“I’ll be okay, but yeah, if you don’t mind staying in case Zan wakes up and I’m asleep, that’d be really helpful.”Tell her you want her to stay. It’s not about Zan.
“Good. I’d feel better about that.”
“I don’t want you to stay for Zan.” He swallowed, then let his heart set the story straight. “I like the thought of waking up and you being there.”
“I’d like that too.” Merry Anna smiled and put her phone in her lap. “Thank you for telling me that.”
“It’s overdue.”
They pulled into the driveway at four fifty that morning. Zan was fast asleep. Adam carried her into the house and tucked her in while Merry Anna gathered a pillow and blanket from the hall closet and settled into the corner of the couch.
“Good night, Merry Anna. Thank you. For everything.” He turned the lights down and went to his room. He swallowed a few ibuprofen and downed a bottle of water, then went and stood in the shower for as long as his legs would hold him before crawling into bed.
He looked at his phone. He had dozens of texts and voice mails, and it was barely daylight. There were always more messages over wrecks than the good rides. He set his alarm for every three hours until eight o’clock that night. He’d be up way before then, but he knew the routine. Get up and move around every three hours to make sure he could see straight.
When his alarm went off, he got up and drank some water. He put on a shirt and walked out into the living room. As soon as Zan saw him, she ran to him.
“Good morning to you too.” He picked her up, making her scream at a pitch so high that it made him shut his eyes. “Boy, you are a squeaker.” He lifted her again, sending her into a fit of giggles. Good thing she was so light. His shoulder resisted the reach, so he set her down before he dropped her. “Did y’all get something to eat?”
“Merry Anna made us peanut butter toast. It was really good.”
“My secret recipe,” Merry Anna teased, cleaning up some of the crayons they had spread out on the hardwood floors.
“Thanks for doing that,” he said. “I meant to get up and make something for y’all.”
“I think you should take it easy today, Cowboy.”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but I’m not really good at that.”
Merry Anna pointed a crayon at him. “You could try. We’ll be fine playing together, won’t we, Zan?”
“Yep. I’m making you a get-well card, and it’s not done yet, so you can’t see it.”
“Oh. Well, I wouldn’t want to interrupt that.” How could there be so much good packed into one tiny child? “How about I make you two a deal. I’ll go rest for a couple more hours, but then I’ll make lunch. I’ll barbecue some chicken on the grill. That’ll get us outside for some fresh air too. Deal?”
Zan swung around to look at Merry Anna.
“He’s a pretty good cook,” Merry Anna said with a shrug. “What do you think?”
Zan reached for Adam’s hand. “Time for you to rest, Daddy. We’ll see you for lunch.” Zan marched him all the way back to his room.
He got in bed, and when Zan pulled the covers up, tucking him in just like he’d done for her, he was about done in. She leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead.
He choked back emotion, not wanting to scare her by crying.So this is what unconditional love is all about.
26
Adam felt a lot betterwhen he got up and started making lunch. He kept a bottle of water nearby, sure to stay hydrated and keeping ahead of the pain with ibuprofen every four hours.
The three of them were sitting at the picnic table, just finishing up lunch, when a blue sedan turned down the lane, past Tara’s place, and onto his property.
“Were you expecting someone?” Merry Anna asked.
He shook his head, watching the car come up the road and into his driveway.
A pink Lyft sign was on the dashboard of the car.
The back door opened, and his mother stepped out of the car. “Mom?” He got up and walked over to her. “What are you doing here? Is Dad okay?”
