His First Choice

“I wanna come with you.”

He’d known what was coming as soon as he’d mentioned the next day’s work. And was now picturing two beautiful blondes coming home to a helpless construction worker on their front porch being worked over by an unhappy four-year-old in the throes of a tantrum.

Not a pretty sight.

Or something he needed his ex-caseworker to witness.

“Let’s go get some hamburgers for dinner and talk about that.” He cringed as he heard the bribe come out of his mouth. Levi loved burgers. And was allowed only one a week. He’d already had two, counting the one he’d had the previous Saturday at Uncle Bob’s.

“No.” Levi didn’t yell. He just shook his head and stood firm.

Jem considered picking him up at the waist like a sack of potatoes and carrying him kicking to the truck. Anything to get him out of that neighborhood before he caused a scene.

“Look, Levi. You know there are some things that I can’t change. No matter how much you want me to. Like having to go to the doctor once in a while for checkups.”

“He gave me a shot.” The boy’s opinion of that move was clear in both the tone of his voice and the way his nose scrunched and his chin got hard.

“And going to school is another one. You have to go even if we both want to stay home.”

“You have to go to work,” Levi said. Jem fell in love with the boy all over again. Levi was repeating the lesson Jem had given him when they’d had the tantrum about going to school. Everyone, no matter what their age, had to do their jobs. Either work or school. No one was allowed to just stay home, because then there would be people who needed help and no one to help them. And there would be no money to buy food for families.

“That’s right.”

“’Cause people die if they don’t eat.”

Close enough. “Right.”

“But Kacey and Lacey have food.”

“Kacey and Lacey aren’t home, Levi. That’s what I can’t change right now.”

“But I wanna see them.”

“They don’t know that. And they’re busy somewhere else.” He took Levi’s noncasted hand and gave it a gentle tug, breathing a silent but very big sigh of relief when the boy didn’t snatch it back.

“Where?” Levi joined him on his step.

“I don’t know.” He and his son took the next step together.

“We can find them.”

“Can we discuss this in the truck?”

“I want a hamburger.”

Of course.

“Then we’ll discuss it over hamburgers.”

Walking with purpose the rest of the way to the truck, Levi climbed into his seat as soon as Jem had the back door open.

“Dad?” he said as Jem climbed into the front seat, dreading the possibility of Kacey’s car coming around a corner. It hadn’t been parked in the drive. He’d known when he’d stopped that the women weren’t home.

“Yeah?” Jem asked, not sure he was going to like whatever had put the serious look on his son’s baby face again.

“Can you tell them not to put the pickles?”

He always did. Every single time.