Miss Liz's Passion by Sherryl Woods

Author:Sherryl Woods
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: MIRA
Published: 2013-03-15T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

“I’m not going!” Kevin’s voice rose in a wail.

Todd stared at him, startled by the vehement outburst. Just last night Kevin had been excited by the prospect of spending a day in the Keys. For the past week he’d taken the idea of meeting Ann Davies in stride, or so it had seemed. Maybe he’d just needed desperately to feel optimistic about Kevin’s attitude.

“You are going,” Todd said firmly, as he grabbed a striped polo shirt out of the batch in the dryer and looked it over. Thank goodness, it wasn’t too horribly mussed, even though it had been left in overnight. Todd hated washing and ironing, which was why they always seemed to get done at the last possible minute when every piece of clothing and towel in the house was dirty.

“Put this on,” he said, holding out the shirt.

“No.” Kevin crossed his arms over his bare chest.

“Kevin!”

“No,” he said again, taking off for his room. Todd heard the door slam behind him. His heart sank.

Carrying the shirt, Todd walked slowly through the house, trying to decide how to handle this tantrum. He was already fighting his own demons about the day’s plans. He wasn’t prepared to do battle with Kevin, as well. After a brief struggle to control his temper, he tried the door. Kevin had locked it from the inside.

“Son, I want you to open this door,” he said in a low, barely controlled voice. When there was no sound from inside, his voice climbed a notch. “Now!”

“I won’t do it. I won’t go,” Kevin whimpered tearfully. “You can’t make me.”

“We both know I can. Now open the door and let’s talk about it.”

Finally the key rattled in the lock. Todd turned the knob and stepped inside. He held out the shirt. “Put this on.”

Kevin’s eyes shimmered with tears and his lower lip trembled. He shook his head. Todd sighed.

“Son, put the shirt on,” he said wearily. “Then we’ll talk about this.”

When Kevin remained right where he was, Todd tugged the shirt over his head and struggled to get his arms through the sleeves. Kevin offered limp resistance. “You know, son, when we talked about this last night, I thought you understood why we were going to the Keys today.”

“I don’t want to go see some dumb old psychologist,” he said, his expression mutinous.

“Then tell me why you feel that way.”

“No. I just won’t go.”

The stubborn refusal cost Todd the last of his patience. He grabbed Kevin around the waist, hefted him into the air and carried him across the room.

“Sit,” Todd said, plopping him down on the unmade bed. He sat down beside him. “We’ve been talking about this all week. This is not some sort of punishment. Dr. Davies is going to try to help you, so you won’t have so much trouble with your schoolwork.”

“I’m doing better,” he mumbled. “Mrs. Gentry said so.”

“That’s true, but you could improve even more once we know exactly what the problem is. Isn’t that what you want?”

“I guess.

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