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Always doing.
Except for the time I sat with my dad.
Even though his energy waned as the days went on, he still wanted to sit on the front porch every morning. Whenever I got the chance, I joined him.
He wasn’t drinking coffee, but he said he liked smelling mine, so I let it sit untouched on the table between our chairs.
“Did your mom tell you about the leak in the roof?” Dad asked. His eyes were locked on the eastern sky, only half open, like he could fall back asleep at any time. He slept more and more of the day now, so it wouldn’t have surprised me if he did.
“Yeah, she told me.” I stretched my legs out and settled my head against the back of the chair. “I’ll fix it after dinner.”
“Shingles are in the barn.”
I glanced over at him. “I know, Dad.”
He nodded. “Whole thing probably needs to be replaced next year, though. Maybe two if she’s lucky. You’ll want to keep an eye on it for her. She never thinks about that roof until water is dripping on her head.”
My chest hollowed out, just like it always did when he made casual mentions like that, referencing a future we all knew he wouldn’t be around for.
“I will,” I promised.
His eyes closed, and he sighed. “You’re a good boy, Cameron. I’m glad you’re here to take care of your mom.”
“We’ll all take care of her.”
“She’ll pretend she doesn’t need you to,” Dad said, eyes still closed. “Or that she doesn’t need to talk about it. Don’t let her get away with that, okay?”
“You think I can tell Mom what to do?” I said.
The side of his mouth hooked up in a grin. “Not easily, no. Where do you think you kids get all your stubbornness?”
The fact that Sheila wasn’t my biological mom made no difference. She’d been the mother who loved me since I was ten years old.
“I always thought we got it from you,” I told him.
He laughed, but the sound was a weak approximation of what it used to be. “Are you kidding? I’m a saint. That’s why God wants me to come home earlier than most. I’m too pure for this world.”
My shoulders shook as I laughed. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”
“Don’t you need to be off to work?” he asked.
“Soon.” I glanced at my watch. “Not much for me to do over there. Ian and Wade are doing some haul-out, but most of the crew for this starts tomorrow. I gave ’em one more day since they weren’t expecting this job. I need to check some of the wiring and plumbing before we start tearing into everything. I forgot to do that yesterday.”
“That’s not like you not to check those things,” Dad said.
No shit.
My good sense was probably sitting on the ground in front of that house, roughly in the spot where I saw her get out of the car.
Thankfully, I’d worked some basic upgrades into the estimate before realizing my mistake, so if nothing else, Ivy wouldn’t be surprised if we got too far and the whole house needed new pipes.
This new version of her probably didn’t like expensive surprises any more than she liked … any of this, apparently.
“Ian told me about her,” Dad said. Then he glanced over knowingly. “Said you were all flustered.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Ian is full of shit.”
“Said she was real pretty. One of those intimidating types.”
