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“Have you gone to talk to Gretchen?” Lee asked, glaring at his brother.
Will glared on back, his eyes throwing ninja stars and stabs of darkness into Lee’s face. “She’s busy on Mondays,” he said.
“Yeah, I’ll bet,” Lee said, standing up. “I’m going to go monitor my son on the computer. You keep lying to yourself.”
“I’m not lying to anyone,” Will yelled as Lee left the office. But he was. He knew he was, and Lee knew he was. Lee also knew he was lying to himself as well. When he arrived at the cabin, he pulled out his phone and searched his email for the receipt he’d gotten from Curious Kids.
The phone number sat right there. He could just call and say thank you for hand-delivering the game, right? That would be appropriate, wouldn’t it?
Before he could, Ford came running out of the front door, the box in his hand. He skipped several stairs on the way down, causing Lee to have a mini-heart attack when he felt sure his son would trip and break both legs.
He hastened to get out of the truck, and he said, “Ford.”
The boy hadn’t even looked toward the driveway, but he did now. “The game doesn’t work,” he said, holding it up. “It just sits there and spins and doesn’t do anything.”
“You sure?” Lee asked, and Ford gave him a withering look, worthy of any Cooper. He reached his son and took the game. “Let me just try, okay?”
They went back into the house together, and sure enough, when Lee put in the disk, it spun. And spun, and spun. It never loaded, and it never prompted them to install the game. He wasn’t sure if his stomach was sick from excitement or all the caramels he’d been eating that afternoon. He’d gone to Gretchen’s re-opening, and he may have bought too many sweets.
“I’ll call them,” he said, pushing the button to make the tray spit out the disk. He had to call now, and his insides shook as he looked around for his phone. “Shoot, my phone’s in the truck. C’mon.”
“Are you going to call?”
“Yes,” Lee said, irritation shooting through him. “I paid a lot of money for this game.” He followed Ford back to the truck. “I’ll get you over to Grandma and Grandpa’s. Then I’ll call.”
“Dad.”
“I said I was going to call,” he barked at Ford, who fell silent. Regret lanced through Lee. “Sorry, bud,” he murmured.
“Sorry it doesn’t work,” Ford said.
“It’s not your fault.” Lee looked over at his son, but he stared out the side window. “Hey, Ford.”
He turned and looked at him. “It’s not your fault. I’ll call, and they’ll send another one. That’s all.”
He nodded, and Lee wished he could bring back the excitement and joy from only fifteen minutes ago. They pulled up to the white farmhouse, and Lee nodded toward it. “Go on now. Be helpful to your grandparents this afternoon.”
Ford opened his door and got out. Lee rolled down his window and waited for Ford to round the truck. “Ford,” he called, and his son turned back to him. “I love you, bud. I didn’t mean to get upset.”
“I know,” Ford said, smiling. “Love you too, Dad. Thanks for the game.” With that, he bounced up the front steps and into the farmhouse. Lee wished he could bounce back from the difficult and trying things in his life as easily as an eight-year-old.
With a sigh, he picked up his phone and dialed the number for Curious Kids. The line rang twice, and he almost threw his phone right through the windshield.
“Curious Kids,” a woman said, perfectly pleasant and professional. Perfectly Rosalie. “This is Rosalie Reynolds. What can I help you with?”
Lee sat there, frozen, the sound of her voice so melodic and so beautiful.
“Hello?” she asked.
“Yes,” he blurted out. “Sorry. This is Lee Cooper, and I ordered that dragon computer game?”
“Yes, Lee,” she said as if he hadn’t fallen into a trance. His face burned, and he reminded himself he was on the phone with her. She couldn’t see him. “Did you get it? I dropped it off today.”
“Why didn’t you mail it?” he asked.
“It’s cheaper to bring for someone local,” she said. “There are all these taxes for computer software and the postal…anyway.” She cleared her throat. “Is there a problem?”
“No,” he said. “I mean, yes.” He pressed his eyes closed and told himself tocalm down. Think. Talk like a normal person.“First, thank you for bringing it. I could’ve come to get it if I’d known that was what you’d do. Second, we put it in the computer, but it doesn’t load. It doesn’t install.”
