Page 4 of Worth the Want
“Thank you, thank you, thank you! You won’t regret it!”
I scrub a hand down my face. “I already do. First sign of trouble, and she’s out of there, Winnie. I mean it.”
“Oh my gosh, will you stop? There isn’t going to be any trouble, old man. She isn’t some criminal I picked up fresh from the slammer. If your memory wasn’t so bad, you’d remember I did do a basic background check on her—no priors to speak of.”Yeah, the one I suggested.“Indiana Holmes, twenty-seven, college graduate, glowing references?—”
“I get it, Win.”
“Anyway, Lo has a room for her tonight, so I’ll drive over with her tomorrow, and we’ll get the place all ready. You don’t need to do anything other than be there so I can introduce you.”
“Is that necessary?” I ask.
“She’s new here, Knox. Just be nice,” she sighs.
“Nice? I’m giving her a place to stay.”Unwillingly.“I think that’s nice enough.”
“You don’t fool me. I know you’re a marshmallow somewhere deep inside…really,reallydeep down,” she mumbles the last bit.
“Yeah, yeah. Keep thinking what you want. It’s okay to be wrong, just don’t come crying to me if she robs you blind.”
She laughs softly. “Thank you. Really. I need this to work out, especially with the wedding coming up. I’m going to need her help, and she can’t help if she doesn’t have somewhere to live.”
I grunt in response, and she giggles.
“Love you. Kiss Hazey for me.” The mention of her affection for my daughter softens me a little.
“I will.”
“Tell her sleepover soon!”
“Bye, Winnie.”
“Bye! See you tomorrow!” I tap my phone and run a hand through my hair. I know this isn’t a good idea, but now I’ve already agreed, creating unnecessary work for myself. No one’s been in the guesthouse since the fall camping trip. I haven’t even bothered to look at it all winter. I’ll need to make sure thethermostat and water are working before Winnie brings her new manager over tomorrow.Indiana.She sounds like a character—literally.
Sighing, I turn my attention back to more pressing matters. Like getting me and my daughter out the door so I’m not late for this meeting.
“Hazey!” I call for my tiny tornado. “Have you finished your breakfast?”
“No!” she shouts back to me, then starts giggling like it’s the funniest thing she’s ever told me. Sounds about right. I take a calming breath, trying not to let the fact that my alarm didn’t go off this morning, due to a random power surge, interfere with how I interact with her. My frustration is not on her little shoulders.
“Well, we may have to take it to go because I need to drop you off at Grammy and Grandpa’s house this morning.”Because time is not on our side.
“Okay, Daddy!” she happily agrees. Hazel Holloway is my personal ray of sunshine. No matter life’s inconveniences, her love will always be my guidepost. Getting spoiled by my entire family—with orwithoutmy permission—would make a better case for her being a bit of a brat, but she’s always had this sweet nature about her. I smile thinking about my siblings and their friendly competition to earn the title of Hazel’s favorite.An ice cream cone here, a stuffed animal bigger than her there.
Grabbing the last document I need and walking from my office, I pass Hazel holding a blueberry pancake in one hand and a doll in the other, singing. I look from her little hands to the messy, soft, brown waves sticking out from on top of her head. An errant thought, one that I try to keep hidden evenfrom myself, pops into my head.It would be nice to have someone else here.
“Looks like Grandma will get to do your hair at her house today, dragonfly.”
“Okay!” she answers me, dancing slightly in her highchair.
“Let’s get you out to the truck,” I tell her, lifting her from the chair and grabbing her day bag beside my briefcase on the way out the front door.
After setting Haze into her car seat, I get in my old truck, setting my things in the passenger seat before pulling away from our house on the lake. There’s still mist from the morning rising off it, catching the cresting sun's glow. The meadow between our place and the guesthouse is starting to sprout the wildflowers Hazel and I sprinkled last summer, bringing some color to the valley.
My brothers and I stumbled across this place looking for a spot to fish when I was a junior in high school. It sat vacant for years until I moved back home. The big house was bare bones, not having been taken care of over the years, and even those had to be replaced before renovations could start. The small guesthouse that sits just under a half mile down the road disappears in the rearview. Taunting me with the realization that someone will be living there by tomorrow.
It’s been just the two of us out here for over two years now. Glancing back at Hazel in the rearview, I see her holding up her half-eaten pancake. It’s hard to believe she’ll be three soon.Could it really have been that long?When I answered that call years ago, it flipped all the carefully laid plans I had for my life upside down.
Hearing those two words. Two words that were only thebeginning of my life changing. Changing plans, changing jobs, and ultimately changing my address.
