Apprentice Father by Irene Hannon

Author:Irene Hannon
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2009-07-26T16:00:00+00:00

Clay had finished collecting the dirty clothes and was weaving his way toward the washing machine through the boxes of new dishes and still-to-be-unpacked personal items when a startled cry of pain filtered in through the open window.

Josh.

Dropping the clothes in the middle of the living room, Clay took off at a sprint. It wasn’t even nine o’clock in the morning, and they’d only been in the house a week. Already the toilet had overflowed; a backed-up gutter had sent a sheet of water cascading down the front window—which leaked; and the microwave had died. Now what?

As Clay closed the distance between him and the children, his pulse skyrocketed. Josh was sitting on the ground, crying. Emily was hovering beside him. And there was blood on Josh’s face.

Lots of blood.

Clay dropped to the ground beside the children, and Emily looked at him tearfully. “Josh f-falled off the swing.”

Taking his handkerchief out of his pocket, Clay lifted the little boy’s chin with a gentle finger, struggling to control his panic. “Let me see, Josh.”

It didn’t take him long to discover the source of the blood—a nasty gash an inch-and-a-half long on the youngster’s chin that would need stitches.

After pressing his handkerchief to the cut, Clay gave the boy a quick but thorough scrutiny, gently probing his scalp. “Does anything else hurt, Josh?”

“N-no.”

“Okay.” Clay gathered him in his arms and ushered the children toward his truck. “We’re going to have to let the doctor fix you up.”

Josh’s chin quivered. “Can Cate come?”

Both children gave him a hopeful look.

He wished she could. If she was with them, the kids would be calmer during the ordeal to come. And so would he. But he was doing his best not to call her on weekends. “This is her day off, Josh.”

“Off from what?”

Good question. As far as the kids were concerned, she was part of their family, not a paid day care provider. And he was beginning to think of her that way, too.

“She has to have some time to do things for herself,” Clay replied, avoiding the question. “I’ll tell you what. After we’re done, why don’t we go out for hamburgers and French fries?” The fast-food treat was becoming his fallback after difficult situations, Clay realized. But, hey, whatever worked.

“Okay, I guess. But it would be better if Cate came.”

Clay could only agree.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.