“I always have time for you.”
He winks. “I knew I was your favorite.”
With a chuckle, I climb into the passenger seat, stealing a glance inside the basket. “Pulled pork?” I was expecting turkey on rye—the healthy choice, and a staple in my father’s diet.
“There’s a lot going on, and your mother’s been stress cooking all morning.” He gives the UTV gas. It lurches toward the nearby picnic table.
“Are you still being difficult?”
“Not me. For once.” He gives me a sideways glance. “I suppose you haven’t talked to Vicki yet, have you?”
His question catches me off guard. “Not since I went over on Monday so she could cut my hair.” A twinge of panic stirs in my stomach. “Why? What’s wrong? Is Molly okay?”
“She’s fine. They’re all fine.” His shoulders slump. “Vicki’s pregnant.”
I gasp. “Again?” Molly’s only five months old!
“It’s funny how biology works, huh?” He chuckles. “Clearly those two missed that day in school.”
“She can’t even get a night’s sleep!”
“They definitely found something to do while they weren’t sleeping.”
My thoughts are spinning. “What were they thinking? How can they afford this?”
“They weren’t thinking. And they can’t.” Dad shakes his head. “Hence, the pulled pork sandwiches and the apple pie baking as we speak.”
* * *
“Bonnie Hatchett called me this morning.”
“I was wondering when you’d bring that up,” I mumble around the last of my sandwich. We’ve been too busy discussing Vicki and Oliver’s carelessness that has now put them in a position of having to raise two babies on one meager income and a vehicle that is in the garage every other month.
And yet, despite the panic my sister is surely swirling in, there’s that part of me that envies her for the things she has that seem to have slipped from my grasp.
“Bonnie was upset to learn that you’d throw away a four-decade relationship so easily.”
Of course she’d blame me. “What’d you say?”
“What could I say? I didn’t even know you were taking on Tyler Brady’s kennel until she told me.”
“I know. I should have mentioned something sooner. It all happened kind of fast, and I wasn’t sure I’d agree until yesterday.” That’s not totally truthful. I knew, when Tyler was standing in my lobby, pleading with me, that I was a goner. Tyler transferred money to cover his bill within ten minutes of Cory sending it. That’s a promising start. “It’s good money for the clinic, and you should see the place, Dad. It makes the Hatchetts’ look like a run-down circus show. He knows what he’s doing. More than Harry does, that’s for sure. Maybe even more than Earl did.”
“I believe you. But you had to have known what might happen when you took him on. The repercussions of that.”
“I did.” Especially once Harry heard that all their prospective clients would rather be getting sled dogs from next door. “But they can’t dictate which kennels I treat. They’ve gone too far.”
He holds up his hands in surrender. “You’re absolutely right. I’m not suggesting they can.”
“They’re the ones throwing away a four-decade relationship, all because Harry’s a sore loser.”
“Yup. There’s no arguing that, either.” Dad purses his lips. “Who was Tyler Brady with before?”
“Frank.” Now that I know how tightly Tyler runs the day-to-day at his kennel, I can see why that relationship didn’t work. Frank wouldn’t see the value that I do in all those medical records and databases. Me? I’m a three-year-old tearing through presents on Christmas morning with that level of information.
Dad smooths a hand over his cheek in a slow, circular motion, his signature thinking tic. “I just know you and that Tyler fellow have had your differences in the past, and it seemed to me that day up in Hatcher Pass that they might not all be sorted out.”
“They’re sorted. It’s fine. This is purely a business relationship.”
“Oh.” Dad’s bushy eyebrows arch. “I see. So there was a time when it might have been more than—”
“No. That was a misunderstanding that is now crystal clear. There is nothing else between Tyler and me.” I’m saying that for my father’s benefit, but it’s also helpful to remind myself.
“I’m only bringing this up because I’d hate to see you lose both kennels if things don’t work out with Tyler. That’s a lot of money. And with this new baby on the way …” His words drift, but his meaning is clear.
I can’t afford to miss any rent payments to them, because some of that will inevitably be going toward helping my sister. I can already see that the extra cash I was planning on giving them to recoup their Mexico savings account will never get them there. They’ll stick it in an envelope and leave it on Vicki and Oliver’s kitchen counter without a word the next time they visit, to help ease this new burden. And how much can I say? They’ve done it for me once or twice while I was in school when money was especially tight.