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24
Lee couldn’t sleep, and he spent a good thirty minutes tossing from left to right before he got up. He paused in the doorway of his son’s bedroom, the silver moonlight falling across the floor but not touching the boy.
Ford meant the world to him, and Lee questioned whether he should try to bring another woman into either of their lives. He had Martha, his mother, and she didn’t seem to worry about dating or the men she introduced into Ford’s life.
He leaned into the doorway, the chill of the air conditioning kissing his bare chest. Lee had never felt so torn in his life. He’d always known he’d inherit Sweet Water Falls Farm and the accompany dairy operation, Cooper & Co. Always, and he’d always wanted it.
He loved working outside, loved cows and horses and dogs and goats and chickens, and he couldn’t remember a day he didn’t love putting on his cowboy boots and hat, finishing his coffee, and heading out into the dawn of a new day.
When he’d married Martha, he’d not had a single second thought. When she’d filed for divorce only a couple of years later, he’d been expecting it. He even paid her back for the fee to do so. Lee never doubted what he felt or what the next step should be.
Until now.
Ford was almost nine years old. He’d be moving into the fourth grade this year, and he understood things Lee didn’t want to explain to him. At the same time, Lee could admit he was lonely—only to himself—and he wanted to try to tame the temper-tantrum-beast inside him and find someone he could kiss in the evenings. Someone who would bring him hot tea when he didn’t feel well, and who’d curl into him when he tossed and whispered that she was right there and everything was okay.
Sighing, he turned away from Ford’s bedroom and padded down the hall in only his boxer shorts. He wanted to be someone’s soft place to fall too. He wanted to hold his wife while she cried and reassure her that he was right there, and he’d make sure whatever had upset her, he’d fix.
Right now, in his dark kitchen, he opened the fridge and flooded his retinas with light. Squinting, he pulled out an energy drink and popped the tab. If he was lucky, he’d get down a few swallows, find his cowboy courage, and get Ford’s backpack from the boy’s bedroom.
Lee drank a lot of coffee during the day, but his energy drinks had twice as much caffeine, and he felt it infusing him with strength to get this job done. Travis’s wedding sat on the calendar, almost like a death date to Lee. A noose around his neck he felt tightening centimeter by centimeter.
He took another swallow of the grape-flavored drink and slammed the can on the countertop. A bit splashed out and hit his hand, but he just wiped it on his shorts as he strode back toward the back of the cabin. Ford slept like the dead, and it wasn’t hard for Lee to step into the bedroom, cross it to the corner desk, and lift the backpack from the floor.
His son hadn’t closed it, and Lee wasn’t surprised when the front of the pack flopped open and several papers fell out. He stooped, scooped them all back in, and kept going.
Out in the kitchen again, Lee switched on the light and dumped the backpack upside down. Everything inside came clattering or fluttering out, his heart beating the same way against his ribs and down into his stomach.
It had been weeks since the order form for Fire-breathing Facts had come home. Ford had mentioned it once, and Lee couldn’t even remember what he’d said about it. Maybe Martha had bought the program for their son; he honestly didn’t know.
She did most of Ford’s homework with him. She signed the permission forms. She dealt with ninety-percent of the school stuff. As he sifted through old, graded homework papers, a note about a field trip that was three weeks past, and the handwriting sheets he found so insufferable, he didn’t find the note about the software.
Desperation built inside him until finally, he had to admit it wasn’t there. He shoved everything back inside Ford’s pack and very nearly tossed it out the window in his frustration. He pulled back on his own inner fire-breathing dragon, his chest heaving, and forced himself tothink.
“You have the Internet,” he said right out loud. Because he lived in a three-bedroom cabin and didn’t have much space, the computer sat on the edge of the living room carpet, almost in the dining area of the kitchen. Lee wanted it where he could see what Ford did too, and he picked up his energy drink and went toward the machine.
It brightened, and his fingers flew across the keyboard as he searched for the software Rosalie Reynolds had been selling at math night almost seven weeks ago now. With the combination of her name and what Lee remembered about the program, the website for Curious Kids appeared before his eyes.
Fire-breathing Facts sat right at the top, and he clicked to learn more about it. The price nearly knocked him back to bed, and he was sure the flyer he hadn’t been able to find had contained a discount.
“So what?” he muttered to himself, actually leaning forward to see the screen better. He’d just gotten glasses last week, and he still wasn’t used to wearing them. “You think you can’t afford it?”
He could, and he put the software in his cart. Hesitation gripped him, and he paused, the mouse clicker hovering right over the purchase button. “Who else are you going to ask?”
He bought the software, and an announcement came up that said he’d have a confirmation email already and his product in hand very soon. He navigated to his email, and sure enough, the receipt for the math facts software sat there.
It had a customer service number, the website, and email address. Lee’s pulse pounced through his body, and his throat felt so, so dry.
“She probably has people who answer her customer service emails and phone calls,” he said. He didn’t have access to her personal line…yet.
That peskyyettouched his mind and wouldn’t let go. He went back to the Curious Kids website and poked around a little bit, finally clicking past all of the other products—only one other computer game—to the About page.
He sucked in a breath at the full-color, smiles-for-miles photo of Rosalie. The dark curls, the pink lips, the mesmerizing eyes. In the picture, she was clearly laughing, and Lee couldn’t take his eyes from the joy radiating from her.
When he finally did, he started to read the beginnings of her company.
Rosalie Reynolds has been developing educational games for almost two decades. She started when she was ten years old and her younger sister, who is autistic, needed a way to learn how to add and subtract. She finally launched Curious Kids in the Coastal Bend of Texas after developing and designing educational games for Pearson Parents and Educational Leadership for five years.
She is the sole employee and wears every label from CEO to shipping consultant. If you have a problem with any product from Curious Kids, when you call, you’ll get Rosalie personally.
