Love, Scars, & Shooting Stars

Chapter Fourteen

Julie nearly jumped out of her skin when her son burst through the door of The Sub Shack, his face flushed and sweaty from running.

"Mom, can I go to the park with Brandon?" he panted. "Please? Can I?"

Julie's glance flickered to the slim, dark haired boy in the wire-framed glasses standing half a step behind Finn.

"Hello," Julie said, wiping her hands on a towel as she moved out from behind the counter. "I assume that you're Brandon?"

"Yeah," the boy murmured shyly. "Hi."

"It's nice to meet you," Julie smiled, and then turned her attention back to her son. "Now, Finn, could you please repeat your question? Slowly this time, so I can make out what you're saying."

Just then the door swung open again and a pretty, curvy brunette stepped through the door, hoisting a miniature version of herself up onto one hip.

"Thanks, boys! Way to leave an old lady in the dust!" she kidded, and then extended her free hand toward Julie. "Hi, you must be Finn's mom. I'm Becca."

Julie accepted the proffered handshake. "Julie Callahan," she supplied.

"I know," the other woman replied, and at Julie's curious glance, she shrugged. "Small town, word gets around. Anyhoo, I'm guessing you've already met my son Brandon, and this little she-devil right here is Baylee."

Becca playfully pinched the little girl's pink, cherub cheek, eliciting a squeal of delight from the child. Julie smiled, recalling how Finn used to laugh in much the same way when he was that age. Nowadays, he barely laughed at all.

"The library is on the summer schedule starting this week, which means they close at two o'clock on Fridays—"

"Oh," Julie said. "I didn't know that."

"No biggie, I forgot all about it myself," Becca said. "I offered to give Finn a ride, but he wisely declined, because he isn't supposed to ride with strangers." The woman winked at Julie's son and nudged him on the arm, and then continued. "I told Brandon he could walk over with him and I would follow in the van, but then I thought, 'What the heck? I may as well walk, too!' It's a gorgeous day outside, and Lord knows I need the exercise!"

The other woman's laughter filled the room, and Julie detected a faint hint of a Southern accent as the bubbly commentary continued.

"So anyhoo! Since our trip to the library was cut short, I figured I'd take the kids down to the park for a while, and I thought that maybe Finn would like to tag along?"

"Can I go, Mom?" Finn pleaded. "Please?"

Julie glanced back and forth between her son and his new friend, both of them giving her puppy-dog eyes.

"Probably not today, buddy," Julie sighed, glancing at the clock. "I won't be done here for at least another couple of hours, and after that we need to go to the bank and the grocery store..."

"Awww, Mommm!" Finn groaned.

"I don't mind keeping him longer, if that helps," Becca chimed in. "Actually, why doesn't Finn have dinner with us? My husband is away on business, and I was just going to order pizza, so it wouldn't be any trouble at all. And Brandon would love it... gotta balance out the male-female ratio at the table, you know."

Julie's mind was spinning, attempting to catch up with the rapid-fire cadence of Becca's words while simultaneously calculating what time she would have to leave by to make it to the bank before five o'clock. Her first full paycheck had been waiting for her when she'd come in that morning, and she wanted to have her rent money in hand the next time she saw Cameron Shepherd.