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“Hey, Mama,” he said after swiping to answer the call.
“Lee, baby,” she said. “We need you at the farmhouse.”
“Right now?” he asked, a spark of irritation flaming inside him. “I’m doin’ Ford’s guitar lesson.”
“We’re fine,” Daddy yelled from somewhere nearby.
“You’re not fine,” Mama snapped. “He’s hurt himself, and he won’t go to the doctor.”
Lee stood, already ready to fly back down the lane to the farmhouse, guitar lesson or not. “Hurt himself? He was fine this morning.”
“I’m fine now,” Daddy said, but a pinch of pain existed in the words. “I just twisted my leg is all. I’m fine. Took some medicine, and I’m fine.”
“I’ll be over in a minute,” Lee said, gesturing to Ford. “Don’t try to do anything, Daddy. You’re not a physical therapist.”
“I know what I am,” Daddy said crossly. “I can do the exercises they gave me last time.”
“Don’t,” Lee barked at him. “You don’t know what those were meant to do, and you could hurt yourself or something. I’m on my way.” He lowered the phone and said, “Bring the guitar, Ford. We’ll do the lesson at the farmhouse.”
They loaded up and off they went. The farmhouse sat seven minutes down the road on a leisurely day, and Lee made it in six today, because it was a curved and dirt road. Inside the house, he called, “We’re here.”
“In the family room,” Mama called. Lee knew right where they’d be, and he was already under the arch and entering the kitchen. A couple of couches sat in the room across from the long dining table, and Mama stood at the end of one, her hand gripping the top of it.
“Mama, why are you up?” he asked with a frown.
“I’m fine,” she said, giving him a rare dirty look. “It’s your father who won’t see reason.”
“I’m fine, Chrissy.” He didn’t try to get up or gesture Lee back. He went around the couch, finding his father with his leg straight out and resting on the ottoman. He had an ice pack tied to his hip and a blanket over the rest of him.
“Daddy,” Lee said, pausing. “Are you sure you don’t need to go to the hospital? Maybe we just call Doctor Friendly and find out whathewants you to do.”
Daddy could’ve seared off Lee’s face with the intensity of his glare. “I took some pain medication. I’m going to fall asleep in a few minutes. I’m icing it. I will be fine.”
“You’re not going to do any of the exercises,” Lee said firmly. “Promise me.”
“I promise.”
“Mama?” Lee switched his gaze to his mother.
“I won’t let him.”
“Mm. You’ll call me if he tries.”
“I’ll call you if he tries,” she amended. Mama had never been able to stop Daddy from doing what he wanted to do. He did tend to think he knew better than someone who’d gone to medical school and done countless hours of residency training, and that annoyed Lee to the ends of the earth.
The situation handled, Lee put his arm around Ford’s shoulders. “All right,” he said. “Ford wants to play for you. Maybe he could do a lullaby and put you to sleep faster, Daddy.”
“I’m not an animal,” Daddy grumped. “No one needs to put me to sleep.”
Lee could only smile at him, and then he nodded at his son, who started to play quietly on his guitar.
* * *
August slippedthrough his fingers like smoke, and Ford went into the fourth grade. Lee only saw him on weekends again, but he drove into Sweet Water Falls much more often than he used to. He wanted to see Rose every single day, but their schedules made it difficult. She’d launched her new game and her daughter had gone to California for a week or so to see her dad. Both had been stressful for Rose, and Lee had been at her side as much as possible.
Things for her had settled again, and Lee called her, texted her, and saw her a couple of times each week. It wasn’t enough for him, and he decided he needed to do something about that. She’d been in on the planning for Ford’s birthday, and a plan for their four-month anniversary started to form in his head.
They’d been to a dozen restaurants around town, and Lee wanted to do something more than take her to dinner. Lee left his cabin early one weekday morning, hoping to catch Will before his brother got started for the day. He parked in front of the cabin around a couple of bends from his and waited.
