Page 18 of The Calendar of New Beginnings
Her artistic control was flying right out the window. They were going to struggle over this calendar, she had no doubt.
“Maybe I can ask your father to bring home a long-neck from the bar for one of the men,” her mom said, guffawing madly. “Why don’t you ask him, Lucy?”
She decided leaving the kitchen was her best course of action. “I am not listening to this.”
Her mother slapped her butt on her way out. “Better get dressed. It’ll be lunchtime before you know it.”
As she headed to her old room, Lucy reflected on just how far she was from her normal routine. Somehow she’d agreed to take racy pictures of her mother and her friends for a good cause.
She sure wasn’t in Kansas anymore.
CHAPTER FIVE
Andy raced around the kitchen like a Nascar driver in his final lap. He managed to pour dog food in Rufus’ bowl, flip his son’s eggs, and butter toast in one turn around the island. Too bad no one was waiting at the finish line with an award and a cold beer.
It was just another day in the life of a single dad.
He pulled a yogurt from the fridge and juggled it in the air like a baseball because…he felt a little cuckoo on mornings like this. And it was only Monday.
“Dad!”
Andy almost dropped the yogurt. “Yes?” he hollered back.
Danny’s shuffling steps sounded on the stairs, so Andy detoured to the doorway. His son didn’t look too happy when he came into view. His lip was stuck out, and he still had bed head.
“Rufus took my navy shoes with the flames again.”
Would they ever have another calm morning? Ever since he’d caved and gotten Danny a dog from the pound,there had been nothing but chaos. “Pick out a different pair,” he said, peeling open his yogurt.
“No,” Danny whined. “I want those.”
Somehow he’d ended up with a kid who had a shoe fetish. Kim, who had always been particular about her shoes, would have found it amusing. Andy could care less about footwear so long as they were comfortable. Clearly his son had also gotten up on the wrong side of the bed. He’d gone to bed later than usual because of Lucy’s party and eaten more junk food than was normally allowed.
“Is that a whine I hear?” he asked.
“No, Dad,” came the immediate response.
“It had better not be because otherwise I’ll have to get out the?—”
“Whine-O-Meter,” Danny finished in a high-pitched voice.
“And then the…”
“Not the Whine-Buster!”
Andy fought a smile. The Whine-Buster was a fancy name for a tickle attack, but the threat had worked like a charm. Danny’s pout was history. Andy glanced at the clock in the hall. He had forty minutes to get Danny dressed, fed, driven to school, and then himself off to the hospital. It was going to be tight.
“Rufus!” he called, trying to channel authority.
The golden retriever trotted into view and put his head down on his paws when he sat.
“Bad dog,” he said sternly. “You’ve got to stop taking Danny’s shoes.”
The dog started whining too, and Andy felt a headache coming on. He needed Jane to work her dog training magic on Rufus. If she could do it for his brother’s dog, Henry, she could do it for this guy.
“Go find the shoes,” he ordered Rufus.
The smell of overcooked eggs reached his nose, and he nearly cursed. He’d forgotten the eggs! He darted over to the stove. The edges were burned, and the yolks cooked through. Maybe this one time Danny would eat a hard yolk.Please, God.He scooped them onto a plate with the toast and added a liberal amount of ketchup to hide the burn. Usually he was light with the condiment, but today he added it liberally. Danny loved it on hot dogs. Maybe it would work with eggs.
