Excerpt from Mr. October
Book #10 of the Heroes of Rogue Valley: Calendar Guys Series
Chapter One
Tuesday afternoon in mid-October, Jenny Carver’s phone rang with a call that filled her with dread. Orchard High School again? “Hello,” she said, schooling herself for whatever bad news the guidance counselor had for her this time.
“Hi, it’s Debra Williams, Maddie’s World History teacher. I met you and your husband at the open house in September.”
Not the counselor, then. “I remember you. Hi. By the way, Rob is my ex-husband.” Shortly before they’d graduated from the same high school, Jenny had discovered she was pregnant. They’d married right after graduation. “What can I do for you?”
“I’m calling for two reasons. First, Maddie wasn’t in class today, and the office didn’t receive a call. I hope she isn’t sick.”
“Not that I know of.” Jenny was the one who felt sick. No telling where her daughter had gone or what she might be up to. “Thanks for letting me know. I’ll see what I can find out. What’s the other reason?”
“Maddie’s a smart girl, but she’s not doing well in class. I don’t want her to fail the course. We’re having a big test next week that counts as thirty percent of her grade, and I’ve scheduled an after-school review of the subject matter for this Thursday. It’s important that she show up. I expect she mentioned this to you?”
Not a word. Maddie’s freshman year had been no picnic, and the first six weeks of sophomore year seemed to be off to an even worse start. She was going to read that girl the riot act. Who said twins were alike? Fraternal twins, Maddie and Britt were as different as day and night. “I appreciate your letting me know. She’ll be there.”
As soon as the call ended, Jenny texted Britt, who’d just finished with her biweekly extreme Frisbee practice but wasn’t home yet.
Your sister left school and missed World History. Any idea where she is?
The reply came immediately. No, but she might be at Mr. Mister with Hudson and other friends.
Hudson was Maddie’s current boyfriend. Jenny had yet to meet him. The café wasn’t far from the school and popular with kids for lunch and coffee. She didn’t mind either of her daughters going there, but skipping class and failing to boot? Unacceptable.
She’d see Rob tomorrow morning, when he picked up Alcatraz, the collie he boarded with her during his weekly shift at Guff’s Lake Fire Department, aka GLFD. Forty-eight hours on, the rest of the week off. Normally, she’d talk to him then, but she needed to update him now.
Within seconds, she contacted the firehouse. Miranda, the woman at the front desk, answered the phone. She also kept track of the people who came through the door for one reason or another as well as each firefighter’s schedule.
“It’s Jenny,” she said when Miranda answered. “Is Rob available?”
“It’s been awhile. Nice to hear your voice. Perfect timing. He just woke up from—I’ll let him tell you. Hang on.”
Moments later, her ex-husband came on the line. “Hey,” he said in the lovely deep voice she knew so well. They’d been divorced thirteen years and managed to be marginally civil to each other for their kids’ sake. The therapy she’d had after her mother’s death four years earlier had helped her learn how to manage her irritation without getting too upset with Rob, a co-parenting necessity.
Not that they always got along around the girls, but they tried. Over the years, they’d discovered that limiting their time together or talking on the phone, usually about the kids, worked best. Rob had them every other weekend, and the girls spent holidays going from one house to the other. The rest of the time, Jenny had them.
Handling the bulk of raising them hadn’t been easy when they were little, and so far in their teen years had become even harder. In their eyes, she was the bad guy while Rob could do no wrong. Although he’d turned into a fairly decent father, she was still the one to bear the brunt of disciplining them when they needed it. “You sound tired.”
“Rough night, but so far today, things are less hectic. I was able to sack out for a few hours. I’m still groggy from that. There was a house fire in the middle of the night. We managed to contain it and get the family out safely, but there’s a significant amount of damage to the home.”
“What a shame. Let’s hope they qualify for help from the benefit fund.” A number of the good people in Guff’s Lake donated regularly, but the bulk of the funds came from the calendar that featured a different firefighter each month. This year’s guys were from Rob’s shift, which worked out well, as there were twelve teammates total. When the year ended, a different team would take their place. Rob was Mr. October. They were all hotties, and no woman in town could resist owning a copy—herself included. “I’m glad you managed a nap. It’s a good thing your shift is almost over.”
Her ex and five of his colleagues boarded their dogs with her during their shift. Guys from other teams did the same during theirs, weekends excluded. Jenny and Alicia, a friend and dog walker she employed, helped take care of the boarded dogs and the additional canines they picked up for weekday walks. Between the dog business, Fashion Dogs, the doggie outerwear company Jenny owned and managed, and Rob’s child support, she was able to pay the bills and save some, too.
“I’ll bet you didn’t get outside much today,” she added.
“Not really.”
“I hope you’ll get a chance to while it’s still daylight. It’s a gorgeous fall day, clear and not too cold yet, and the view of Guff’s Lake and the Siskiyou Mountains is spectacular.”
“I’ll bet,” Rob said. “This is a nice time of year to get out and hike around the lake.”
The lake, which was also the town’s namesake, was a huge tourist draw for the Oregon town of just under twenty-thousand. “When Alicia and I walked the dogs this morning, we ended up staying outside longer than usual because we couldn’t bear to go inside quite yet. Alcatraz has missed you.”
“When he’s with me, he misses you. I know you didn’t call to chit-chat. What’s up?”
“Debra Williams, Maddie’s World History teacher—we met her on Parent-Teacher night—called to let me know Maddie wasn’t in class today.”
“That’s not good.”
“Oh, it gets worse. She’s failing the class. There’s a test next week that counts as a third of her grade. To help her students, Mrs. Williams has scheduled an important review of the material for after school Thursday. She expects Maddie to be there, and we—I mean I—need to make sure that happens.”
“What’s your plan?”
“Drive her there myself and wait to take her home. I don’t trust her enough to drop her off and come back after the review. If your schedule allows and you want to come help…” Rob owned a mobile car detailing business on the side and spent his days away from the station working and overseeing that. Between running her own two businesses and taking care of the girls, Jenny was pretty busy herself, but this was a big deal. “I could use your support.
“Sure. I might have to reschedule an appointment or maybe Daniel will fill in for me if he hasn’t scheduled something of his own at the same time. Either way, I’ll be there.” After a brief pause, he added, “I’ll pick you up, and we’ll go together, a unified front. That way, waiting for Maddie to finish the review will be less boring.”
Uncomfortable, too. Therapy only went so far. They got along pretty well, but hanging out with him wasn’t something she enjoyed. She needed him, though, to back her up when Maddie had fits about getting dropped off and picked up. Not that she had another way of getting there and back. Carpooling for this wouldn’t do. “Okay,” she said.
“What’re you panning to say to her when she gets home this afternoon?”
“I’m going to let her know I’m disappointed and ground her, of course, from everything except going to classes. No after-school yearbook meetings or art.” Two activities Maddie enjoyed.
“Gonna ask her where she was?”
“You bet I am. I’ll text you when I find out more.”
“Do that,” he said. “She needs to learn a lesson, but she’s gonna flip.”
Even the thought was unpleasant. “It won’t be the first time. There are consequences to certain actions, and she needs to learn that. I’ll see you Thursday.”
*
When Rob’s shift ended at seven a.m. Wednesday morning, he and Daniel headed for Rosemary’s Breakfast Nook, which wasn’t far from the firehouse. The Nook served the best breakfasts in town, and weather cooperating, opened at six a.m. daily. Big supporters of the GLFD, the café posted the calendar prominently above the display case.
Breakfast the morning after the shift ended was always enjoyable, and like the rest of the crew, Rob attended when he could. That morning, he and Daniel were the only ones who made it. Rosemary, the forty-something owner of the place, greeted them with a welcome smile. “Only two of you today?”
The rest of the guys had plans and seemed eager to get home to their wives or girlfriends. Rob and Daniel were both single, so no big deal for them. “Just us,” he said.
She nodded, showed them a table for two, and brought them water and coffee. No menus needed, as they were familiar with most of the selections. Any specials were written on a chalk board. As soon as Rosemary turned in their order, she bustled off to another table.
As no one else was joining them, they decided to have a business meeting over breakfast. Nothing firehouse related. Last year, Daniel had become Rob’s right-hand man at the mobile detailing business. He was smart, steady, and competent, and Rob counted himself lucky to have the guy on board.
Daniel had a sad past. A few years earlier, after the tragic loss of his wife and wanting a fresh start, he and his dog had transferred from a firehouse in Sacramento and joined GLFD. Rob got along great with him. Their dogs liked each other, too. “Did you catch up on sleep last night?” he asked Daniel. At six feet four and age thirty, the guy topped him by three inches and had to shift his legs around to fit under the table.
“Like a baby. You?”
“Pretty well.” He’d worried about Maddie and wished he knew why she was sabotaging her sophomore year. She’d messed up freshman year, too, but hadn’t failed any of her classes. According to a text from Jenny last night, she’d learned that their daughter had been at Mr. Mister’s. Why she’d skipped class for the place where she ate lunch daily was a mystery. “FYI, I’m going with Jenny to the high school Thursday afternoon and won’t be available to take any detailing jobs after lunch.”
“Good to know. Jenny’s great. She takes real good care of Toad. I’ll be picking him up when I leave here.”
“Same.”
“What’s going on at the high school? Maddie again?”
Rob nodded. “She’s failing one of her classes and was a no-show there yesterday.”
“That’s not good.”
His bud had no idea. Rob felt partly responsible due to the failure of his and Jenny’s short marriage and what had followed. Things had been great till the twins had arrived six months after the wedding. Some two years later, their relationship had gone south. As it’d turned out, he’d sucked as a husband and father, which no doubt had affected their daughters. He’d spent the last thirteen years, a few of them working with a therapist, trying to make up for his failures. As if he could.
Breakfast ended, and he and Daniel went their separate ways. Before heading to Jenny’s to pick up Alcatraz. Despite the gloomy clouds overhead, the house he’d once called home looked cozy and welcoming—glimpses of colorful rugs and comfortable-looking furniture through the picture window.
The usual wave of nostalgia hit him. This was where he and Jenny had lived as a married couple. At first, they’d been so happy, so in love and having great sex. A level of passion he hadn’t experienced since. Back then, the house had been owned by her parents and rented to them at a very reasonable cost. As it turned out, for a price: Jenny’s mother had controlled her. After the divorce, they’d sold it to her at a lower-than-market price.
Since then, both he and his ex had managed to get college degrees, his through the extension program at the University of Washington that led to promotions and more pay, hers at the community college in business and communications, both of which helped her establish her businesses.
Picking his dog up was always a joyful reunion, and the nostalgia faded.
As always, Jenny looked beautiful—slender with slightly wavy shoulder-length, light brown hair parted on the side. She and Rob were the same age. She hadn’t aged a bit except to get even lovelier, whereas he looked every bit of his almost thirty-four years. No heterosexual man with eyes could help being attracted to her, himself included. That didn’t mean he wanted her. He didn’t, but there were times…
“See you tomorrow afternoon,” he told her and took off.