With the winter storm behind them, school was back in session, the kids returning to their routine. He alternated taking them to daycare to give Gage a break, and he picked them up the same. He helped Kate with her homework, although he still didn’t understand why she had it. She was six. There were plenty of homework years ahead of her. No sense stressing out a first grader.
And when they were settled in at night, Travis ensured it was time well spent. He didn’t stalk Brantley or Reese, and he didn’t comb through the internet looking for possible news updates. He left it to them to deal with, trusting that when the time came, they would let him know. Instead, he avoided his home office, opting to be where Gage and the kids were.
But today was the day they’d set to check off one of the things on Kylie’s list. With the weather warming up nicely, and quickly, they decided it was the perfect time to plant a tree. Or rather multiple since, yes, Gage had liked the idea of helping the environment, too.
“Where’re we goin’, Daddy-O?” Kade asked when Travis helped the kids buckle into their seats.
Kade, Avery, and Haden were with him, while Gage had taken Kate and Maddox to run a couple of errands before they met up in a little while.
“We’ve got somethin’ to take care of today,” Travis explained.
“What somethin’?” Kade inquired, always with the questions.
Travis looked at the boy and smiled. “You’re gonna plant a tree.”
Kade’s eyes widened, a look of confusion and concern on his little face. “Why would I do that? Trees come from the grass.”
Grinning, he tapped the brim of Kade’s baseball cap. “Actually, they don’t.”
“What about me?” Avery called out. “I wanna plant a tree.”
“You’re gonna help. We’ve got three to plant.”
“Three?” Kade’s shock was dramatic. “That’s a buncha trees.”
“It is, yes. But I figure you can handle it, right?”
“What about me?” Avery repeated, a harumph in her voice this time. “I wanna plant a buncha tree.”
Travis chuckled. This could go on forever, he knew.
He adjusted Haden’s seat belt, touched his nose, and made the little boy giggle.
“Where’re we gonna put the trees?” Kade asked.
Travis shook his head. They had decided they would spread the trees around so that everyone had a reminder of Kylie.
Gage had suggested they show the letter to Kylie’s parents, her sister, as well as Curtis and Lorrie to help them understand the significance of what they wanted to do. So they had carved out time in the evenings, which meant later than usual nights. As he’d expected, there weren’t any dry eyes when the letter was being read. Travis had shed plenty through the week, rereading it over and over. A couple of times he’d caught Gage doing the same, sitting in Travis’s office—the one place they could usually find privacy—his eyes glued to the paper.
Most people probably wouldn’t see the letter as much, but for them it was a bit of closure. Though difficult to process, it was a part of Kylie they had when they thought they would get no more.
“Are they all gonna be at Pop’s house?” Kade asked.
“Nope. One at Pop’s, one at Grandpa Joe’s, and one here. We’ll do ours later.”
“Where’s Daddy?” Avery asked when Travis climbed into the driver’s seat.
“He’s at Pop’s house already. With the tree.”
Kade inhaled sharply, another dramatic effect of his. “What if he plants the tree without us?”
“He won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
Travis laughed, briefly glancing back at them in the rearview mirror before turning his attention to the road.
“I wanna plant ahugetree,” Kade said, demonstrating his idea ofhugeby spreading his arms wide.
