Page 152 of Dust Storm

“What are we doing for dinner tonight?” I asked as Gracie loped down the stairs, dressed but still rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“Claire’s cooking,” Becks said.

Thank goodness for that.

Gracie got her cereal, then sat down for her hair to be done. “Can I just leave it down today?”

“You can do whatever you want,” I said, giving her blonde hair a quick brush. “It’s your hair. Your body.”

She dropped her chin into her hand and swirled her spoon in the cereal.

My instincts were telling me to leave her alone and not bring up the obvious mood when we had to leave in a few minutes, which is why I did the opposite.

“What’s the matter?”

Her eyes were sad, locked on the floating pieces of cereal. “I miss Daddy.”

My heart sank. “Me too.”

She looked up at me. “Really?”

“Yeah.” I nudged her shoulder with mine. “I miss him a lot, but he’ll be back tomorrow.”

She managed a measly bite. “Do you think Uncle Ray’s gonna wake up?”

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. There was no use in lying. “I wish I did know. What I can tell you is that the surgeries he needed are over, which means the doctors will start trying to help him come back.”

“So they’ve been keeping him asleep?”

“Kind of. He hit his head really hard and they needed to give him plenty of time to rest so it didn’t get worse. When I talked to your dad last night, he said that they’re hoping to run some tests today to see when he might wake up.”

I glanced at the clock.We really needed to get going.

“Can we go see Uncle Ray this weekend?”

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “But I will ask your dad.”

“Promise?”

I arched an eyebrow. “Do I lie to you?”

She smiled down at the cereal that was quickly turning to mush. “No.”

“Good. Eat or you’ll be a cranky, miserable child for your teachers.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Excuse me?”

Gracie snickered. “Yes, my queen.”

“That’s better. Be ready to go in ten minutes.”

“Miss Cass?—”

I turned to find Gracie spinning in her chair to catch me before I went to change clothes.

“What do you need?”

---