4. Preston
4
Preston
I hadn’t wanted Rachel to come with us. In fact, I was a bit irritated when Lilly threw a fit when I told her no. I am glad now that I gave in to her tears and asked Rachel to come on our day of adventure. She isn’t interfering; she’s making it better.
We are currently examining the bark of the pine trees, looking for wood beetles. We’ve already let ladybugs crawl on us, chased a half dozen butterflies, and found one caterpillar on the backside of a large, green leaf.
Rachel had been a trooper through it all, but none of it compared to how well she took falling into the creek. She landed with a splash and a look of shock but got over it pretty fast. It would seem this woman can handle anything. I assume her shorts are probably still wet but it doesn’t slow her down as we look for bugs. I am pretty sure she is hoping she won’t find one. Ladybugs and butterflies are one thing, but I don’t believe beetles are on her list of “bugs I will touch.”
When she goes around a tree, I hear her gasp. I figure she found a beetle, but when I come up behind her, she is frozen and staring at the ground.
She glances at me, points a foot in front of her, and whispers, “ Snake.”
I come close to her, look over her shoulder, and see the black snake with a yellow stripe. “It’s just a garter snake.”
She talks through gritted teeth. “I don’t care what kind of snake it is. It’s staring at me.”
I try not to laugh as I put my hands on her shoulders. “It’s harmless. Just take a step back.”
“It’s going to strike.”
“It’s not going to strike. They don’t strike. I assure you, it’s more scared of you than you are of it.”
“Why is it staring at me then?”
“It’s probably wondering the same thing about you.” I put some pressure on her shoulders. “Come on. One step at a time.” She takes a step back. “There you go.”
She takes another step, then shrieks when the snake slithers off under a bush. She turns to me and throws her arms around my neck. “Thank you.” She suddenly seems to realize what she is doing. She lets go and takes a step back. “Oh, sorry.”
“It’s okay.” It was actually very okay. But I mentally reprimand myself for thinking so.
She moves away from the trees into a clear area. “Okay. I’m done looking for bugs. I’ll just stay right here in the open where I can see anything crawling, flying, or slithering toward me.”
Lilly comes up to her and hugs her. “You’re so brave, Rachel.”
Rachel looks at me over Lilly’s head and shakes her head as she pats Lilly’s back. “Thank you, honey.”
I pick up the backpack. “I think it’s time to head home.”
Lilly looks up at Rachel, and in her most grown-up voice asks, “Will you feel better if we go home?”
“I think so. Is that okay?”
Lilly nods. “Yes. Let’s get you home.”
I smile. “Alright, ladies, let’s go.”
As we head down the path toward home, Lilly and Sugar run ahead. Rachel comes up beside me.
She is quiet for a moment before she glances at me. “I’m sorry I freaked out over the snake.”
“It’s fine,” I reassure her.
“Snakes are…not my favorite animal.”
“Perfectly understandable.”
“And I’m sorry about the…you know.”
“That’s fine, too.”
She touches my arm and stops walking. I stop as well, and she smiles at me. “You know, yesterday when I was threatening you with a piece of firewood, I thought you were someone very different.”
“An intruder?”
“No. I mean, you were Mr. Michaelson, my boss.”
“And who am I now?” I am almost afraid to hear her answer.
“You are Lilly’s father.”
“Is that better or worse?”
She looks away from me for a moment and watches Lilly and Sugar. “Better. Much better.”
I smile. “Good to know.”
We continue walking and, after a while, I say, “I heard you singing last night.”
She puts her hands to her face. “Oh my gosh. That’s so embarrassing.”
“You’ve got nothing to be embarrassed about. You’re really good.”
She sticks her hands in her pockets. “When I was a kid, I wanted to be a professional singer. A popstar.”
“And why didn’t you pursue that? ”
“I had a teacher in eighth grade who told me my voice was adequate but not star quality.”
I stop walking. “That’s a terrible thing to say to a kid.”
She stops and looks at me. “Right? But at the time, I took it to heart. I figured he knew what he was talking about.”
“Man, I’d like to take that guy out behind the bleachers and have a talk with him.”
“Mr. Michaelson!”
I laugh. “Sorry, I just hate when people say stupid things without even considering what impact it might have on a child.”
“It sounds like you had a teacher like mine.”
I sigh. “I had a couple of them in boarding school. Granted, I was a bit of a pain. But some people shouldn’t be teachers.” We begin walking again, catching up to Lilly who has stopped to pick some flowers.
“Boarding school, huh?”
“Yeah. It was horrible and I let everyone around me know just how unhappy I was. I’ll never do that to Lilly.”
“Good.”
“Private school, yes. A well-vetted private school. But I’ll never send her away to school. Until college, of course. If she wants to go to college, but I won’t force her.”
“I take it you didn’t have a choice in where or if you went to college.”
“The last four generations of men in my family went to Princeton. There was never any other option. But that didn’t bother me as much as boarding school did.”
“I’m sorry.”
I shrug. “I survived. I got a good education.”
“I’m sure your parents thought they were doing what was best for you.”
“I know. But that didn’t make it any easier at the time.”
I’m not sure why I am opening up to Rachel. There are probably only three other people I currently know who are aware of my days at boarding school. I never talk about it. Now, here I am telling a virtual stranger, but she doesn’t feel like a stranger. She feels like someone I’ve always known.
When Sugar sits down in the middle of the trail and refuses to go any further, I pick her up and carry her the rest of the way. The poor puppy is exhausted from a full day of running around with Lilly, and she instantly falls asleep in my arms. When we get to the yard, I hand her to Lilly.
“Go put Sugar in her bed. She needs a nice, long nap.”
“Okay, Daddy.”
“And thank Rachel for coming with us.”
Lilly goes to Rachel and hugs her with her free arm. “Thank you, Rachel. It was the best day ever. And I’m sorry you fell in the creek. And I’m sorry about the…” She lowers her voice to a whisper. “The snake.”
“Thank you. I had a great time, aside from those two things.”
Lilly runs off, and I look at Rachel. “I ah…well, I have to admit I wasn’t too happy Lilly wanted you to come but I’m glad you did. Thank you.”
“Thank you for asking. It was good Lilly and I were able to spend time together before Monday when it’ll just be the two of us for the week.”
“That’s true. Well, okay, then. Have a good rest of your day.”
She turns and walks away from me and I watch her longer than I should have. Right. Don’t go there. It would be highly inappropriate. And you’re not ready to go there with her or anyone else. I head for the house to take a shower and get dressed for dinner.
On Sundays, I like to spend some time on the tennis courts. I’ll give the backboard a good workout and practice my serves while Lilly plays ball girl. She loves fetching the balls for me and it keeps her entertained. After an hour of slamming the ball into the wooden wall, we head for the pool. She loves swimming even more than chasing tennis balls.
While she sits on the steps to get used to the water, I dive into the deep end. I swim down the length of the pool underwater and come up right in front of her.
She squeals. “Pool monster!”
I laugh as I stand and pick her up. “Time for you to get wet, Lillybug.” She kicks her feet in protest, giggling as I carry her to where the water is at my waist. I bend my knees and bring her down with me into the water. She puts her arms around my neck and we go under briefly.
When I come up, I hear, “Oh, sorry.”
I turn to see Rachel standing on the side of the pool. “Did you need something?” I stand with Lilly in my arms, and Rachel looks everywhere but at me.
“I was looking for Benjy. He said he’d tell me about the flowers planted in front of the guesthouse.”
“I think he’s over by the pond pulling weeds.”
She ventures a look at me. I’m pretty sure she blushes before saying, “Thank you. Sorry to interrupt.”
“You’re not interrupting. ”
“Okay, then. I’ll go find Benjy.” She turns and walks away from the pool. I smile at Lilly. “Do you want to do some jumping?”
She nods. I carry her to the side of the pool and set her on the cool decking. I back up about three feet and hold my arms out.
She waves at me. “More. Go farther.”
I take one more step. “Okay, this is pretty far.”
She takes a big breath and holds it, then jumps. I catch her, and she hugs me. At times like this, I try not to think about her growing up and becoming a sullen teenager. Hopefully, she’ll stay sweet and continue to love her dad but I know the day will come when I am no longer the only man in her life.