Which meant they were late. Again. No way he could find Nathan’s shoes and finish these sandwiches for the kids’ lunches and still have time for them to catch the bus before the driver pulled away from their stop.
Jeremy’s feet landed heavy on the risers as he marched up the stairs to the second story. A huff of frustration followed by a banging sound came from the bathroom.
He detoured that direction. Natalie stood before the mirror, hands twisted in her hair and her face screwed up in disgust.
He leaned against the doorjamb. “What’s up, buttercup?”
Natalie’s hands lowered in defeat, her hair tumbling in disarray around her cheeks. “Mackenzie showed me how to French braid yesterday. She made it look so easy, but every time I try, my hair just looks like garbage.”
Jeremy tried to bypass the surprising part of that statement. The part having to do with Mackenzie. He had a distraught pre-hormonal young lady on his hands, and experience had taught him that sometimes dealing with kids at this age was like carrying a stick of dynamite. He had to go slow and handle with care, or there could be an explosion.
But he’d been thinking about Mackenzie all morning. Which might be a contributing factor to them all running late. His movements had been lethargic as he’d gone through his morning routine while wondering if Mackenzie had overheard what he said about her the day before.
Should he assume she had and apologize off the bat? It had been poorly done, he and Lincoln talking about her behind her back that way. Or should he wait it out and see how she acted today at work? If she hadn’t heard them, then he didn’t want to bring it to her attention and unnecessarily hurt her feelings.
The clincher, he’d decided, was how to decipher if she’d heard or not. With other people, if they were standoffish or in any way tried to avoid him, then he’d assume he’d offended them and needed to make amends. But Mackenzie naturally kept to herself, hardly ever interacting or conversing with anyone other than Keri besides a few words here or there.
He still hadn’t figured out what he should do.
“You agree, then.” Natalie sounded hurt. “My hair is garbage.”
Shoot. He’d allowed himself to get sidetracked, and look what had happened. He pushed himself off the doorjamb and slung an arm around Natalie’s shoulders, squeezing her into a side hug. “Your hair is not garbage. It’s beautiful.You’rebeautiful. But maybe we should practice the braid sometime other than when we’re running late for school, hmm?”
He moved behind her and picked up her hairbrush. When she was in elementary school, he’d been on hair duty every day. But back then she’d been happy with kitty-eared headbands and oversized bows with ponytails. He’d already been told she was too old for such things now, so he knew not to suggest either. Honestly, he was surprised she was letting him run the brush through her strands now, but he wouldn’t say anything to ruin the moment.
“How about something like...” He parted her mane down the middle, then sectioned off two small portions of her caramel-colored hair around her face. Pulling those to the back of her head, he secured them loosely with a simple gold barrette. “This?”
Natalie turned her chin first one way and then the other, inspecting his handiwork. Then she smiled and reached for her toothbrush.
Crisis averted.
“I still can’t find them,” Nathan now yelled from downstairs.
Short-term victory.
Jeremy opened the door to Nathan’s room. Discarded clothes littered the floor, an empty laundry basket alone in the corner. No wonder Nate couldn’t find anything in here. Jeremy bent down and picked up all the dirty clothes, depositing them in the hamper. No shoes under the mess, however.
He trudged back downstairs. Nathan sat at the table, eating a large bowl of cereal, milk dripping from his suspended spoon.
“What happened to your black pair of sneakers? Can’t youwear those instead of the blue pair?” Jeremy looked toward the front door, hoping to see the Adidas sitting there.
“Can’t.” Nathan slurped. “The blue ones are the only shoes I have that fit.”
“Theonlyones?” Surely not. Jeremy had bought Nate two new pairs a month ago.
Nate took another bite. “Yep.”
They were apparently going shoe shopping after work.
Jeremy made his way into the living room and lowered himself onto his hands and knees to look under the couch. Dust bunnies, a candy wrapper, three dirty socks that looked like Nathan’s, and there, a pair of shoes. He grabbed the Adidas and socks, then rose to his feet. He held the shoes in one hand and the socks in the other.
“How’d those get there?” Nathan sounded genuinely confused.
Today was not the day; right then not the time. They were late, and Jeremy didn’t have the energy.
He quickly finished making everyone’s lunches, and then they all piled into his SUV.
The sun had already crested the horizon, the early-morning light erasing the warm color palette of deep golds and rich oranges. The sky had transformed into an azure blue. If they weren’t so late, he’d appreciate the beauty. As it was, he doubted he’d be able to get the kids to school before the bell rang.
