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Kali's cell phone had rung before she'd even made it back to the apartment. She had an interview at nine-o-clock tomorrow. She was scheduled to work, but called Shelley to switch her shift. This job could be the answer to her problems, could change her life. She'd make it change her life. She’d do such an amazing job they'd find a place for her after the maternity contract expired. Westwood Manor. It was the dream job. The place nurses joked about—an interview there akin to Prince Charming showing up at your door with a glass slipper. Her foot would fit.
Kali pulled the sheets up over Theo, brushed a hand across his forehead, then leaned in for a kiss. The boy shifted in his sleep but didn't rouse. She envied that, the way he slipped into sleep so quickly, so quietly. She stood in the doorway watching him. She'd come home determined to talk to Lincoln. In his mind, she had five more days before she was leaving. But she needed another month. Possibly two if this new plan worked. That whole just deciding to stay and letting him deal with it thing was no longer a good idea. She couldn’t risk him kicking her out. She needed to know she could stay.
Kali closed her eyes and placed a hand against the door jamb, still gazing at her boy. She shook her head, pulled the door shut, then stepped out into the hall. She had to get the job. Had to wow them. Two weeks unpaid work when she was trying to save enough for first month's rent and a deposit for an apartment could seriously screw her over.
In the living room, Lincoln lay strewn across the couch. One hand hung off the edge and dangled, his fingers grazing the floor. His hair fell across his brow, just as Theo's always did. Exhaustion seemed to ooze from him.
Kali sat on her own couch and pulled out her laptop. The conversation could wait. If anything, it may make more sense to have it after the interview, after she got a sense for whether she'd actually get the job. If she didn't, she'd have to find another—leave nursing if that was her only choice.
Of course, maybe Theo would have a breakthrough. She'd get him in a preschool and not have to worry that either the kids or the staff would demean him. That could work too. She'd take more shifts at the hospital and be able to pay someone to watch Theo overnights. Mrs. Martin watched him for almost nothing in the day but overnights, she said, made her uncomfortable—a boy should be in his own bed, as should she. And for Kali, it meant finding someone she could trust. She shook her head, it was ridiculous to think about making plans based on Theo having a breakthrough. That may not happen for years, months.
Kali navigated to Netflix. Nothing. She checked the internet connection. Secured. Whoever she'd been stealing from had wised up and set a password. She closed the monitor and leaned back. Her life was meant to be different. She was meant to be different.
But then Derek had come along. Derek with his big dreams. Derek with his plans for the future. Derek, who sabotaged her plans with his shiny words, shiny smile, shiny ring.
Not that she regretted Theo. She'd never regret Theo, but ... But.
“You okay?”
Kali convulsed at the sound.
Lincoln was staring at her. “I didn't mean to startle you.”
Kali brushed at the stray tear on her cheek. “I was just thinking, is all. Thought you were sleeping.”
“I was.”
Kali pushed herself up and pulled her legs under her. “Sorry if I woke you. I was trying to be quiet.”
“It's fine.” Lincoln sat so he was facing her.
She pushed out a smile, hating he'd seen her like that, seen her moist eyes. “Dinner was great. Thanks again.”
He nodded.
“Where'd you learn to cook like that?”
“Self-taught, mostly. A little from my mother, though she tends toward heartier fair.”
“Oh yeah?”
“I used to cook a lot.”
“And then?”
Lincoln looked away from her. His chest rose and fell. “Life.”
Kali made a noise of understanding. Life. She looked to her lap. He was awake now. She could broach the subject, say she needed another month—probably two. Most likely two. Two and a bit. June still had close to a week left after all.
“Can I ask you something?”
Kali's head shot up.
“You don't have to answer. I mean, I get ... it's sensitive and ...” Lincoln shifted, winced. His back was throbbing—he shouldn't have been wielding that axe. Stupid. “Theo. Is he, I mean.” Lincoln swallowed. “He's obviously smart.”
“Incredibly smart,” Kali snapped.
“Yeah, so ... has he never talked or—?”
Kali took a breath, counted to three—there was no time for ten. She had brought her son into this man's life. And he was sweet to him. Patient with him. Welcoming. Kind. “He started to talk early, actually.” She smiled, remembering. “He was advanced. Smartest little two-year-old I'd ever seen.”
“And then?”
Kali rubbed her fingers across her lips. She looked up at Lincoln, smiled. “Life.”
He nodded, turned his gaze toward the window.
Kali put a hand to her neck. “I was so stressed out all the time while pregnant. Those last months, especially. Angry. Worried. How would I do this alone? How would I finish school? How would—” She exhaled. Lincoln shifted toward her. “I had my mom back then. Or I figured I would. If needed. I'd moved out a few years previous. I never planned to go back.”
Lincoln stayed silent. Kali rubbed her hands down her thighs, her mouth opening the moment the action stopped. “So, I wonder sometimes if all that anxiety seeped into him. Made him a skittish child. Prone to ... but it was more than that. Certainly more than that.”
Kali kept her gaze straight ahead, not sure who she was talking to, Lincoln, or herself. Finally saying it. Even Shelley didn't know the details. “Mom had always been an anxious person. Growing up she never wanted friends over. Scared of what my father would or wouldn't do, would or wouldn't say. When he left she was scared of the judgement, of the way our life screamed lack.” A thin bead of sweat trickled down the curve of Kali's back. “So I didn't have the chance to be anxious, to be scared. I was determined. And then I wasn't.”
Kali's brow furrowed. The lights out the window looked so much nicer than the world they illuminated.
“And your mother?”
Kali spun her gaze toward Lincoln. Had she forgotten he was there? No. She just expected he'd remain silent.
“She passed a couple of years ago.”
“Around the time Theo stopped speaking?”
Not around the time, at the time. “Mmmhmm.”
“And your father?”
Kali raised her shoulders and let them fall. “Haven't seen or heard from him since I was a little older than Theo.”
“Rough.”
“Is what it is.” Kali uncrossed her legs then leaned them side by side; her elbow pushed into the couch back, her hand on her head.
Lincoln's gaze was on her. She took it, placing her gaze right back on him.
“And Theo's father, is he—”
“Theo doesn't have a father.” Kali pursed her lips. “Not anymore.”
Lincoln nodded. “I'm sorry.”
Another shrug. A slight smile. “Life.”
A car screeched to a halt outside the window. A woman yelled a list of obscenities. Romper leapt toward the sound, his paws up on the sill, trying to see the commotion.
“And you were married?”
Kali looked to her hand, to the spot where the ring used to sit. Much to her surprise, she'd liked it there. She'd seen men traipse in and out of her mother's life, none of them bringing anything good, anything lasting ... except deeper debt. And the things they took—her mother's laughter, sense of self-worth, joy. Kali had no intention of letting a man take any of those things. She determined she'd stay single her whole life before she let that happen. And then Derek came along. And it'd been incredible.
She still had the ring. She'd sell it if she had to, if Lincoln kicked her out. Maybe it'd be enough for first month's rent. And were you married? He had asked. Kali curled her hand into a fist. “I guess I still am.”
Lincoln's breath came out heavy. Stop, Kali wanted to say. Just—
“Was it an accident or ... was he sick? I shouldn't ... I ... he ... he must have been young.”
Kali looked away, her chest clenching. “He was trying to be a hero. Had a hero complex, maybe. Out at Peggy's Cove. The waves were massive. And some stupid mother let her stupid kid get close to the rocks. And my stupid husband—”
Kali's voice caught. Her eyes brimmed with anger. That's what this liquid was. Anger. Not sadness. Not pride—which is how people expected her to respond to her hero of a husband. Her hero of a husband who jumped into the raging Atlantic with a wife who was four months pregnant. Who'd not even started to show. Who had put her trust in him.
Kali pointed to the large table in the centre of the room, the eyesore she walked around day in and day out. “What's with the tree houses? Are you trying to sell them? Is that how you make your income? Who wants a miniature tree house?”
Lincoln's gaze followed hers. “They're models.”
“Models?”
“Yeah. They're not for money. They're for me.”
Kali shifted. “You want a tree house? You don't even have a yard.”
Lincoln smiled. He was looking away from her—at the desk? Through the window? She couldn't tell. “I have land. A lot.”
“A—?”
“With the perfect tree.”
Kali's mouth hung open.
“Hence the axe, the lugging of lumber.”
He was weird. A grown man. A man who was educated, who had books on architecture, electrical systems, plumbing, and natural energy—stuff Kali knew nothing about. She had suspected he'd been an architect in his past life, or was studying to head back to school. “You're building a tree house ... as a place to retreat to? Kind of like a cabin in the woods?”
“Exactly like a cabin in the woods. Though not to retreat to. To live.” He glanced over at her, then pulled his gaze to the table, his eyes scanning the items. “The big challenge is making it as self-sufficient as possible. Heating in the winter is key. I'll live off the land as much as I can, but heating in the winter and refrigeration in the summer. That’ll be the trick, and to get both of them done safely.”
“Right.” He was crazy. Kali stood. “Well, I'm off to bed.” Something deep inside her clenched. He wanted to live in the woods. In a tree house. In Nova Scotia. He was definitely crazy. Would any normal person, any sane person want that?
Kali picked up her laptop. Hopefully, at least, his crazy was of the harmless variety. Two more months. Which meant she had time. Lots of time to talk to him about staying on into July. Into August. He hadn't asked her when she was leaving, so why should she tell? So long as he wouldn’t kick her out—she didn’t think he’d kick her out. So long as his crazy wasn't dangerous. She made her smile soft and welcoming. “Have a good night, Lincoln. Sleep well.”
He nodded, his gaze still on the table, a look of contemplation on his face. Kali didn't know whether to hug him, tell him whatever he was running from couldn't be so bad, or to go running herself. She reached for Theo's backpack, which also held the book she'd been reading—something she'd need now that there was no Netflix—and stepped into the hall.