“New house?” He scowled. “Whose house?”
“For you and Mom.”
“We have a house.” He tipped his head toward the old farmhouse.
“The new house will be better for you,” she told him. “Safer. No more rickety stairs to fall down. Remember how you fell the other day?”
“I never fall.” He firmly shook his head with an expression that suggested he fully believed his erroneous words.
“You probably still have bruises from falling.” She pointed to his legs.
“No. No bruises.”
“Well, anyway, this will be your new home.”
“I have a home.” He looked to the old farmhouse again. “Me and Honey. We live there.” Now he frowned. “Don’t we?”
“You do now. But things can change.” Maybe it didn’t matter if he really understood everything right now. “Well, Dad, it’s going to be an awfully nice house, but if you don’t want it, I guess Cooper and I will live there.”
“With all those people?”
“What people?” she asked, instantly regretting it. Dad often got the idea that others lived in his house.
He pointed to her. “Do you live here too? And that green-haired girl?”
“Yes, Dad. That green-haired girl is your granddaughter, Cooper.”
“Cooper?” He picked up a discarded stake with a blank expression, poking it into the ground as if to mark something. Then, noticing a few other stakes, he started picking them up and loading them in his arms like firewood. He piled them in a neatstack next to the yellow tape. Like a kid playing with blocks. Dad clearly liked having something to keep him busy, but Mom was calling now, announcing that supper was ready.
“Come on, Dad.” She tugged on his arm. “You can finish this up tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow”—he smiled—“is a new day.”
She squeezed his hand as they walked toward the porch. “Yes, a new day.”
He stopped by the flower beds alongside the porch, then stooped down to pick some of the daisies growing there. “For Honey,” he said as he stood.
“She will love them.” Jewel nodded. As they went inside, she thought maybe she was getting a glimpse of the man he used to be, and she was grateful.
17
Jewel
It was midmorning when a familiar black diesel truck roared up the farm’s driveway. Jewel leaned the hoe she was using to weed Mom’s vegetable garden against the shed and went out to greet Aaron as he strolled around the new building site.
“Whatcha doing out here?” she asked pleasantly. “Seems you’d want to be in town selling your houses on a nice sunny Saturday.”
“I got somebody covering for me. Just wanted to see how things went here yesterday. Bet you were surprised to see my crew so soon.”
“As a matter of fact, I was. But they seemed to have done a great job.”
“Well, another job fell through, so I sent ’em straight over here. Thought you might appreciate it.” He kicked a loose stone into a ditch.
“Absolutely.” She beamed at him. “I’m so impressed with how quickly things are moving. Thank you, Aaron.”
He tweaked one of her braids. Not wanting to waste time with hair this morning, she’d put it in pigtails just like Mom used to do. “You look like a real farm girl, Jewelie.”
She bristled at the nickname. “Just cooler and easier.” She tipped the brim of her frazzled straw cowboy hat back, one she’dadopted from her dad’s vast collection, and narrowed her eyes in warning.
