Page 47 of Second Chance Fate (Hope Falls: Brewed Awakenings #5)

“We came home early!” Caleb’s mom stepped into his house and threw her arms around her son’s neck.

He hugged her back as his dad stepped in behind her and shut the door. Both dogs circled around their feet, vying for attention.

“You cut your hair,” he observed when his mom stepped back from their embrace.

His entire life, his mom’s brunette hair had been in the same style. It fell to the middle of her back with layers framing her face. It was now all the same length and had been cut into a bob just above her shoulders.

“I wanted something new!” She ran her hands through it.

People always commented on how much younger she looked than her sixty-eight years; the haircut made her look even younger.

“It looks great!” Caleb enthused as both dogs nosed his mom’s bag.

“Hello, my gorgeous grandpuppy,” she greeted Minnie, whose butt was wiggling like a bowl of Jell-O because she associated her “grandma” with one thing: treats.

Next, she turned her attention to Casper, giving him scratches behind his ears.

“And you must be, Casper. You are such a gorgeous boy, yes you are.” Minnie pushed her nose against his mom’s purse, drawing his mom’s attention back to her.

“Do you think I have something for you? Do you think Grandma got you a treat on her cruise? Of course I did! Grandma always remembers her grandbabies.”

Caleb noted his mom included Casper by making ‘grandbaby’ plural and pulling out not one but two large bones.

“When did you get into town?” Caleb asked his dad as his mom handed each dog their own bone, and the dogs happily trotted off to enjoy them.

“Just now!” his mom exclaimed.

“You haven’t even been home yet?” Caleb asked, trying to stall in the front room so Taylor could have a few minutes to get her mind around his parents showing up unexpectedly.

“Your mother wanted to come straight here, even though I said it would only take a few minutes to go drop the bags off at the house, so they weren’t just sitting in the car,” his dad explained in a tone that flirted with irritation.

“And your mother said your father could drop her off at her son’s house and then go take the bags home if that’s what he wanted to do.

” Caleb’s mom smiled at his dad with a twinkle of challenge in her eye.

It was a look his dad had always thought was the cutest thing in the world.

Or one of the cutest things. Caleb’s dad thought pretty much everything his mom did was the cutest thing in the world.

“But…” His mom shrugged, her palms facing up, her expression one of faux innocence. “It looks like your father decided to leave the bags in the car.”

“Annie May, you think you’re real funny.” His dad smiled as he shook his head and patted his mom on her rear end, a habit that he’d had their entire marriage, or at least since Caleb could remember.

Some people got embarrassed by their parents being affectionate, but it never bothered Caleb.

It was the opposite. One of the reasons he’d never settled down and held such a high standard when it came to relationships was because of the example he had in them.

They’d been married for over forty years and still couldn’t keep their hands off each other.

That was what he’d always wanted in a wife. A wife. He had a wife now. It’s not that Caleb didn’t know he did, academically. But for some reason, seeing his parents here, now, made it feel real.

“Hello, there young lady,” his dad’s baritone voice boomed.

Caleb looked over his shoulder and saw Taylor standing in the doorway.

She was wearing his Office t-shirt and sweats, both of which were about eight sizes too big.

Her bare feet sticking out of the rolled-up bottoms and her fresh face, scrubbed free of any makeup, with her hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun, presented such an adorable sight it actually made his chest hurt.

She looked so tiny, swimming in his oversized clothes, and so vulnerable. His impulse was to walk over, pull her into his arms, and tell his parents that she was his wife and the mother of his child. That was how he wanted to introduce her. But he knew he couldn’t do that.

He had to take this at her pace.

“Hi.” Taylor lifted her hand, and he saw that it was trembling slightly.

“Taylor, this is my dad, George, and my mom, Annie. Mom, Dad, this is Taylor.”

“Hi, Mr. Harrison, Mrs. Harrison.”

Without any hesitation, with arms outstretched, his mom beelined to Taylor and enveloped her in a bear hug.

She then ushered her to the family room, which was attached to the kitchen.

Both dogs followed closely behind at his mom’s heels, bones in mouths, with expectations of affection, more treats, or both.

The four humans settled in on the sectional while Minnie and Casper curled up on the dog bed.

Caleb had always been amazed by how his parents could walk into any room or situation and immediately establish a sense of belonging.

Despite sensing in Taylor’s body language and the look in her eyes that she felt uncomfortable meeting his parents like this, he was happy that she was.

Seeing her with the two most important people in his life, before she and Owen had come into it, felt so right.

From his mom’s expression, he could see she had a hundred questions locked and loaded but was determined to pretend she didn’t. His dad, on the opposite side of the spectrum, was wearing his best ‘I’m not interfering’ face.

“So…” His mom propped her elbow on the back cushion and angled herself toward Taylor with laser-like precision. “How are you feeling, Sweet Pea? You gave everybody quite the scare.”

At the use of the nickname, he noticed her blink as she sucked in a small intake of breath.

He hoped his mom’s instant familiarity hadn’t made her uncomfortable.

He would have to explain to her after she left that she only ever used terms of endearment when she liked someone instantly. It was a good thing.

“I’m doing good.” Taylor took in a slow, steadying breath that he recognized as her trying to regain her composure. “Better every day. How was your cruise?”

“Well, there was a funny case of mistaken identity, wasn’t there, George?” His mom’s eyebrows arched toward his dad.

“Again?” Caleb turned to his dad. “He’s been dead for a quarter of a century.”

“Caleb’s father used to get mistaken for the Beatles’ drummer of the same name.

Not in person, and it wasn’t all bad. We did get upgraded hotel rooms, reservations to restaurants, and bumped to first class a few times,” Caleb’s mom explained to Taylor.

“But this time he was not mistaken for a rock star.”

Caleb’s parents looked at each other, and his mom laughed as his father grinned and shook his head.

“What?” Caleb glanced between them and noticed his dad’s face getting a little red. “What happened?”

“You brought it up.” His dad motioned to his mom. “You tell them.”

His mom happily obliged. “We were sound asleep in our bed when there was a knock on our door. Your dad got up and answered it, and it was Myrna, one of the women from a group of about twenty people we’d been having dinner with each night.

All retirees, all very nice people. She said her husband was having a problem and needed your dad.

” His mom looked over at Caleb. “Which, how many nights has someone knocked on the door saying they needed your dad?”

“Yeah, all the time,” Caleb confirmed to Taylor. He honestly couldn’t count how many times. It was just a normal occurrence in his childhood.

His mom continued, “So, honestly, we were tired and didn’t think anything of it. He got dressed and went with her.” His mom looked over at his dad and grinned. “But you did say you should have known something when she asked you what on the way?”

“She asked if I needed my bag,” his dad replied.

“Right, the bag.” His mom chuckled a little, then turned back to his dad. “Are you sure you don’t want to tell it? You should tell it.”

His dad let out a resigned sigh accompanied by a reluctant grin.

“Yeah, so we're walking, and she keeps thanking me, which I’m thinking is normal because it’s two in the morning and she woke me up.

But halfway there, she says, ‘Don’t you need your bag?

’ I didn’t know what she was talking about, but she’d clearly been drinking, so I just thought maybe she meant Bible.

Anyway, we get to the room, and I walk inside, and her husband, Edgar, is sitting on the end of the bed, and he looks upset; he’s sort of hyperventilating like he’s having a panic attack, and it’s obvious he’s been crying.

I walk over and ask, “What’s going on?” He pulls back the sheet on his lap, and he was…

standing at attention.” His dad made a fist and held up his forearm.

“I mean, it was aggressive; he could chop wood with that sucker.”

“What?!” Taylor’s eyes went wide, and her jaw dropped.

His mom was cracking up as she patted Caleb’s arm. “Can you imagine your dad’s face?”

“I don’t have to.” Caleb chuckled as he motioned to his dad, who was as red as a tomato. “I can see it.”

His dad ignored his wife and son’s exchange, continuing, “Edgar starts talking a mile a minute, saying he took a pill and it’s been like that for five hours, he was in excruciating pain, and begging me to help him.

I didn’t know if they wanted me to pray over it or what, but I told them, ‘Man, you need a doctor.’ They looked at each other and then back at me, and Myrna says, ‘That’s why I came and got you.

’ I told her, ‘I’m not a doctor. I’m a pastor.

’ Edgar threw that sheet over his Howdy Doody and made it disappear faster than a toupee in a hurricane.

They both start apologizing. I got the heck out of there and went back and told your mother, who, of course, thought it was hilarious. ”