Chapter 8 #2
She stared at him, her eyes just like his. “You can’t prove that any more than you can prove she’s not a ghost or that I can prove she is a ghost. We can’t prove anything. You don’t know she’s in Heaven.”
He was not going to have a religious debate with his nine-year-old. “That’s what faith means, sweetheart. It’s believing in something even if you can’t prove it.”
Her dark eyebrow arched. “Like ghosts.”
“Wouldn’t you feel better if you believed she was in Heaven with Jesus?”
Sarah shrugged. “What does it matter, Daddy? She’s not here.
She’s in Heaven, or she’s a ghost. Why would her being in Heaven make me feel better?
If she was a ghost, she could at least be watching us and caring about what we do.
If she’s in Heaven with Jesus, then she doesn’t even care what we do, and she’s just gone. ”
And this was why he didn’t have disputes with his children, because they were all smarter than him.
“Can we at least agree not to scare your sister into hysteria? Or if you’re going to scare one of your sisters, can you do it to the older one?”
He could see Sarah’s mind working. “Yeah, okay, fair.”
“Thank you.” At least he could warn Bekka.
Bekka would just get a hammer and hit her sister in the head a couple of times to make sure Sarah stopped. Actually, Bekka was way more the kind who would take Sarah’s favorite books and hide them and refuse to let them come back if she was being evil.
Allison, I sure hope somewhere you’re watching. I hope somewhere you’re paying attention.
Sarah ran off as soon as he gave her leave, and he sat there rocking the baby.
Lori came up and sat next to him, a smudge of dirt on her nose. “She’s a firecracker, that one.”
He nodded. “They all are, but she’s something else.”
She chuckled softly. “It’s okay. My Teresa is just the same. When my mom died, she insisted that Mother was a ghost and was watching every step she made. Wednesday Addams is her hero.”
“Yeah? I thought she was a Girl Scout and everything.”
“She is. I’m the leader. She doesn’t have a choice.” Lori winked at him. “Just because she’s a little gothy girl doesn’t mean she’s going to end up evil. It means that she’s deep. But I wouldn’t worry about Sarah. She’s going to be fine.”
“Thanks for that.” He did worry, though. About all of them. But then, it was easy for Lori to tell him that, because his girls weren’t her kids. He was certain it was harder for Lori with her own child.
“Hopefully, she and Teresa can be friends. They like the same kind of books, and I’m fairly sure Sarah’s going to ask if she could spend the night.”
“Oh.” Well, that would be new and a little strange, but mostly just new.
“I mean, you don’t have to, of course. I know you’re not well. It’s just hard for the girls to make friends.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’ll make sure Bekka’s cool with it if they decide to ask. Bekka’s kind of like my little mother here.”
“Is she a reader like her sister?”
“No. She knows how, of course, and she’ll read for pleasure every now and again, but really she’s very into crafts.
She likes to make things, but right now she’s doing cross-stitch, macrame, crocheting, knitting.
If it’s a craft, she wants to learn how to do it.
She says when she grows up she’s going to be a ceramicist.”
He had a budding potter. A Victorian vampire veterinarian. And little Rachel? He was pretty sure she wanted to be a cowboy ballerina.
“A ceramicist? Wow, that’s very specific.” She grinned again, shook her head. I understand, though. “My Hannah, who’s just a little bit younger, wants to be a pharmacist. Can you believe it?”
“Sometimes they just know, I guess.” He shrugged. “It’s not as though I expect any of my girls to want to be a roofer.”
“That would be a little odd, but I can see it. Girls can be roofers, too.”
“I bet Rachel would be good at being a contractor, at the very least, but possibly more of a general contractor type, like the boss.” As he said that, he was watching Rachel pull the same little boy she’d been running around with across the floor by his shirt front as he dug in his heels and tried not to go with her.
It was futile. She was way too strong for him.
“I can see that as well.” Lori patted his knee. “Now let me get back to work.”
“You really don’t have to—” But she was gone.
And then Sarah was back. “Dad. Can Teresa spend the night?” She ducked her head, her hair falling over her face. “I know I’m a tiny bit grounded because of Rachel, but I really want to be able to make friends.”
“As long as you don’t get together and tell your sister more ghost stories, you can absolutely have Teresa over.” He had no idea what he was going to feed them, but that was okay. He wouldn’t deny Sarah this opportunity.
“Thanks, Dad.” She ran off, looking lighter somehow than she had only moments ago.
About the time he was done burping the baby and pondering how his night was going to go, the door to the kitchen opened and Cam breezed in, his hands laden with bags. “Hey,” Cam said from the pass-through, “How’s it going?”
“Good. I think, you deserter.”
Cam snuffled out a laugh, unpacking bags. “I am not a deserter,” he said. “I just had the opportunity to go run a bunch of errands while someone else was here to help you out.”
“Well, I’m glad you got your shirt.”
“Yeah me too. It’s hanging up in my truck.” Cam put a bunch of stuff away in the fridge, then headed for the back door again. “I’ll be right back. I left a crapload of things in the car.”
“Do you want me to help you unload, Cam?” Bekka popped up like a little jack-in-the-box.”
“That would be great, kiddo. Come on. I’ve got all kinds of food from the store.”
Bekka headed out behind Cam and he shook his head. Somewhere he’d lost the plot again, which seemed to happen a lot with Cam. But he was grateful for the man, for not being gone all day and for showing up with food.
“Daddy!” Bekka came in carrying four bags, two in each hand. “Mr. Cam got fried chicken at the grocery store.”
“Wow, that’s nice.” He loved grocery store fried chicken. It was lowbrow, but it heated up like a dream.
“Uh-huh. And he got mashed potatoes and gravy and coleslaw to go with it. I think he also got some egg rolls for Sarah.”
He had to grin at the idea. Sarah loved those stupid crunchy egg rolls with the red sauce.
But that also meant Cam had gotten something special for Bekka and Rachel.
He didn’t know what yet. “Well, you’ll have to all tell him thank you when it comes time for us to have dinner.
Hopefully he got enough for Miss Teresa, too. ”
“Oh, he did. He got lots of everything.”
Mitch was trying not to be… not grumpy. Maybe ashamed, because grumpy wasn’t the word. Cam seemed to be hitting all the right notes with the kids, and every time he went into town, he came back with a crapload of stuff Mitch would probably never be able to pay him back for.
“That’s amazing, kiddo. I’ll tell him thank you, too.”
“You can tell me now.” Cam breezed back in, another dozen bags in his hands, and put them up on the counter. “That’s everything, Bekka. Thanks for your help.”
“Okay.” She wandered off, and he hoped she was going to go play some more, even though she swore eleven-year-olds didn’t play.
“So polite, that kid,” Cam said. “Not anything like her daddy.”
“Ha-ha.” He bounced the baby on his arm and got a messy burp on his shoulder for his trouble. “You’re hilarious. Seriously though, I really do appreciate the food. Teresa is going to spend the night, so we were probably not going to be able to just eat franks and beans out of a can.”
“Like I would let you guys eat that anyway, because ew.” Cam unloaded the rest of the bags, putting half of the stuff in the fridge and the rest away in cabinets.
Mitch thought he saw a couple of bags of chocolate in there and he knew that had to go immediately on a high shelf so the girls didn’t see it and get right into it. “You got roped into bottle duty, huh?”
“I seem to be the only one who is sitting still.”
Cam studied him for a moment, then grabbed a Coke and came over to sit across from him, popping it open. “Good. You’re supposed to be resting still.”
“When are you leaving?” It was supposed to come out as a tease. Instead, it came out sort of harsh.
Cam’s eyebrows went up. “Well, as soon as you’re able to do.”
Heat rose in his cheeks and shook his head. “I’m sorry, man. That sounded shitty of me, and I didn’t mean it that way. I was trying to tease you. I’m just feeling a little worthless.” Cam had been really good to them, and he didn’t want to mess it up with hard feelings.
“Well, you’re not worthless. You’re just laid up. God knows I’ve been there. And trust me, I’m nicer than my mom would be.” Cam’s lips curved into a smile, and it was kind of devastatingly hot.
Miz Halley came by and whapped Cam on the back of the head with her dust cloth. “Now son, don’t be nasty, did you get me one of those?” She nodded at his Coke.
“Yes, ma’am, I got one for anybody who might want one.” Cam climbed back to his feet and headed for the refrigerator to grab his mom something. “Mitch, did you need a drink?”
“I would love a glass of iced tea, Cam. Do you mind?” He wasn’t feeling up to putting that baby down and hauling his ass up off the couch.
“Not one bit,” Cam grabbed him a glass of tea and a Coke for his mom and came back handing them off. “Did you need me to give you some of this stuff for dinner, Mom?” Cam asked. “I got fried chicken and all.”
“No, son, that’s fine. Your daddy’s going to take me out to dinner tonight.”
“Yeah, where are you going to go?”
“Probably Quincy’s over in Alamosa.” Quincy’s was a steakhouse that mostly did filet mignon on the weekdays and prime rib on the weekends. Mitch had been there once with Allison to celebrate something. He couldn’t even remember, and they had felt more than a touch out of place.
“How fancy.” Cam rolled his eyes where only Mitch could see.