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“It’s your ranch now, but yeah, I understand what you mean.Are you guys happy here?”
Johnny opens the front door ahead of me and closes it behind me as I lead them up to their bedrooms.
“Where else would we go?”Holly asks with a yawn.
“Well, nowhere, but I want to know if you like the ranch.”
“I don’t,” Johnny says with a sleepy, toothless grin.“Iloveit.It’s really badass.”
“And you’ve been hanging out with cowboys too much.Don’t say that word at school.”I kiss the top of his head.“I’m glad you took showers before dinner.Go brush your teeth before bed.”
I set Holly on the ground, and they both trudge into their bathroom to follow my orders.They definitely don’t follow the brush-for-two-minutes rule because they’re back in about twenty seconds flat, but I don’t want to argue the point tonight.
We’re all too tired for that.
“’Night, Dad,” Johnny says as he walks to his bedroom.
“I’ll be right there,” I tell him and lead Holly to bed.She jumps in, and I tuck the covers around her before leaning in to kiss her forehead.“I love you, beautiful baby girl.”
“Love you, Daddy.”
“You did so good today.”
“I know.”
I grin, pleased that my girl has such healthy confidence, and turn off her light before closing the door behind me and walking down the hall to Johnny’s room, which happens to be my old room when I was a kid.
The light is already off when I walk inside, and he’s under the covers, breathing evenly.
“Love you, big boy,” I whisper in his ear.
“Mm,” is all he says as he rolls over the other way.
My kid is a sound sleeper, so I feel confident reaching under his pillow and finding his tooth, replacing it with a five-dollar bill.
With the tooth tucked into my pocket, I leave his room and close the door behind me.
I need to get back out to the bonfire to make sure I’m there to thank everyone for coming to help today as they leave.But when I walk out the front door, I see that Erin is walking by herself to the Suburban, obviously ready to head home for the night.
“Oh, hey,” she says with a small smile.“How are they?”
She nods to the second floor of the house, obviously meaning the kids, and I shove my hands into my pockets.
“Already dreaming.But they had fun today.”
“I know that I told you this the other day, but they’re really great kids, Rem.I like them a lot.”
“Good, because Holly asked if she could keep you after you left on Friday.”
That makes Erin laugh.“I’m glad it runs both ways.Also, just to let you know, my car is officially being fixed, so I shouldn’t need your SUV for too much longer.”
“I don’t care about the car.Use it.”
“But it’syourcar.If you’re still uncomfortable with my ride after it’s fixed, we’ll discuss it.”
I rock back on my heels.“Are youalwaysthis argumentative?”
“I’m not arguing.”
