Autumn Vows by Elise K. Ackers

Author:Elise K. Ackers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Escape Publishing

Chapter 7

Dean stared at the family calendar hanging on the wall beside the spice rack. He held a pen in his right hand, and tapped the nib of it against the laminate countertop as he searched for the edges of a question forming in his mind.

It was a big question. Timing would be everything. Tone would be crucial. But all of that aside: at what point did Dean interfere?

He drew a single line through the name written under today’s date. Bella, a little girl with hair as thick as fleece and a mouth that never stopped, was no longer coming over to play with Nina.

Dean moved his eyes over the calendar, over past days and weeks, and counted three similar cancellations. He set the pen down, pocketed the phone that he’d just finished speaking into, and stepped outside.

Nina was still on the grass with the wheelie-dog, and Sam and Liv had moved their giggle-fest back to Sam’s place, a quiet Ethan in tow. Ro was at Toby’s and Cal wouldn’t be back until he was sure he wouldn’t have an audience, so it was just Dean and Nina in this big old house.

Again.

He picked his way over the cut timber and building tools littering the deck which was growing by the day, crossed the grass, and sank to his haunches beside his daughter.

‘How’s it going, Neenz?’

She beamed up at him, her eyes so like her mother’s and her wild hair made wilder by the wind. Her cheeks were flushed with joy and her little fingers were ceaseless on the dog’s fur.

‘Daddy can we have this puppy?’

Dean smiled. ‘But he’s Cal’s.’

Nina considered this. She rubbed one of its ears between her thumb and fingers, then said, ‘Okay. Can we have a puppy then?’

Her negotiation skills were developing at an alarming rate. Dean pushed his hand into the grass and lowered himself to sit beside her. He dodged the question by asking one of his own.

‘What’s up with you and Bella?’

Nina immediately lost interest in the conversation now that it had changed direction. She applied herself more fully to fussing over the panting pup. ‘I dunno.’

A leaf fell from the sky and came to rest on Nina’s auburn head. Dean plucked it off with affection and twirled the stem between his fingers.

‘Bella can’t come over anymore,’ he pressed on. ‘But Bella’s mum didn’t say why.’

Nina shrugged.

‘Did the two of you have a fight?’

Nina shrugged again. When Dean drew breath to ask another question, she interrupted him by throwing herself forward onto her stomach and burying her face in the dog’s fur. It strained to lick her but couldn’t reach. Its tongue lapped at the air.

Dean, who evidently couldn’t reach her either, stared at her profile and wished for his wife. Bree would’ve had the right words for this moment. Her smile would’ve unlocked Nina’s secrets. In another life, it might’ve been their dog playing between them. Bree’s hand would’ve found Dean’s and squeezed it, wordlessly requesting his patience. And he would have given it to her.

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