Page 36 of Healed
Bane put his foot back on the brake to stop it. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I don’t like loud noises.”
Bane thought about it for a minute. “You know what? I got some ear mufflers in the house. You sit tight while I run get them, alright?”
“Yes, sir,” Carson said.
“Now, do not start this tractor, or you won’t ever ride on it.”
“I won’t. I’ll just sit here and wait.”
“Good boy,” Bane said. He jogged over the grassy field toward Daisy and Charlie.
Charlie was still waiting quietly for Daisy to look up and see him.
“Boy, just tap her on the shoulder!”
Charlie looked stricken at the idea of that. “No, I don’t think so, sir. She’s really shy, and really jumpy.”
Bane scowled at him, but in all actuality, understood it. Janie had been the same way and he’d had to be extra gentle to win her over. Bane stepped up right beside Daisy and waveda hand in her field of vision. She immediately stopped edging and released the trigger on the edger, then reached for one of her ear pods to remove it so she could hear her father. “You got company.”
“What?” she asked, realizing only when he stepped away from her that Charlie was standing behind him, and Carson was sitting on the tractor. “Oh, I didn’t know you were coming by today.”
“I didn’t either,” Charlie said as she fumbled with her phone to turn off the music, took out the other ear pod and dropped them both into her pocket. “Carson has been begging me since we got home from having dinner with your family the other night to come back. I told him it wasn’t nice to come by uninvited, but he pointed out that your mom and dad said any time. So, after much more begging on his part, here we are.”
“I see,” Daisy said, smiling at him, but still feeling a little uneasy now that the initial surprise had worn off.
“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. We just thought we’d say hi, and see if maybe you might want to go have a late lunch with us.”
“It’s almost 2:00 in the afternoon. I ate lunch two hours ago,” Daisy said.
“Nothing says you can’t have an afternoon snack while two of your favorite friends gorge themselves on whatever it is you’d like to have.”
Daisy smiled.
“Go have something to eat, Daisy. Get out from under us,” Bane said, as he walked by, headed back toward Carson with a pair of noise reducing ear muffs in his hand.
“I have work to do!” Daisy called out as he got further away. “And I promised to go check on Emmalyn later.”
“Didn’t you say Everly got her some meds?”
“Well, yeah.”
“And that Bam cooked enough for two days, even if Barron eats, too?”
“That’s not the point, Daddy.”
“Sure it is. Go do something for you. Charlie, go take her away from here. Make her have a good time.”
“Yeah, come have fun with me and Carson…” Charlie started.
“Nope. Carson is staying with me. We got yard work to do. You and Daisy go, do something not involving kids, and not involving parents.”
Daisy stood almost motionless, trying to determine when her father became such a dictator. Her gaze traveled hesitantly to Charlie, who seemed crestfallen.
“You know what? You don’t have to. It’s alright, I understand,” Charlie said.
She sighed. “No, you don’t understand. But if you want to know, I’ll tell you at least some of it.”
