Up in Smoke (Hotshots 4)

Glug. The baby made an eager noise as Shane arranged her in his arm to give her the bottle. She was so tiny and helpless and never was he more aware of that than when feeding her. This part was fiddly too—he’d learned the hard way that angle mattered and that the mid-feeding burping was not optional.

“So. Tell me your story.” Brandt took a seat in the large chair opposite of the couch, leaning forward with his hands on his knees.

“After Grangeville last year, Shelby and I went opposite directions. But she had some sort of sinus infection she couldn’t shake, and when I saw her again a few weeks later in Cheyenne, she was miserable. Congested, upset stomach, headaches. From what she said the other night, that’s how she knows you’re the dad—she was too sick with the sinus thing to party, and then she kept getting sicker, not better.”

“That sucks.” Brandt’s voice was guarded but not unkind.

“Yeah. And rather than go to a clinic or something smart, she decided to leave Macy on the festival circuit and go hang out with my mom instead and try to get better.”

“And where’s your mom? Maybe she’d be a help?” Brandt sounded all too eager to make this someone else’s problem.

“Mom is the last person, maybe even after you, that I would trust with a baby. And calling her is not an option. There are few phones at the commune she’s currently at in southern Oregon.” Shane kept his voice level and matter-of-fact, no time to dwell on his disappointing parents and their inability to settle down, even now. “I’ll go to her if I have to, but she’s even less reliable than Shelby when it comes down to it.”

“But Shelby stayed there?” Brandt frowned as Shane paused to burp the baby. The baby book Shelby had left had a whole section on feeding, but it didn’t adequately describe the way this kid could rival a trucker with her loud burps, half of which brought up some of the formula. He remembered at the last second to grab one of the little light blankets for his shoulder.

“Apparently. I mean I knew she was there over the winter, getting her inner hippie chick on, but I didn’t know she was pregnant because I was in Nashville most of the fall and winter.” Shane refused to feel guilty about not checking in more. It was hard enough to reach his mom at the commune, and if he’d felt relief that Shelby was at least not out stirring up more trouble, well that was his business, not Brandt’s.

“Why’d you come back?”

“I’ve had good luck before with the festival and rodeo circuit in the Northwest. Nashville just wasn’t paying off yet.” Shane didn’t want to go into how there he was one of hundreds of hungry young country star wannabes, broke and desperate. So far, his only claim to fame was selling a couple of songs to B-list acts, but even that was hit or miss. At least in the Northwest, he could make a buck. And maybe his big discovery would come out here anyway. “I was in Portland for an audition for one of those reality talent show contests, and that’s how Shelby knew to find me.”

“What I’m struggling to follow is why leave the baby with you? I mean, no offense, man, but you’re not exactly instant daddy material either.”

Shane wasn’t going to dispute that. He had no real clue why Shelby would trust him with this other than the fact that he was always the one batting cleanup on whatever her latest mess was, this one included. “She was pissed about fighting with my mom and the commune leadership. What’s surprising is that she lasted this long there. She’s allergic to routine, and I doubt they had enough excitement for her. And Macy just booked a Canadian tour. No way was Shelby gonna miss that. I thought she was taking the baby though, until I woke up and she’d split.”

“But she left a note you said?”

“Yeah.” Shane fumbled with the now-sleepy baby to get the note and the birth certificate from the bag. Damn. He was exhausted too. He’d kill for a nap himself. Just thirty minutes even. These had been some of the longest days of his life.

“Here’s the note.” He passed over both pieces of paper. “And as you can see, the commune midwife put your name as the dad. Apparently, Shelby thought your last name was cooler than Travis, decided to use it for the baby.”

Brandt blinked a couple of times. “She named the baby Wilder?”

“This is Jewel Pearl Wilder.” Shane made the baby wave her arm. “I know you don’t believe me. Hell, I don’t want to believe me either.”

“You’re not wrong,” Brandt muttered, folding forward again. “And you seem like a stand-up guy in a bad spot. But there’s been a mistake. I swear there was a condom. I’m not an idiot.”