Playing House by Bru Baker

Author:Bru Baker [Baker, Bru]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Published: 2014-12-05T16:00:00+00:00

Twelve

January

THE HOLIDAYS flew by with their customary speed, though Frank had to admit Christmas was more fun when there was a child in the house on Christmas morning. He and Warner never traveled for Christmas because it was impossible for Warner to get more than a few days off during that time of year. They usually just celebrated with Clare at their house, but this year Ian and Luke had invited them up to Seattle.

It had gone well, and Warner had definitely enjoyed himself. Leo’s unbridled joy had been contagious, and Frank had found himself caught up in the festivities in a way he hadn’t been since he’d been a kid himself. The only thing that dimmed that was the knowing looks Warner kept shooting him all visit, like he knew what Frank was thinking and was tallying it as a win for adoption.

Frank just wasn’t there yet. He’d asked Dr. Tanner what she thought he should do, but she’d tossed it right back to him, just like she always did. He still didn’t feel any closer to a resolution. How could anyone make a decision that big? Obviously tons of people did; they seemed to be constantly surrounded by kids these days. Or maybe that was just Frank being hyperaware of families because kids were almost always on his mind these days.

Frank’s office had been closed from a week before Christmas through New Year’s Day, which had given him a lot of time to think. He’d even made a spreadsheet to try to analyze the question of whether or not to adopt, assigning numerical values to things like loss of sleep versus a child’s unconditional love. It had been an exercise in futility, of course. His own biases ran over into it, and the negative column was much bigger than the positives. He’d ended up trashing the whole thing.

He was actually looking forward to getting back to work. His colleagues looked at the two-week vacation as a wonderful perk, but Frank usually dreaded it. He didn’t like not having something to do. But life was back to normal now—he’d be up at five-thirty tomorrow morning to start his usual routine. Frank was more than happy to go about his normal Sunday errands preparing for the coming week, since being on his regular schedule helped calm his anxiety.

Then, of course, Warner had to throw a wrench in everything.

Warner had worked thirty-six hours straight—his payback for taking Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off—so Frank hadn’t been expecting him to volunteer to come along for the weekly grocery store trip when he’d gotten home. Even if Warner hadn’t just worked a triple shift, Frank wouldn’t have expected him to volunteer to go. Warner never went. It was solely Frank’s responsibility, like a lot of the things around the house that required regular maintenance. Sometimes it was frustrating, but most of the time Frank didn’t mind. After all, Warner didn’t work a regular schedule like Frank did. And if Frank was honest, he

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.