AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“So maybe you could just marry my dad? Maybe have a baby or something? There’s a swimming pool at his new place.” Emily smiled encouragingly, her blue eyes half full of pleading, half full of “this is a great idea.”
“People don’t just get married.”
“They do on TV. I watched that bachelor show once. Those girls were just happy with a hot tub. And they kissed a bunch,” Emily said, nodding her head this time like she’d figured out the entire formula for falling in love.
Yeah. A hole with water inside.
Tess thought about arguing with the child, but then thought better of it. “Okay, I’ll keep that in mind. You keep practicing your chant, get that math homework, and lay off the donuts—you’re in training.”
“For what?”
“Being a Ladybug,” Tess said, giving Emily a wave.
“Oh, yeah,” she said, hurrying back over to her chair and folding the bag closed. “I gotta be able to run fast.”
And Tess walked briskly out—proud of herself for not running.
THEGODDAMNSWEATrolled down Frank’s back as he sat like an old bullfrog on the patio out back. Maggie had gone to Peggy Garland’s house to take a pound cake for the visitation. Her choir friend’s mother had passed. Frank wondered if Peggy would return the favor when he passed. What was it with frickin’ pound cakes anyway? In his opinion most tasted like crap. Give him a good piece of coconut cake. Maybe he’d send Peggy a note and tell her he wanted to be honored with something more than pound cake… but that might be too morbid.
Middle of May and already it was sultry. A breeze made a half-assed attempt at stirring the leaves, but it wasn’t enough to stop him from sweating.
And then he felt the first mosquito.
Christ. Nothing like feeling good enough for some fresh air and then having to battle Louisiana.
He’d finally finished the last round of chemo, had a PET scan next week to see if anything had worked. The doctor had talked about some kind of surgery if there hadn’t been any progress, but Frank had told him to go fly a kite. No more pain, no more puking, and no more last-ditch efforts.
He craved peace.
The only thing stopping him from surrendering—No, wait, he wasn’t giving up on himself or the medicine yet. But he could relax into his fate better if he and Tess could talk. Her gaze last Sunday had told him her heart had changed, but the words had not been spoken.
He and Tess had things to say.
“Dad?”
Frank snapped out of his reverie to find the very devil he’d been thinking about standing in front of him as if his thoughts had summoned her. Tess didn’t look like anyone who could bedevil with her benign honey hair and sweet face, but this one had never been an angel. Just his Tess—perfect in his eyes.
He squinted against the sun slanting in through the oak’s canopy. “You okay?”
She shrugged. “Drove around for a while, looking for a spot I could breathe in. My car took me here.”
Thank God. Frank patted the bench. “You can sit.”
“I’m good. How are you feeling?”
“Like I’ve been pumped full of chemicals.”
“Yeah,” she said, her brow furrowing. “Mom said the doctors haven’t said much.”
“Gotta do a scan to check on the cells or something like that.” He brushed the matter away with his hand. He didn’t want to talk about being sick, but he didn’t know how to bring up what sat between them.
“I’m sorry, Dad.”
For what? His cancer? Quitting Ullo? Not speaking to him for over a month?
“About a lot of stuff,” she clarified, looking down at her hands. Then she glanced around. “Guess our backyard has always been the go-to place when you need to talk. When you need to think. Maybe I knew I could breathe here.”
Frank looked around. “And sweat. I’m about to burn slap up sitting out here and the mosquitos are eating on me. Wanna go inside to the other place where family problems are solved to have this conversation?”
