by Tina Leonard
“You’re making me into a slave.”
“You’ll survive. When I was your age, I had to mow a yard twice this size every week.”
When Kolt got back from the barn, it was like a million degrees hotter. He drank some of the ice water his dad had brought out, but it didn’t help much in cooling him off. “Did your dad help?”
“Nope,” Luke said. “The whole thing was my responsibility. It was tough, but when I finished, it felt good seeing it look so nice. Once you figure out how doing chores is actually important instead of boring, they won’t seem so hard.”
“I don’t even know what that means.” The rake was about eighteen cajillion feet taller than Kolt and he kept accidentally hitting himself in his leg. The spiky parts hurt.
“It means one of these days, when you have a family and house of your own, you’ll be glad you learned how to do all of this stuff.”
“Oh.” Kolt supposed that made sense. Not that he ever wanted to get married, because girls were just gross. “Luke?”
“Yeah?” his dad answered, using a second rake to work alongside him.
“Did you want a kid?”
“Very much. Ever since I grew up, I’ve wanted a son. That’s why I was sad that your mom kept you a secret.”
“I know.” Kolt rested his forehead on the rake’s handle. “I don’t get why she didn’t just tell me about you when I was a baby. And now she says I have to stay away from Henry and that Uncle Dallas kicked him off the ranch. But that doesn’t seem right. He was nice to me.”
“Maybe so.” His dad didn’t take a break. “But I’m pretty sure you need to follow her directions. People aren’t always as nice as they seem.”
“Okay.” Not wanting to look like a lazy little kid, Kolt had raked and raked until his arms felt as if they were falling off. Uncle Dallas and Cash said it was good to work hard, and Kolt wasn’t really sure why, but a squeezy feeling in his stomach made him want his dad to know he always did his best.
“How about a drink of water?” His dad held out the jug and Kolt took a long gulp. “Looks like we’re about done here. Ready to move on to something else?”
“Can we brush the horses?”
“They don’t need that right now,” Luke said after taking another drink for himself, “but their stalls need cleaning. Would you help with that?”
“I guess. But brushing’s more fun.” Kolt followed his dad into the barn where they traded rakes for pitchforks and a wheelbarrow.
“True,” his dad said, “but this is just as important.”
After a long time while they were both just quiet and working, Kolt said, “On TV, dads seem more like they know what they’re doing. How come you seem like you’re not always sure?”
Luke laughed. “How could I be? We hardly know anything about each other. I don’t know your favorite color or foods or even which football team you like.”
“I like basketball better than football.”
“There you go.” Luke sat on a pile of hay bales, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “That’s a perfect example. If I knew you better, I’d know stuff like that. Just like you’d know I love football, but only if the Sooners are playing. Want to go to a game with me this fall?”
“Sure.”
Once they’d finished and gone inside to clean up to go to Luke’s parents, Kolt stood on the front porch, waiting for Luke to get his cowboy hat. The just-mowed yard smelled nice. Looked nice, too. So did the barn. Kolt wasn’t ready to tell anyone, but standing out here by himself, looking at how pretty everything was, he kind of understood what his dad had meant about how chores made you feel good inside. Kind of like when he made high grades at school.
“Ready?” Luke asked, slapping his hat on his head.
“Uh-huh.”
Once they were in the Jeep, Kolt asked, “Do you think it would be all right if, after lunch, we get me a hat like yours?”
His dad gave him a long, kind of funny look, then nodded. “I think that’d be real nice.”
A WEEK LATER, LUKE FOUND HIMSELF on the front lawn of Weed Gulch Elementary for his son’s first day of fifth grade. For seven-fifty in the morning, the temperature was already climbing.
“This is embarrassing,” Kolt said, shooing Daisy away when she stepped in close for her annual first-day-of-school snapshot. “Stop!”
“Just one more,” she promised, pressing down his cowlick. “Luke, stand next to him. I want one of you both.”
“Mom, please…” When a group of three older boys walked by, Kolt grew even more upset.
“What’s wrong with you?” Daisy asked. “You used to love having your picture taken.”
“I know,” he said, messing up his hair, “but that was back when I was a baby. Now that I’m old, I can’t do stuff like this anymore.”
“Okay.” She took one more candid shot. “I’m done.”
“You’ve got both of our cell numbers if you need us, right?” Luke asked.
“Yes! Leave me alone.” He ran off toward the entrance.
“What’s the procedure now?” Luke asked.
Daisy said, “I generally walk him in, and make sure he gets settled. We met his teacher a few days ago when I picked up his supply list, so I don’t especially need to see her again, but it’s always good to sign up for PTA or find out if the class needs room moms.”
“How about dads?” Luke might be new to the whole elementary-school scene, but he wanted in on everything. He’d already missed so much of his son’s life. He wouldn’t be absent a second more.
“Sure. Back in San Francisco, Kolt attended private school, but most parents were involved.”
Inside, it didn’t take long for Luke’s eyes to adjust. What took longer was getting used to dozens of pint-size bodies darting like atoms through the halls.
Aside from a fresh paint job and new bulletin boards, the place didn’t look all that different from when he and Daisy and all of her brothers had attended. It even smelled the same. Like dirty sneakers and super-strength cleaning solution.
“This is a trip, isn’t it?” Daisy led the way to Kolt’s room. “Seems like just yesterday when we were here.”
“You were the hottest little third-grader I’d ever seen,” he admitted. “Those braids of yours drove me wild.”
“Stop,” she said with a giggle.
They waved at Dallas’s wife, Josie, who was a kindergarten teacher, and then stepped into Mrs. Olsen’s room.
Cheerful rainbows hung from the ceiling and on the walls grew a paper garden with all of the girls’ names written on flowers and the boys’ on snails, frogs and squirrels.
The desks had been arranged in five groups of four and potted ivy, goldfish and a hamster lined the windowsill. The scent of fresh orange slices was a vast improvement over the odor in the hall.
Kolt stood with two other boys, one taller than him and one shorter. All of them had their supplies spread across the desks and from the looks of it were trading pencils.
“Does Kolt have cool pencils?” Luke asked, surprised to find his pulse racing, hoping his kid was well liked. Suddenly Luke’s own issues were no longer important. In a remarkably short time, Kolt had become his world.
Daisy whispered, “Transformers were the best Dollar General had.”
“Next year, we’re going to Tulsa.”
She elbowed him. “I’d hate to see what you’d do if we ever had a girl.” The minute the words left her mouth, she covered it. “That came out wrong. I know we’ll never have another baby. The two of us. Maybe apart. Hopefully…well—I’m going to shut up.”
“I get it, Daisy.” Luke knew what she was saying and in another world, one where she had never left and he had never had his heart broken by her, her sentiment might have come true. But no matter how special sharing this occasion with Kolt may be, it was all Luke and Daisy would ever have.
Kolt caught sight of them and waved them away.
“Come on,” Luke said, hand on Daisy’s uppe
r arm. Just touching her triggered a wave of overwhelming need, but he ignored it. That was the sex talking. An area in which they’d never had a problem. A fact proven by the kiss he’d given her not too long ago. “Let’s leave the kid alone.”
“First, tell me you know I didn’t mean what I just said. I was kidding.”
“Lord,” he said, raking his fingers through his hair, “this is neither the time nor place. Leave it alone.”
“I can’t.” Tears had pooled in her eyes. Had he been a weaker man, they might’ve been his undoing. “I want you back in my life—as a friend—and for starters, I’m willing to take your smallest scraps.”
“Stop.” In the hall, with what felt like half the town streaming around them, he said, “You’re stronger than this. Begging doesn’t suit you.”
“I need you to know I’m willing to do whatever it takes, for however long, to earn back your trust.”
“I get that, but…” He looked away. At the next room over, a little girl clung to her father, crying that she didn’t want him to go. A pang shot through Luke. A fear that the man would never be him. Would Kolt ever want to give him a hug? Would Luke one day experience the joy of being a father from the start of a child’s life? “Trust isn’t easy to come by, Daisy. It’s not a tangible item to be picked up at the store. Once gone, sometimes it never comes back.”
Raising her chin, sporting a look of defiance he hadn’t seen since she’d bought her first bottle of Jack Daniel’s, she said, “Get over yourself, Luke. I’m not asking you to marry me. Just to be my friend.” Raising her hands only to slap them at her sides, she said, “Honestly, would that be so hard?”
“In a word—yes.” Because if he were to surrender himself to her again, only to have her turn away, Luke feared he might never recover.
Chapter Ten
“Thank you so much.” Daisy’s new client, Jane Richmond, had tears in her eyes while leaving the office. A domestic violence victim, she’d finally summoned the courage to leave her abusive husband, but didn’t know how to get him to pay child support. Daisy had filed the proper papers and gotten the legal ball rolling to get the guy in court. “I’m not sure how I’ll ever repay you.”
“That’s the beauty of a free legal clinic,” Daisy said with a hug. “All you have to worry about is caring for those adorable children. No guarantees, but I’ll stay on Brian for as long as it takes to get what your babies are entitled to.”
After more hugging and tears, Jane left.
Since Daisy’s ad for free legal services had appeared a week earlier, Jane had been her only meaty case. She’d also done a couple of wills, helped mediate a land dispute and filed a few small claims court issues.
Since Luke’s declaration on Kolt’s first day of school, Daisy’s pride had kept her away. While she appreciated her mother’s advice on the matter of earning back his trust, clearly he more closely resembled a stubborn old mule than a man. As such, Daisy had decided to put her energy into helping people who wanted her in their lives.
As for Luke, he was a lost cause.
Another executive decision she’d made was to move out of the family home. As much as she loved being around her mother and Dallas and his wife and kids, she knew it was time for her and Kolt to get their own place.
The only foreseeable problem was Henry. She’d done some quiet investigating only to find he was still in the area, bunking with friends. On the ranch, Daisy felt reasonably safe. Though they didn’t have security beyond the nightly alarm they set at the house, she reasoned there was safety in numbers. Henry would be foolish to mess with her when there were so many potential witnesses. On the other hand, he’d approached her in a crowded grocery store. Which told her if the man truly wanted to get to her, he’d find a way.
That said, Daisy refused to live one more day hiding in fear. She’d exiled herself for ten long years and had had enough.
At three o’clock, she waited until after weaving through school traffic before asking Kolt, “What do you think about looking at houses with me?”
“Why? We live at the ranch.” He unwrapped a sucker he’d been given for acing his spelling test and popped it in his mouth.
“I know, but wouldn’t it be nice to have a place of our own? You wouldn’t have to share a bathroom with the twins and no more fighting over movies.”
“I guess.” Making a paper airplane from his candy wrapper, he asked, “Would Uncle Cash and Aunt Wren come over with Robin?”
“Sure. Everyone would be welcome to visit whenever they want.” She stopped at the train crossing where the ringing signal brought on a headache.
“Luke said someday we could build a tree fort. Think the new house would have a spot for one?”
“I don’t see why not.” The train had to be eight miles long.
“Cool. He’ll have to go with us to look, though. I don’t wanna accidentally buy a house that wouldn’t have a good tree fort tree.”
Come on, train. “The two of us should be just fine on our own. I’m sure Luke wouldn’t want anything to do with house-shopping.”
“Sure he would, Mom. Let’s call.”
Before Daisy could stop him, Kolt picked up her cell and dialed Luke’s phone.
“THIS IS THE LAST THING I thought I’d be doing today.” Luke had just returned from a week-long stay at a ranch west of Oklahoma City and had looked forward to spending his Saturday loafing as much as possible. Instead, he was crammed into the backseat of a Realtor’s Prius alongside the one woman he didn’t want to be with.
Kolt sat in the front because he’d gotten carsick.
While Kolt and Vera discussed their favorite Disney Channel shows, Daisy said under her breath. “Trust me, I don’t want you here just as much as you don’t want to be here. If you hadn’t told Kolt so much about how great it is building a tree fort, we wouldn’t be in this predicament.”
Predicament? More like torture. With the late August temperatures over a hundred, Daisy had worn a sundress. The damned thing not only displayed more creamy thigh than he could handle, but the effort it took to avoid the view down her collar was monumental.
“Here we are,” Vera said, parking in front of the old Peterson place. Not only was it in desperate need of a paint job, but also a new porch, windows and roof. Had the dye on Vera’s platinum hair sunk into her brain? “Six bedrooms and one bath. The kitchen needs updating and last time I was here we had to shoo out a squirrel, but aside from that, have you ever seen so much charm in a classic Victorian? As an added bonus, the acreage adjoins Buckhorn land.”
Finally on his feet, it took Luke a good minute to stretch out the kinks.
While Vera and Kolt navigated crooked porch steps, Luke leaned in close to Daisy, “This is a joke, right?”
“I kind of like it. I’ve always loved this house. The turrets fascinated me. Aren’t you excited that we get to go inside?”
Not really. “Just for a second, put aside any romanticism you might have for the old girl. Have you for one second considered how long the renovation would take? Not to mention, the cost?”
“Quit being a Debbie Downer and zip it.” Cautiously following her son’s path, she added, “The only reason you’re even here is because of the whole tree fort thing.”
“Yeah, well, if you buy this monstrosity, you might as well be living in a tree.” Why’d she have to smell so good? The flowery scent distracted him from further discussion of the house’s flaws. When her heel poked through a floor board, Luke was further bothered by having to catch her perfectly rounded derriere.
“Oops.” Clinging to him, her cheeks flushed. “Thanks for the save. Guess that plank needs to be replaced.”
“You think?”
“After J. T. Peterson died at the ripe old age of 101,” Vera said in the living room, standing in front of a spectacular carved mantel, “the house sat vacant for ten years. Last year, the family tried renting it, but with no central heat or air, that didn’t go so well.”
The ceilings
rose a good twelve feet and the entry-hall staircase beat anything Luke had seen, the way it hugged the oval room in a gentle rise. Though the house was no doubt infested with termites, mice and more than a few ghosts, it would really be something if it were ever to be restored—by, he hoped, anyone other than Daisy.
Upstairs, the bedrooms featured all manner of kooky angles to accommodate turrets and cupolas and stained-glass bays. The hardwood floors were in crappy condition. In many areas the ceiling looked as if it were caving in. The whole place reeked of dust and mildew and judging by Daisy’s enraptured expression, she’d already made her decision.
“Mom! Look!” Kolt had found another winding staircase, this one leading to an attic that ran the full length of the house. Dormer windows allowed for plenty of natural light. “Have you ever seen so much cool stuff?” He’d found a chest filled with books and old clothes. Slapping a bowler hat on his head, he asked, “Do I look old-timey?”
“Absolutely,” Daisy said. “Anything in there for me?”
He fished out a sailor’s cap. “How’s this?”
“Perfect,” she said with a breezy smile Luke hadn’t seen in years. “How do I look?”
“Okay, I guess—for a mom.” She stuck out her tongue at their son.
“I want one.” Luke mounted the last few steps. “No fair you two having all the fun.”
“All that’s left is this.” Kolt tossed Luke a pillbox hat covered in torn netting and sporting a limp feather.
“Gee, thanks.”
“Put it on!” Kolt demanded. “Mom can take a picture with her phone.”
Laughing as the three of them squeezed together, Daisy stood in the center, extending her arm to snap the picture.
“Let me see.” Kolt grabbed the phone. “Awesome! We look cool!”
