Page 24 of Reaching Roland

She reached out and gripped my forearm. “I’m sorry. You’re too young to have already lost your spouse.”

“Life isn’t always fair.”

She squeezed my arm, then dropped her hand to her side. “No, it’s really not.” We both stood silently, lost in our thoughts for a minute, and then she rubbed her hands together briskly and took a step back. “I’ll let you get up there. Kenny sure seemed excited about making you dinner. Have fun.”

“It was nice meeting you,” I said as she turned and walked back toward her home. I eyed the cream cape cod with steel blue shutters, and I didn’t blame her for wanting to hold onto it. The memories they’d created in the home would be priceless enough, but the old girl had good bones. A cursory appraisal revealed a broken drainpipe, a cracked shutter, and it looked like the front door had been stained by something. Not to mention that her yard was in desperate need of attention. Depending on how well Kenny got along with Evelyn, I’d have to make some time to come over here and help her out.

Setting down my tools, I decided to run up to the apartment and say hi to Kenny before I got to work. Maybe he’d come outside and keep me company. When I knocked on the door, I heard a crash, then him cursing up a storm, before the door finally swung open, revealing quite the sight. Kenny’s hair was matted to his forehead with sweat, and he had white residue on his cheek and the tip of his nose, as well as all down the black apron covering his clothes. I bit back a chuckle now that I got a good look at the apron, which said,May I Suggest the Sausage, with a finger pointing down. He must’ve been wearing shorts because the next thing I saw was his bare legs pressed together while he stood with one cute little foot on top of the other.

“Uh, shortcake. Everything okay?”

He blew air up toward his hairline and forced a pained smile. “Yep. Uh-huh. Just cooking our dinner.”

I pointed down at his feet. “What’s going on there?”

He gestured absently behind him. “I was startled when you pounded on the door and knocked a silver bowl off the counter and onto my foot. It’s pretty heavy, so it didn’t feel good.”

“Let me take a look,” I said, gripping him around the waist and steering him toward the couch I saw to my left. Since he was hurt, it didn’t seem necessary to point out that I’d more tapped on the door than anything else.

“No, it’s okay, Daddy. I need to get back into the kitchen so I can finish dinner.”

Without stopping, I asked, “Is there anything on the stove or in the oven that could catch on fire?”

He shook his head, leaning into me while hobbling on the heel of the foot that got hurt.

“Then that can wait until I make sure you’re okay.” I sat him down and hunched down in front of him, gripping his ankle gingerly and holding up his foot to examine it. Across the top was a fire-red slash, which wasn’t bleeding, but the area around it was turning a pale shade of blue.

“Sorry about my ghostly feet.”

Raising my gaze to meet his pain-filled eyes, I asked, “What are you talking about?”

“They’re so white. It’s embarrassing.”

I barked out a laugh. “I didn’t even notice. I’m more concerned you didn’t damage anything.” Carefully, I felt around the visible injury. “How does that feel?”

“Like I’m an idiot who didn’t put the bowls I didn’t need back in the cabinet and instead left them balancing precariously on the counter.”

I reached up and pinched his calf. “Don’t talk about yourself like that. Accidents happen.”

He sighed. “I know. It really is my own fault. I wanted to have dinner ready by the time you got here, and I was rushing.”

“I thought you worked as late as me on Wednesdays. How’d you manage to get covered in white stuff so quickly?” I asked while dusting the powder off his cheek with my thumb. I stuck it in my mouth and then stuck out my tongue. “Ew. Flour.”

Kenny cackled. “Daddy, why would you put something in your mouth if you didn’t know what it was?”

I snorted. “I used to say something similar to Cameron when he was young, but it was more like, don’t put something in your mouth if you don’t know where it’s been.”

Kenny’s eyes widened, and I winked at him. He fell back giggling. “You’re naughty.”

Since I was still holding his ankle in my hand, I tugged on it gently, and he sat back up. “How does it feel now that you've had a minute to sit with the pain? I think you’re going to need to put ice on it.”

“You were distracting me,” he said, sounding bemused.

“Of course I was, but given the saying on your apron, I didn’t think you’d mind.”

He looked down at his chest, and his cheeks went scarlet. “I planned to take it off before you got here.”

“Given the fact that Indie's a permanent fixture in my life, I assure you I’ve heard worse.” I rubbed the other white dust off the end of his nose with my thumb. “And your face really was covered in flour. I really think you need to put some ice on this foot.”

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