“Yep,” Baker replied from the corner where he was nursing a cup of coffee.
“That sounds amazing. I better get a few cranks in,” I teased, stepping up to take over from Bella. Granny gave me a brisk nod as I got to churning. It was kind of cathartic. I could take out my frustrations with Chris on this beat-up ice cream maker.
After a few hundred more turns on the old machine, the ice cream was ready. We all got monkey dishes that we admired loudly. Dahn followed me and Baker outside, sitting on the floor of the front porch as we ate our treats. Bella and Lincoln were inside with Ford and Granny, setting up a card table for a rousing game of Monopoly after ice cream.
“What did Dad want to talk about?” Dahn asked me between spoonfuls of ice cream. Crickets sang as a barn owl hooted in the distance. The shuffle of cattle and the whisper of a warm wind playing with the tinny wind chimes out back eased my soul in ways that I never thought would be possible just a few years ago.
I took a spoonful of ice cream to stall. I’d not gotten anything sorted mentally as to how to handle this situation. A chunk of peach rested on my tongue.
“Well, he was telling me that Topher was starting a salamander breeding business,” I said after swallowing my peach bit. Baker arched a brow but said nothing. Strong, silent type in the dictionary has his image beside it.
“That’s cool. Was that it?” Dahn started pushing his bare feet into the floorboards to set the porch swing into motion. I glanced at Baker for help. He lowered his spoon.
“Salamanders are cool, but you know what’s even more cool? Telling your dad what Ford said about the doelings that you could pick from to show at the fair.”
Dahn forgot all about his other dad and my day trip. The rest of our time on the porch was spent listening to him give me a hard sell about him showing a young female goat at the fair. Seemed there were a few that had great conformation according to Aiden.
“You don’t have to sell me on the idea, Dahn. I’m perfectly happy to have you show one of our goats at the fair. Seems like you may have to start training whichever one you pick. Don’t they have to know how to walk on a leash and such?” I asked, placing my empty monkey dish on the worn wooden boards by my foot.
“They do, and I can do that tomorrow! I have time. They’re really smart. This is so cool!” He exploded out of the swing with such vigor, it swung back to crack the side of the house. Granny yelled to simmer down. Dahn grimaced, shoulders up to his ears, and then ran at me to grab a hug before darting inside to tell Ford he was allowed to show at the fair. Excited conversation broke out inside that flowed to us through the screens.
“Thanks for that save,” I said softly to my brother. Baker nodded.
“Problems with the ex?” He ambled over, empty dish in hand, to sit next to me in Granny’s rocker. “You looked like you’d just stumbled over a porcupine.”
A gruff sort of choked laugh escaped me. “Problems. Well, he wants to give me sole custody of Dahn.” I stared out at the summer night trying to locate Ursa Major among the millions of stars.
“Oh, well, that’s not a problem, is it? I mean, yay. That’s good news. No more dancing to placate him over stupid-ass shit.” Baker was a man who got to the point. I admired that. It sure simplified life.
“True, and I am already getting the paperwork in order. I am thrilled to have him here all year round, going to a small school where he’ll get more one-on-one time and just loving a cleaner life than found in the city. It’s not that I’m getting custody.” I paused to be sure the folks inside wouldn’t overhear us. Dahn and everyone else were playfully arguing over who was going to be the top hat and who would be the shoe, so I could speak without worry. “What’s the issue, and is so damnably my ex, is that he’s moving to Spain to play football in Europe while his fiancé sets up a salamander breeding business.”
“I thought you were joking about that salamander thing,” he said with a sly snort of amusement.
“Oh no, that’s a serious business venture.” I shrugged as my sight latched onto the Great Bear in the black sky. “The problem is, he’s moving to Spain and tossing Dahn at me like the child was an unwanted shoe or mismatched sock. He’s bored of being a parent, and he’s just walking. Just like fucking Cash did to us, and it pisses me offsofucking much I want to punch him. Or run his ass over.”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s shit.” He sighed, leaning forward to rest his elbows on dirty denim. “I’d be pissed too. Some people just shouldn’t be parents.”
“Exactly. Children aren’t tiny tin dogs you move around a board and then toss into a box until the next time you want to play. They’re loving little souls that need guidance and parental attention on the fucking daily.”
“You’ll get no argument from me or any of the other men here. Being abandoned by your father leaves scars, but at least he’ll have you to rely on when he needs that parenting. How do you plan to tell him?”
I exhaled hard as I shook my head. “I don’t have a clue. How do you tell a boy that his other dad has grown tired of being his other dad? Is there a right way to say it? Fuck if I’ve been able to think of one the entire way home.”
“You’ll think of something. You’re the college-educated Bastian brother. All those fancy teeth degrees will come in handy.” He thumped my thigh with the side of his fist just as Granny called out for us to come join the game. “Like I want to lose property in a board game. I did that enough in real life. Tell them I’m going to bed to pout over my boyfriend being gone.”
“He’ll be home soon.” I watched him slowly stand and stretch. “Thanks for listening.”
“Meh, that’s what family is for, right? Leastways that’s what Granny says. Get some sleep. Things always look better in the morning. She says that too.”
He slipped through the screen door, silent as a cat. I rose, gathered up the empty ice cream dishes left behind by my son and brother, and, using my pinkie, tugged the screen door open. Dahn’s giggle greeted me. I loved the sound of his laughter. What a damn pity that what I had to tell him tomorrow would strip that sound away. Damn Chris and damn all parents who bailed on their kids.
***
I was wide awake when the Oklahoma skies came alive in shades of peach blush with a hint of amethyst.
The weather forecasters had been talking about watching a pattern that they feared might play havoc with the state in the coming weeks. Something about warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico meeting cool, dry Canadian air. I wasn’t a meteorologist, my thing was teeth, but that sky was far from red so no sailor’s warning today. Hopefully never. Living through one twister was enough for me. There was no rush on my part to experience that kind of fear again, especially now Dahn was here.
I rolled my head on my pillow to gaze at my boy on his lumpy pullout bed. How he slept on that and didn’t wake up with a backache had to be attributed to his being ten. My thirty-three-year-old spine would be protesting loudly. What joy youth. I still had no definite plan of what to say to the lad, but it had to be addressed today. It wouldn’t get any easier with time. Plus, I did not want him to find out in some half-assed call with Chris. Knowing I needed to face this, I rolled out of bed, closed the window before Granny fired off a few rounds, and grabbed a shower while the house was quiet. With the water pounding away on the nape of my neck, I ran over a dozen different ways to tell Dahn about the big changes coming. Nothing felt right or kind enough. As much as I wanted to vilify my ex, that was not how I handled things with Dahn.
