“If I did, I don’t know what I said.”
I chuckled.“How like a man.”
“Hey,” he warned.“Give me a little credit.”
“Fine.How like a father,” I teased.“I distinctly remember being Lenni’s age, and my father would say something that would have me running to my mom in tears.”
“Oh good.Glad to be right on par with the rest of the dads,” he muttered.
I thought about Lenni crying over her lost Christmas decorations.
“You might’ve said something, not thinking anything of it, and it reminded her of her mother.”
“You mean I’m walking all over landmines and I have no idea when one will explode?”
“Kinda, yeah.”
He sighed.“Damn.”
“Welcome to parenthood.”
Several hours later, after swinging by the bookstore to give Poet back her coat and pick up Mildred, Archer collapsed onto the couch and closed his eyes.Mildred ran over, stood on her hind legs, and pawed at him.
He lifted her onto the couch, but she wasn’t satisfied with a cushion.Instead, she wanted to use Archer as a pillow, so she stepped on his lap and flopped down, curling against him.
Get it, sister.
“You look completely shot,” I said with a laugh.
“Iamshot.”He cracked an eye and looked at me.“You don’t even look winded.”
“Winded?Honey, that was just a warmup,” I said with a snort.
“Noted,” he murmured.
I took a seat in the living room chair.“You never go shopping like that, do you?”
“Never.”
“What about when you need new ...farrier clothes?Or boots?”
“There’s this thing called online shopping.Ingenious really.”
“Yes, I’ve heard of it.”
He laughed.“It was fun though.In a way.At least seeing Lenni get excited about paint swatches.”
It was a little after five and the three of us had been out running errands for the last many hours.Lenni was currently in the basement, putting her new comforter into the industrial-sized washing machine.
My phone chimed with a text, and I fished it out of my purse that was still slung across my chest.
Poet
Still good for dinner?
Me
Yes.I’m starving.I’ll head your way.
