Page 36 of Second Start: Family
“Was eatin’ choclit cake,” he said like only an idiot would have to ask.
And Hall supposed that’s what he was.
*
Hall had been so wrapped up in the girls’ breakfast birthday cake and celebration that he’d let the basics pass him by. Like getting the kids out the door for the school bus. Like seeing they had their clothes and lunches ready the night before. Like having the ranch paperwork in order to mail to the bank today.
Getting the kids washed and dressed, and lunches made hadn’t taken much time, despite the chaos.
At the last second he thought to scoop up the paperwork and take it with. He might as well go on from the school to the bank — he’d be headed in the right direction. He’d find a quiet spot to park somewhere, and if he could keep Bobby occupied, it shouldn’t take too long to finish up.
After finishing his errands in town and heading back, he might have enough daylight left to repair fencing in the Dorcas Creek pasture. He wanted to put the stock he needed to bring down from the hills in there for the winter. Of course that was if the grass was good enough.
He needed to check that, too. With the dryness, there might not be enough to feed that number of head. So he could either spread the stock out more — which would make it harder to feed come the worst weather — or he could count on feeding hay starting earlier in the winter. If he did that, chances were good he’d run through his stock of hay before spring, so he’d have to buy more or sell head — either one at the worst time.
He had to look at that grass and make decisions about—
“The turn!”
Dan’s shout pulled his attention back to his driving just in time to see he’d nearly overshot the left turn into the school drive.
A quick check of the road, a heavy boot on the brake and a hard yank of the wheel, had the aged truck not quite skidding into the parking area. The tires likely would have sprayed gravel, if there’d been enough covering the dirt surface to spray. Dan hugged the passenger door, looking annoyed. The little ones whooped and giggled, like it was a carnival ride.
Kenzie and Vicky both looked up, clearly startled by the abrupt arrival. From a dozen feet apart, they patrolled the perimeter of a knot of kids still outside the building, edging them closer to the door like savvy cattle dogs heading strays toward a chute.
“Sorry, kids,” he mumbled.
Dan’s disgusted grunt trailed back to Hall as the boy slammed out of the vehicle.
“That was fun,” said Lizzie as she scooted out.
“Have a good birthday!” he called after her, and she twirled around to wave before dashing into the building.
Molly had come around behind the vehicle, passing by the open driver’s window. She patted his hand. “That’s okay that you can’t sing, Daddy. Mommy used to say you couldn’t, and I thought that was something else you didn’t want to do, but you really can’t sing.”
She skipped off. Clearly lightened by the news that her father couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket.
He wished he felt the same way.
I thought that was something else you didn’t want to do.
Again.
Another family tradition he hadn’t shared. Another family activity he didn’t join. That’s how his kids saw him. And that’s how he’d hurt his kids. It didn’t matter why.
CHAPTER TEN
“Are you enjoying your birthdays so far, girls,” Kenzie asked.
With smiles splitting their faces, Lizzie and Molly nodded together, as if the same puppet string guided the energetic bobs.
“Get in your seats. Class starts soon.”
They raced in — clearly looking forward to getting the pesky education stuff done to celebrate at the end of the day with their classmates.
Kenzie hesitated, then approached the truck. Hall got out. Bobby was snoozing in the back.
She glanced at his shirt, probably recognizing it as the same one he’d worn last night. But, in what he was coming to think of as typical for her, she didn’t address that.
