Gulf Coast Wedding by Maggie Miller

Chapter Twenty-nine

Levi was glad to have Clayton for a little extra time, even if some of that time was devoted to, in Clayton’s words, stupid homework. Levi had to smile at that. Was there a kid who liked homework? Probably. But it wasn’t his son.

Which explained why Clayton hadn’t mentioned he also had a spelling worksheet until Denise had asked him about it.

After the spelling was done, Levi planned to take his son outside to throw the football. Knowing that seemed to spur Clayton on. He finished pretty quickly, making Levi think that he’d need to have a look at the worksheet over to be certain none of the words had been skipped. But he’d do that later.

Right now, they were headed to the backyard for a little father and son time.

Dinner would be in about half an hour. Levi’s mom was making chicken alfredo with ziti, another of his favorite dishes. And because Clayton was staying to eat with them, she’d decided to add peas and diced carrots to make it more like the filling of chicken pot pie, something Clayton had deemed a good idea.

Mostly though, Levi was looking forward to the chance to talk to his son about what was going to happen tomorrow night. He caught the football as Clay tossed it to him. “Nice throw.”

He meant it too. The kid had some natural ability. Maybe it wasn’t so surprising, considering Levi had been good at just about every sport he’d tried. He hadn’t gotten to really play any except for football, but if given the chance, he would have done a lot more.

“Thanks.” Clayton had a big smile on his face. “I can throw it farther.”

“Can you?” Levi tossed it back. “Let me see.”

“Okay.” Clayton caught the ball but held onto it. “Back up.”

Levi took a few steps away. “That good?”

“Yeah.” Clayton gave it all he had, sending the ball sailing a little left of Levi, but making the distance without too much trouble.

“Wow, nice one, buddy. With practice, your accuracy will get better too. We need to keep practicing.”

Somehow, Clayton’s smile got bigger. “Okay.”

Levi threw the ball back, already imagining them doing this in their own backyard. “So, you ready for your part tomorrow night? In the wedding, I mean.”

Clayton shrugged before returning the ball with another long pass. “Yeah. I guess. I just carry the rings, right?”

“Yep. You walk down the aisle ahead of your mom and grandpa, then you come stand next to me. And when I ask for them, you give me the rings.”

“I can do that.”

Levi sent the next one a little higher, making Clayton back up. “What do you think about your mom and I getting married?”

He caught the ball with both arms wrapped around it tight. “I think it’s good.”

“What about us all moving into the new house after we get it fixed up?”

He went silent and this time when he threw, the ball fell a little short of Levi. “It’s good, too, I guess.”

But something in Clayton’s voice told Levi his son wasn’t convinced. “Is there something about moving you don’t like? Or you’re not sure about?”

Clayton’s face screwed up into a question. “Am I still going to see grandpa?”

“All the time.”

“Am I going to have to change schools again?”

Levi was sure Sam had gone over this stuff with him, but the kid clearly needed reassurance. “Nope. In fact, once we move into the new house, you’ll be able to have your friends over to play in the backyard and even go swimming in our pool.”

Clayton seemed to give that some serious thought, then nodded. “Yeah, that’s good then.”

The slider behind Levi opened and his mom leaned out. “Dinner time, boys.”

“We are on our way.” Levi tucked the ball under his arm, and they headed in.

“Don’t forget to wash up.” Denise ruffled Clayton’s hair as he went past.

“I know,” Clayton said.

Levi grinned. “You’re going to have to wash up tomorrow too, before you put your suit on.”

Clayton turned around and made a face. “I have to wear a suit?”

“Yes. Just like me. And your grandfather. We’re all getting dressed up,” Levi answered. “Besides, how do you know you don’t like wearing a suit? When have you had to wear one before?”

Clayton shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Levi chuckled. “So you haven’t worn one. You might like looking nice.”

“Maybe.”

“You certainly don’t want to look like a bum with the rest of us dressed up. And your mom’s going to look like a movie star. Probably better.” Levi could only imagine how Sam was going to look. He couldn’t wait.

“But I’m not the one getting married.”

“No, but you’re a big part of the wedding. And there will be pictures, too. A lot of them, I imagine. Not to mention, it’ll make your mom very happy.”

“Okay.”

That seemed to be the end of that. Levi left the football on the bench by the sliders, then he and Clayton went to the sink, washed their hands, and took their seats at the kitchen table.

As his mom served up the meal, a thought came to Levi. “You know, after we get moved into the new house, we should have a family meal once a month. I mean all of us, plus Travis and Georgia. Maybe even Mia, Lilly, and Griffin if they want to come. And are able. With the inn opening back up, that might not be as easy for them.”

Denise smiled. “That’s a wonderful idea. What do you think, Clayton?”

“Can I invite Grunt?” Clayton asked.

Levi laughed. “Sure.”

“Awesome. Grunt loves to eat and he’s not picky.” Clayton threaded the tines of his fork through some of the ziti tubes so that they sat on the fork longways. “Are you guys coming to my next game?”

“Absolutely,” Levi answered. “I intend to go to every one of your games.”

“Yeah?” Clayton smiled. “That’s cool.” He ate the pasta off his fork. Then he went back for more. “This is good, grandma.”

Denise beamed.

They talked a little more about the wedding, a little more about football, and a lot more about school since Clayton told them about the Christmas play that was coming up. He was apparently going to be a candy cane or a star.

Levi made a mental note to ask Sam if she knew about the play already, because it was the first he’d heard of it and he definitely didn’t want to miss it.

When dinner was over, Levi asked Clayton to help with the cleaning up. While that was going on, Levi went out to the dining room and took a few minutes to check over the worksheets that had been homework.

As he’d suspected, one of the spelling words had been skipped and a couple of the math problems seemed like they’d been given minimal effort. Levi returned to the kitchen. “Hey, buddy, when you’re done helping, let’s take a few minutes and go over this homework. Looks like you had trouble with some of it.”

Clayton was loading dishes into the dishwasher. “Do I have to?”

Levi snorted. “Yes. Homework isn’t optional. But I promise, I’ll go over them with you so they make more sense.”

“Okay.”

A couple minutes later, they were back at the kitchen table. Levi put the worksheet and a pencil in front of his son, then did a quick lesson with him on multiplication. After working the first problem together, Clayton seemed to get the idea and finished the rest on his own while Levi watched.

“Good job!” Levi was proud of the boy. He knew math was often a struggle for a lot of people, but he also knew how important it is. He leaned in. “Think we should ask grandma what’s for dessert?”

Clayton’s eyes lit up. “Yes!”

“Mom,” Levi called out. She’d gone into the living room to watch a game show.

She came back in. “Yes?”

“Is there any dessert?”

She smiled. “It’s nothing fancy, but I have some chocolate ice cream. I also have whipped cream and sprinkles. I could whip up some little sundaes. How’s that sound?”

“I’ll have that,” Clayton said.

“All right.” She went straight to the freezer and got the ice cream out.

Levi glanced at the time. “Clay, why don’t you put your homework into your backpack and make sure you have all your stuff together. After the ice cream, I’m going to run you home and I don’t want you to forget anything.”

“Okay.” He took his paper into the other room.

Denise looked over from where she was scooping ice cream into small bowls. “How did he do?”

“Not too bad. But I think he’d get better if I worked with him a little more.”

She nodded as she opened the cabinet to get the sprinkles down. “Math was never my strong suit, but you were always good at it.”

“Sam never loved it either, from what I remember. Although I’d bet Travis was decent in it. Anyone who can build things usually has a firm foundation in numbers.”

She added a dollop of whipped cream to each bowl just as Clayton came back in.

“Wow, those look awesome.” He took his seat at the table.

She stuck a spoon in each dish, then brought them over. “Here you go.”

“Aren’t you having some, grandma?”

“I am. Just need to grab my dish.” She joined them with her bowl, which Levi noted didn’t have sprinkles or whipped cream, just a small single scoop.

“That’s not much of a sundae, Mom.”

She laughed. “It’s all the sundae I need with a dress to fit into tomorrow.”

Levi smiled in understanding. Tomorrow was going to be a big day for all of them. He imagined his mom never guessed in a million years how her life would suddenly change.

He glanced at Clayton, his heart full. He certainly hadn’t.