AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lee leaned away from the screen, his eyes unable to see the small text. His mind whirred, spitting back facts he’d read.
She has an autistic sister.So she’d be patient, right? Lee needed someone who could be patient with him, patient with Ford, and patient with farm life.
When he calls, he’ll get her on the other end of the line.If he called. Not when.If.Lee felt like he’d need an entire case of his grape energy drinks to dial Rosalie’s number, company or personal.
His brain misfired then, screaming something about howshe’s only thirty years old.
“That can’t be right,” he muttered, leaning forward and squinting to be able to read the top of the paragraph again.
Rosalie Reynolds has been developing educational games for almost two decades. She started when she was ten years old…
That didn’t mean she was only thirty. Or “almost thirty,” which would be far worse. Surely, she hadn’t gone all the way back to age ten, and then added the two decades. It meant from the time she’d started working for the other companies.
“Has to,” Lee whispered. He was forty-two and not getting any younger. Down the hall, the alarm on his phone started to sing, and Lee groaned as he picked up his energy drink and went to turn it off.
He’d done what he could for now. He’d ordered the software. He could continue to grapple with himself for another day.
* * *
“Dad!”Ford came barreling into the administration building. “Look what came!” He waved a box left and right as he entered the office where Lee sat with Will. He still hadn’t spoken to Gretchen, and Lee didn’t know how to bring it up the way Travis did. The shopping trip only a few days ago had been excruciating for Lee too, but in a different way.
“What’s that?” Will asked, but Lee knew what it was. He let his heart bang and beat as Will whipped out his pocketknife and cut through the tape on the box.
“It was on the porch,” Ford said. “It didn’t even have a shipping label.” He looked from his uncle to Lee. “It just had my name on it.”
Will met Lee’s eyes, and Lee simply folded his arms across his chest so his heart wouldn’t beat right through skin and bone. Will pulled out the box with the giant, red, fire-breathing dragon, and Ford yelled.
“You bought it?” He spun and grinned at Lee, and he couldn’t keep his face straight when his son looked so happy. “Thanks, Dad!” He came around the desk and launched himself at Lee, the two of them laughing.
“Can I go put it on the computer right now?” Ford asked. “When did you get it?” He searched Lee’s face, and Lee had never been much of a liar.
“I ordered it on Saturday night,” he said. Sunday morning. Whatever. It was still dark when he’d put in the order.
“It came in one day?” Will asked, flipping over the shipping box. He looked up and met Lee’s eyes. His curiosity knew no bounds, and Lee shook his head just once. A silent plea for his brother to please wait a minute.
Since Will wasn’t Travis, and the man had more sense than even Lee himself, he snapped his mouth shut and went back to examining the shipping box.
Ford returned to Will and took the box with the disc inside. “I’m going to go put it on right now.”
“Okay,” Lee said. “But you can’t play for long. You have to go feed Queenie and help Grandpa with the steaks.”
Ford groaned and his shoulders slumped, but he’d do what he was supposed to do. He’d been working around the farm all day today, as it was a professional day for teachers and the students didn’t have to go to school. Lee would take him to school in the morning, and Martha would pick him up from there.
Then his son would be gone until the weekend.
Ford took his new prize and left the office. Lee watched him go, then waited for the outer door to slam closed. He flinched when it did, closing his eyes.
“You ordered it on Saturday night?” Will prompted. “And it was hand-delivered to your door by Monday afternoon.”
Lee wasn’t about to tell him it had been ordered about five a.m. on Sunday morning. He opened his eyes and met his brother’s. “Yes,” he said. “Apparently.”
“Who do you think delivered it?” He turned over the box again and held it up as if Lee hadn’t seen it. “Without a label?”
Lee swallowed, because he knew who.She is the sole employee and wears every label from CEO to shipping consultant. You’ll get Rosalie personally.
“I don’t know,” he said, and Will’s eyebrows shot toward his hairline.
“Lee—”
