worked, his features tightening and grimacing. “Scoob. Mama.”
“We’ll find another show you can watch, Tommy,” Rachel repeated, even more firmly. “I’m sure there is something fun on—”
“Scooob, Mama. Tommmy...good boy.”
“We can’t watch Scooby, Tommy—”
Tommy let out one of his piercing wails and Cade suddenly couldn’t breathe, his chest on fire. “You can get DVD players cheap now, Rachel,” Cade said shortly, angry, so angry, and not even knowing why.
“Not cheap enough,” she answered, raising her voice even louder to be heard over Tommy’s wailing.
Cade’s gut hurt. His emotions were so damn raw. “I’ve seen them for sixty-five bucks—”
“And that sixty-five bucks will pay for ten hours of child care or buy groceries or pay for a half hour of speech therapy,” she snapped, facing him. Color flooded her cheeks, making her gray eyes luminous. “So I have to make choices, and they need to be good choices, and unfortunately buying a cheap DVD player so Tommy can watch Scooby-Doo isn’t one of them!”
Cade’s chest grew tighter and he drew a short, rough breath, temper simmering. “It’s that bad around here?”
“I wouldn’t call it bad. I’d call it tight. But it’s always been tight. And maybe it’s a struggle but it’s a good struggle, because I’m making it...I’m doing it. I’m taking care of my boy and I don’t need David or you or any other man to waltz into my life like you’re some fairy godfather and make things better.”
“I’m not interested in being a fairy godfather. I just want to get you a DVD player. Please.”
“That’s not necessary. But thank you.”
Tommy moved behind Rachel, and began bumping his face repeatedly into her hip. “Scoob. Show.”
“Rachel, it’s sixty-five dollars. And it’d make him happy.”
Her chin lifted even as she put a hand behind her to stop Tommy from pushing against her. “A lot of things would make us happy—a new car and hot-fudge sundaes and a trip to Disneyland, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to get them—” she held up a hand to stop him when he would have interrupted “—and I’m okay with that. Those are luxuries. I—we—don’t need luxuries. What we need is speech therapy and physical therapy and occupational therapy and doctors and teachers, and those all cost money. A lot of money.” She swallowed hard, and her chin jerked even higher. “But I’m doing it...I’m giving him every important thing I can.”
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