PART 4 – My son’s new wife fed my grandson dry cereal on the garage steps while her family ate ribs at the long table.

…“I didn’t want everyone arguing about what he would eat.”

“You let everyone laugh about his mother paying for cereal,” Renita said. Her voice stayed level. “You could have stopped that.”

Starla’s arms came down. “I didn’t say that. My sister did.”

“You were standing there,” I said. “You didn’t stop her.”

Starla looked at me. “You took him in the middle of the party. You made me look like I don’t care about him.”

Kirk’s mouth tightened. “That isn’t what I was thinking about.”

It was the first time since the cookout that he said anything plainly about Caleb. He looked at his son, then at Renita on the screen.

“I should have stopped it,” he said. “I was standing right there.”

Renita didn’t rush to answer. “Yes, you should have.”

“I thought he’d come tell me if something was wrong.”

“He told me he didn’t want to make you sad,” I said.

Kirk looked at Caleb. “You thought that?”

Caleb nodded once. Kirk started to step toward him, then stopped. Caleb stayed beside me.

“I’m sorry,” Kirk said. “I should have asked you.”

Caleb didn’t answer. No one pressed him to.

Renita said she wanted Caleb to stay with me for the rest of her deployment. Kirk could see him at my house, but she did not agree to send him back to stay with Starla. There was no court order being announced and no official decision. This was the arrangement his parents made between themselves, with the message and the cookout in front of them.

Kirk rubbed his jaw. “I want to see him.”

“You can,” Renita said. “But he’s sleeping at Grandma’s.”

Starla started to speak, then stopped. Kirk didn’t argue with Renita. He looked at Caleb again.

“Can I come see you tomorrow?” he asked.

Caleb glanced at me. “At Grandma’s?”

“At Grandma’s,” Kirk said.

“All right,” Caleb replied.

Kirk went back to his house with Starla. Renita remained on the call long enough to tell Caleb she loved him and would call again. After we said goodbye, I asked if he wanted to stay under the quilt another night.

He nodded. “I like being here.”

I told Kirk he could come by the next day. He did. He didn’t bring Starla, and I didn’t ask him to explain that choice. Caleb showed him his spelling book and the glove he’d brought over in June. They sat together at the table for a while.

The summer visit was over. Caleb stayed with me until Renita came home from Kuwait, and Kirk visited him at my house. I did not make the boy choose between his father and the place where he felt safe.

The cereal had been easy to dismiss until Renita showed us Starla’s own words. Kirk had been standing at the grill. This time, he stayed beside his son.

THE END.