Trucker Daddy (Working Man Series Book 3) Page 2

  “Thank goodness for that.” Aunt Cappy bit her lip and shook her head.

  “Cal, you look tired,” noticed Margery.

  “I’m beyond tired. I’m exhausted,” he admitted, running a weary hand through his hair. Seeming like the hundredth time since he’d walked in, Cal glanced back out the window, thinking about his niece.

  “If there’s anything we can do, just let us know,” offered Thad.

  “Thanks,” Cal answered, shaking his head. “Jenna didn’t even get a blasted wake. By the time the firefighters got to her, there wasn’t enough of her left to bury. Now my entire family is gone, and all I have left to remember Jenna by is little Magnolia. Thank goodness the baby is all right.”

  “Magnolia?” Levi started to chuckle at the name until Judas cleared his throat, causing Levi’s smile to quickly disappear.

  “Sit down, Cal. How about something to eat?” Margery nodded to the dining area.

  “Eat? Hell, how about a drink? That’s what the poor guy needs.” Levi flagged down a waitress.

  “You’re right. I do,” agreed Cal.

  “If you need a place to stay, you’re welcome to use the back room of my marina,” offered Simon.

  “Thanks, but I won’t be staying,” Cal told them. “I’m a trucker and need to get back on the road. Time is of the essence. I’ve got to pick up a shipment tomorrow and deliver it to Otoe County, Nebraska. I can’t fall behind schedule. I was lucky to work things out so I could have a few days off to clear things up with Jenna’s death and all.” He buried his face in his hand and moaned.

  “So then, that’s your truck out front?” asked Judas, glancing out the front window of the diner, stretching his neck to see it better.

  “It is,” said Cal proudly. “Bought and paid for. Isn’t she a beauty? That rig cost me more than a flippin’ house and has everything you need to survive, right inside.” He looked out the window at his shiny truck and smiled. It had been his dream to own his own rig, and it was one of the nicest ones he’d ever driven.

  “Mmm hmm,” said Judas, his eyes fastened on the truck as he slowly nodded. “You know, it’s illegally parked.” He started to pull out his ticket book, but Simon’s hand shot out and he gripped his dark-haired brother around the wrist, shooting him a warning glance to put it away.

  “Are you still living out west?” Margery asked Cal. “If I remember correctly, that’s where you went when you left here.”

  “Texas,” answered Cal. “And yes, I am still there. For now,” he answered with a nod, thinking about Shelby and Magnolia. “However, that might all change soon.”

  “Oh, so will you be moving back to Sweetwater then?” said Aunt Cappy, sounding pleased.

  “Well, I haven’t decided where I’ll live yet,” Cal told her. “However, I’m going to have to make a major life change soon.”

  “Good. It’s time you settled down, like the rest of us,” Thad told him with a grin.

  “I agree,” piped up Simon. “Get yourself a nice wife and raise a family right here in good ol’ Sweetwater. We all did, and we’re none the worse because of it.”

  Margery slid a cup of coffee across the counter to Cal, but he had no desire to drink it. Instead, he pulled the baby bottle out from under his arm and handed it to her.

  “Fill her up, will you? Warm and unleaded.” He flashed a smile, but no one laughed.

  Margery looked down at the bottle in question and shook her head. “Cal? Are you by any chance taking care of your sister’s baby?”

  “I guess you could say that. I inherited little Magnolia this morning.”

  “Inherited?” gasped Thad.

  “A baby?” Levi chuckled. “Well, where is it?”

  “She’s in the truck,” Cal told them, glancing over his shoulder out the window once more. Burrito still sat there watching him from the cab.

  “You left a baby alone in the truck?” spat Judas. “You fool, what were you thinking? I should fine you for that!” He picked up his ticket book again, but Simon pushed his brother’s hand away once more.

  “What’s the matter with you, Calvin Reeves?” Aunt Cappy reached out and slapped Cal on the arm. “You can’t leave a baby alone out there. It’s hot, not to mention not safe at all.”

  “I left the air on, the doors are locked, and she’s not alone,” Cal assured her, rubbing his arm. Why was everyone giving him such a hard time about this? “Besides, little Magnolia is finally sleeping. My ears need a break from all her crying.” He stuck a finger in his ear and wiggled it to prove his point. “The last thing I want to do is move her and wake her up.”

  “Magnolia?” said Levi again, making a face. “What kind of name is that?”

  “Hey, it’s no worse than your daughter being named Valentine,” mumbled Judas.

  “Cal Reeves, you go and get that baby right now,” Aunt Cappy commanded with one hand on her hip and the other pointing out the window. “Bring that poor thing in here where I can give her some well-needed love and attention.”

  “No way,” gasped Cal, waving his hand through the air in a dismissing manner, not even considering listening to her. “If I so much as touch that car carrier, she’ll go off like a bomb exploding.” He made the sound of an explosion followed by a whistle, animating it with his hands waving wildly in the air. “She needs the sleep just as much as my ears need a break. Burrito’s guarding her, so don’t worry.”

  “Burrito? Who’s Burrito?” snapped Aunt Cappy. “It sounds like a hoodlum name to me. I hope your friend won’t hurt the baby.”

  “No, no, you’ve got it all wrong,” Cal told her with a chuckle. “Burrito is my dog, not a person.”

  “A dog?” Aunt Cappy’s eyes opened wide and her palm slapped up against her chest in shock. She looked like she was about to pass out. “You left the baby alone with . . . a dog?”

  “Now, it’s not what you think,” Cal tried to explain. “It’s fine, I tell you. Burrito will howl if the baby starts crying He’ll let me know. The dang dog thinks he’s a wolf or something. He howls every time she cries. They have a duet going that could break the world record in length if it doesn’t split your head open first.”

  “Please tell me you’re kidding when you say you left a dog watching a baby.” Aunt Cappy’s eyes narrowed and she gave him the same evil eye she’d given her nephew earlier. Cal moved back a few steps, not wanting her to wallop him with her big carpetbag that probably held bricks or something else that would hurt.

  “Cal, it looks like you need to find someone to help you,” suggested Margery.

  “What he needs is a wife,” added Thad.

  “I need a wife like I need a hole in the head,” scoffed Cal. “Thad, you know better than anyone that I’m not the marrying kind. I’m more of a loner.”

  “Yeah, and so were all of us at one time.” Simon’s eyes flashed over to his aunt.

  “Things are going to change now that you’ve got a baby to raise,” said Judas. “I should know, since I have a young daughter.”

  “And a grandson, too, from his older daughter,” added Margery.

  “Seriously think about getting yourself hitched,” said Simon. “It would be a good solution to your little predicament. Plus, it could’t hurt for the baby to have a mother.”

  “Hey, Cal! Good to see you.” One of Thad’s other brothers, John came out of a back room of the diner with a pool cue in his hand. He waved to him from across the room. John had dark hair like most of the rest of his brothers, and was very athletic. The last Cal heard, John had a team of sled dogs and was planning to run the Iditarod.

  “John, how are you?” he asked, as the man approached. He reached out and shook his hand. “Good to see you. Ever run the Iditarod like you planned on doing?”

  “Naw,” he said, flashing a look of disappointment. “Life doesn’t always work out the way you plan. However, sometimes it turns out better. After my accident, I ended up marrying my doctor. Addey is great. You’ll have to meet her.” John’s face beamed
with pride.

  What was the matter with these Taylor brothers? He didn’t remember them as being smitten with women who would end up probably running or ruining their lives.

  Cal glanced out the window again. Maybe Aunt Cappy was right, and he shouldn’t have left the baby in the truck. Now, he started to worry. Maybe he should get back out there. “Margery, can you get me a cheeseburger with fries, and two steak burritos to go? No beans on the burritos,” he warned. “We’re in small quarters and the dog doesn’t do well with beans.”

  “The burritos are for the dog?” asked Aunt Cappy.

  “Sure. How do you think he got his name?” Cal cocked a side grin. “Oh, and I could use that cold beer Levi promised, too. I’m parched.”

  “Here you go,” said Levi, grabbing a cold beer from a server’s tray as she passed by. He handed it to Cal.

  “How about a quick game of pool?” asked John. “Our brothers, James and Philip, are in the Man Cave and would love to see you.”

  “Man Cave?” Cal chuckled, taking a sip of the cold beer. His eyes closed slightly as the bitter brew slid down his throat, relaxing him immediately. This was exactly what he’d needed. “Doesn’t anyone work around here?”

  “We are working,” said Judas, straightening the radio on his shoulder. “Actually, I’ve got to go.” Judas left the building as Levi hurried to the kitchen to get the food. Margery greeted some customers and excused herself to go seat them.

  “Come see the Man Cave,” said Thad, leading the way.

  “Aunt Cappy, can you keep an eye out the window for a moment?” asked Cal. Without waiting for her answer, he started for the Man Cave, taking another swig of beer. His body ached with weariness from his head down to his toes. The baby had drained every ounce of energy from him in just the last few hours. What he really needed was a few minutes to relax and unwind with his friends. A quick game of pool before he chowed down on the burger might fix him right up. He was sure he could do it quickly and still get back to the truck before the baby awoke.

  “Stop right there, young man!” commanded Aunt Cappy from behind him. “You take one more step toward that Man Cave, Calvin Reeves, and I swear I’ll hit you so hard with my carpetbag that you’ll land all the way into tomorrow.”

  “Pardon me?” Cal turned around, not at all sure he’d heard the old woman right.

  “Put down that beer,” ordered Aunt Cappy, giving him the evil eye now, pursing her lips and planting her hands on her hips. She actually looked very threatening.

  “What?” he asked, his gaze flashing over to Thad and then Simon. As big as Simon was, even he seemed intimidated by his pushy, bossy aunt.

  “You’d better listen to her,” said Thad, talking behind his hand. “The last thing you want to do is get Aunt Cappy riled up.”

  “What are your plans for Magnolia?” asked Aunt Cappy. “How are you going to raise her? Are you the sole provider for the baby now that your sister is dead? Where will you be living with her now?” Aunt Cappy fired off questions at him like bullets from a pistol, every one of them hitting him dead on and leaving a gaping wound.

  “Well, yeah. I guess I’m her sole provider now,” he answered sheepishly, feeling like he was back in the army again. Aunt Cappy took a few steps closer and pushed her face up to him, just like a drill sergeant.

  “What did you say?” she spat. “I can’t hear you.”

  “I said . . . I mean . . . my sister left me Magnolia in her will. So I’m the baby’s guardian now.”

  “Well, how are you going to raise her if you’re always away driving a truck?” Aunt Cappy narrowed her eyes, looking so fierce that he was almost afraid of saying the wrong thing and getting walloped.

  “I . . . I . . . I’m taking her with me on the run. For now,” he added quickly when he saw the woman frown. His hands clutched his beer mug like a lifeline. Maybe he needed something stronger than beer after all. “I figure I’ll iron out all the details later, after I get back to Texas.” He flashed a glance over to Simon who was cringing and shaking his head.

  “Like hell you are!” spat Aunt Cappy, her face getting so close to him that if she wasn’t so short she’d probably reach up and bite his nose right off his face. “Give me that!” She snatched the mug from his hand, beer spilling over the rim and down her arm. “You shouldn’t be drinking and driving in the first place. Especially not with a child on board. What the hell is the matter with you?”

  “I – guess I hadn’t thought about that. Yet. I mean . . . everything has happened so fast that I haven’t been able to . . . I mean, I will . . . uh.” Cal looked over at Thad and Simon for help but they both just turned and looked the other way. His friends proved to be no help at all. Cal’s eyes sought out John next. John’s attention immediately went to the tip of his pool cue and he pretended to be smoothing down the chalk on the tip of it.

  “You need a woman to help you with that child. What you need is a wife, Calvin Reeves,” snapped Aunt Cappy.

  “Hey, where did everyone go?” Philip Taylor stuck his head out of the Man Cave, holding a pool cue in his hand, looking confused.

  “Aunt Cappy is telling Thad’s friend, Cal, that he needs a wife,” John called out to him.

  “She is probably already going through the files of single women in her mind to find him one,” Simon told his brother.

  “Uh oh,” said Philip. He spun on his heel and hightailed it back into the Man Cave without looking back.

  “Hell, Cal. You’d better run,” warned John. “The reason we’re all married has a lot to do with our aunt, you realize.”

  “What’s going on here?” asked Cal, feeling like there was something he wasn’t privy to, since he’d been away so long.

  “Our aunt is kind of the town matchmaker,” explained Thad. “And her skill has worked every time.”

  “We’re living proof,” John told him.

  “Oh,” said Cal, studying the pushy woman. “Well, it won’t work on me, Aunt Cappy. I decided a long time ago that I’m never getting married.”

  “Why not?” spat the angry woman.

  “I’m just not the marrying kind, that’s why,” he said with a shrug.

  Levi walked up at that moment with two bags in his hands. Aunt Cappy grabbed them from him and pushed the bags of food at Cal.

  “Here,” she said. “The dog’s howling.”

  “Huh?” It took Cal a moment to realize what she said was true. Little Magnolia was up and crying again, and the dog was trying to warn him. Damn! Not even time for one beer or a simple game of pool with his friends. “Fine, I’ll go.” He took the bags and then pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, slipping one between his lips. Maybe a smoke would help him relax.

  Aunt Cappy snatched the cigarette out of his mouth in one sharp move. Throwing it to the floor, she took the satisfaction of crushing it under her heel. “You won’t be needing these filthy things anymore either.” She grabbed the whole pack from him next and smashed it in her fist.

  “You’d better run before it’s too late,” mumbled Levi under his breath.

  Suddenly, Cal felt like he was an adolescent again. Aunt Cappy treated him like a child, ordering him around. And for some odd reason, he felt obligated to obey.

  “How about a beer for the road, Levi?” asked Cal in one last ditch effort. “You have no idea how bad I need one right now.”

  The scowl on Aunt Cappy’s face told him it wasn’t a welcome request.

  “Don’t you dare even think of drinking beer while you’re driving.” Aunt Cappy pointed at a stand up soda machine next to the counter. “Levi, get the man a soda to go.”

  “Sure,” said Levi, hurrying over to the cooler and returning with a cola.

  “Here.” Aunt Cappy snatched the soda from Levi and pushed the can into Cal’s free hand. “The food’s on the house, now get out of here.” She started to push him toward the door.

  “Aunt Cappy, take it easy. I’m going,” said Cal, trying to calm her down.

/>   “You need help with that baby,” she told Cal before he stepped outside. “Now, in the morning, go down to the daycare your sister used and explain your situation to them. It’s called Boots and Toots. It’s in the basement of the Twelve Apostles Church. It’s run by Charlotte Taylor, the wife of my nephew’s son, Dan.”

  “Boots and Toots?” asked Cal, thinking it sounded more like a pickup joint than it did a daycare. “Good seeing you and your brothers again, Thad,” he called back to his friends. “I’ll have to take a rain check on that game of pool. I can’t wait to spend time in the Man Cave.”

  “Sure thing,” said Simon with a nod and a wave.

  He was almost to the door when Margery called out to him.

  “Cal, wait!” He turned around and saw every eye in the place on him. “Don’t forget your bottle.”

  Margery tossed the baby bottle at him and the sound of silence deadened the air. He grabbed it like a football player catching the winning pass. Only, no one cheered him on. Instead, he heard muffled laughing from the men and mumbles of soft whispering from the customers. He’d never felt as embarrassed as he did right now.

  “Hey, what’s going on?” asked Thomas Taylor, the eldest of the twelve Taylor brothers, walking through the front door and almost getting hit by the flying baby bottle.

  “I’ll tell you what’s going on,” griped Aunt Cappy before Cal could say a word. “Mr. Bachelor of the Year just got a promotion to Trucker Daddy!”

  Chapter 2

  Tuesday Twaggard stepped over a toy train, balancing three puzzles and a pink plastic tea seat in her arms. Carefully dodging children along the way, she managed to make her way to the art center of the Boots and Toots Daycare. Fifteen children ranging from three months to four years of age occupied the center right now. There would be twice as many a little later in the day.

  She handed the toys to her coworker, Charlotte, who was the owner as well as Tuesday’s good friend. They’d been friends since she was Charlotte Burnham back then, but was now Charlotte Taylor. She’d ended up marrying Daniel, the eldest son of Thomas Taylor. Thomas and his eleven brothers were known as the Taylor Twelve to most people in town, but behind their backs they were referred to as the Bad Boys of Sweetwater.