Lucas was still whistling as he finished dressing. Jeans, an old T-shirt, sneakers. Much as he enjoyed playing the lawyer-about-town, he liked getting into his old gear at home. He was looking forward to furnishing the new house on Second Avenue and settling in with his niece. He’d always gotten along well with Theresa’s daughter, and this way afforded a chance to try out being a parent. Plus help his sister.
Not that he wasn’t ready to make the big leap himself. Marriage. Kids. A mortgage. He already had the mortgage and now he had a woman in mind, as well. And she came complete with a kid already, which was just fine by him.
Robert. Kind of an odd little duff, with his glasses and his serious face and big brown eyes. Somehow Lucas had pictured a miniature version of Virginia, only male, but Robert was dark, not fair. He’d met the boy the day after he’d seen Virginia at the christening; the two had been downtown when he’d gone to the hotel to meet a client for lunch. That was Glory—business lunch was over a burger and a mug of beer at the Glory Hotel, not a steak and a glass of cabernet at the Palliser. Which was just fine with him. Lucas’s clients tended to be more of the break-and-enter variety than the insurance-fraud type. Which was fine, too.
He might have set up practice in Glory initially to rub the town’s nose in his success, but he had to admit he’d grown fond of the place; now he couldn’t imagine leaving. That was why buying the old Murphy house hadn’t hurt quite as much as he’d thought it would. A house, after all, was a big commitment.
Two stories, white-painted, wide wooden veranda with gingerbread trim, picket fence, lilac hedge, the works. It was in an older neighborhood, close to the center of town. Lucas liked everything about it, from its hardwood floors and stone fireplace to the sunny kitchen and the big yard out back with the raspberry bushes and the Norway maples. Next on his list, after he moved his stuff over this morning, was to buy more furniture and get it delivered.
Maybe Virginia and her boy could help him pick some out
Lucas pulled the door shut behind him and clattered down the outdoor stairs.
Virginia and Robert were coming up the sidewalk.
“Hello!” she said, shading her eyes against the morning sunlight. “We just wanted to get a key from Mrs. Vandenbroek so I can show Robert the apartment. Are you leaving?”
“Just to grab some breakfast at the Chickadee.” Lucas had most of his morning meals at the Chickadee Café, a low-end, no-nonsense place tucked in behind the Glory Hotel.
He peered in his landlady’s kitchen window. Everything was spotless and shining and silent inside. “I believe she said something about going over to her sister’s to pick peas this morning. Hey, come on up. I can show you the place.”
“If it’s not too much trouble.”
Lucas regarded her for a few seconds. She looked gorgeous in khaki shorts and a plain, long-sleeved white shirt and sandals. Robert wore green shorts and an Edmonton Oilers T-shirt—in the middle of Calgary Flames country. He’d have to set the boy straight. “It’s no trouble at all.”
They followed him up the stairs.
The door opened into the kitchen. There was another door, a fire escape, off the main bedroom. Lucas stood back as Virginia and her son walked into the apartment.
“See, Robert? Here’s where we’ll be having our meals. Does the table stay?” She turned, her sea-blue eyes echoing the query.
“Table and chairs stay. Bed stays. Stuff in the den goes. Sofa and chair stay. End tables and lamps go.”
“Coffee table?”
“It stays.”
Lucas leaned against the doorjamb, watching them. It felt weird to have Virginia in his apartment. It felt even weirder to think she’d be sleeping in what he’d thought of as his bed for well over a year. And she’d be sitting down at his table with her son.
“You mean this is mine? I get a room all to myself?” Robert said, looking up at his mother in wonder.
She smiled quickly, glanced at Lucas, then back at her son. “Yes, Robert. All yours.” She ruffled his hair in a gentle gesture and Lucas felt his heart go thump-thump.
“Do I get my own bed’ and everything?”
“Yes, honey. We’ll have to buy you some furniture, won’t we? For your very own room. A desk, maybe, and a—”
“And bunk beds?” Robert grabbed his mother’s hand. “Oh, boy! Bunk beds, so I can have a friend sleep over with me?”
Virginia paused, but just for a second. “Sure. Bunk beds.”
Lucas cleared his throat. “I’m, uh, I’ll be doing some shopping myself when I get my stuff moved over. After lunch. Maybe you and Robert would like to come along.” This was as good a time as any to jump in and show her that he had every intention of being a friend and more if she’d allow it.
“Here in town?”
“There’s always Riddley’s. Or we could go to Lethbridge or drive into Calgary. Make a day of it.” Man, he was full of good ideas.
“Can we, Mom? Can we get bunk beds today? Yippee!”
Robert suddenly bolted into the bathroom and slammed the door. They heard his excited voice, slightly muffled. “I’m going to try out our new toilet!”
Lucas and Virginia smiled at each other. Lucas waited. He’d thrown out the invitation. The next move was Virginia’s.
“Well, it’s very kind of you to offer, Lucas. We’ve got our car, though—”
“I’ve got the pickup. Come with me. We’ll take Robert over to the Grizzly Drive-in. You remember it?”
Virginia laughed. “Is that still around?”
“Yep. And Mrs. Perkins is still running it, too.
Then we’ll go shopping for bunk beds.”
Virginia laughed again, then shrugged. “Okay.
Sounds fine.”
They heard the toilet flush, then the faucet, and Robert came out, wiping his damp hands on his shorts. “I like this place, Mom. It’s cool.”
“Good. Now let’s get on our way. Mr. Yellowfly has lots of things to do this morning.”
Lucas groaned. “Oh, please, Virginia. Lucds. Listen, Robert...”
The boy looked up at him, a tiny smile hovering on his too-serious face.
“Promise to call me Lucas, okay? Don’t forget.
Never Mr. Yellowfly—never.”
“Okay...Lucas.” The boy grinned up at his mother. “He said to, Mom!” he protested when she murmured something about manners. Lucas hadn’t seen him smile like that yet. It suited the boy.
He stepped aside as they came back into the kitchen. “When do you want to go? Like I said, I was thinking of this afternoon. But if tomorrow’s better for you...”
“This afternoon will be fine.”
“I’ll pick you up at your parents’?”
“Great.”
“Let’s make it before lunch so we can buy Robert a Grizzly burger. I should be finished moving this stuff by then.” Lucas gestured to the stacks of boxes already neatly packed and piled on the kitchen floor. “Half-past eleven, say?”
Virginia smiled and nodded. As he left them on the sidewalk to make his way to the Chickadee Café for his usual two-over-easy and stack of hots, Lucas could hear Robert asking what a Grizzly burger was and Virginia trying to explain.