Cowboy Baby Daddy

“I love you, Nina,” I said, as I bent down and kissed her forehead.

“I love you, too, Dad,” she replied. “I just don’t love this bedtime thing. I’m not a kid anymore!”

“You’re my kid and, believe me, you’ll thank me for it later,” I assured her. “Now, you get some sleep and work on those grades.”

“Only if you get some sleep and find a date,” she shot back.

“I don’t know where you got this smart-ass streak from,” I said, shaking my head sadly.

“Better to be a smart-ass than a dumb-ass,” she retorted, as I exited the room, shutting the door behind me.

As I cleaned up the kitchen, I thought about what Nina had said about dating. I knew that it was probably time to get back on the horse, but after two years of being on my own, I’d grown accustomed to my routine and I wasn’t sure that there was room in it for someone else. I tucked the sponge behind the faucet and shut off the kitchen lights as I told myself that I could let it go for now and worry about dating tomorrow.

Chapter Four

Emily

When the alarm went off early the next morning, I groaned as I hit the snooze button and then rolled back over and closed my eyes. The air in the bedroom felt colder than usual, and I knew that the furnace had most likely gone out during the night — again. I’d told my landlady about the problem, and she’d assured me, numerous times, that she had someone coming to take a look at it, but the problem persisted. This made getting up on a Monday morning even more unpleasant than usual.

“Oh Christ,” I groaned, as I slammed my hand down on the alarm button as it began beeping again. Howard purred softly as he shifted his position under the covers. I reached out and petted him as I grumbled, “You’re living the life of Riley, and you know that, don’t you?”

I slid out from under the covers, and as my feet hit the hardwood floor, I knew that my assessment of the furnace situation had been correct. I could see my breath hanging in the air as I made a break for the bathroom and cranked the hot water on. Then, I quickly padded into the kitchen where I flipped on the small space heater I’d bought just for mornings like these. Back in the bathroom, the small room had warmed up as it quickly filled with steam. I shed my pajamas and stepped under the stream of scalding water.

Once I’d showered and done everything I could possibly do to get ready in the small, warm bathroom, I wrapped myself in a thick, terry cloth robe and shoved my feet into a pair of sheepskin slippers before heading to the kitchen to make coffee. I found Howard sitting in his usual spot at the counter on the middle stool, slowly grooming himself as he waited for me to serve him breakfast.

“I’m not sure what Edith is going to do about the heat today, buddy,” I said, as I scooped coffee into the filter and then flicked on the machine. I grabbed Howard’s bowl off the floor and opened the cabinet where I kept his food. “You’re probably going to have to tough it out in bed today. I’ll stop and pick up another space heater on my way home because one way or another, we’re going to have heat in this damn place.”

As if ignoring me, Howard sat staring out the window until I placed his bowl on the floor. Only then did he hop down from the stool and wander over to head butt my leg. I flipped on the news and saw that they were just heading into the weather report.

“You’re welcome,” I said to my furry companion as I began making breakfast and packing my lunch.

“There’s a northeast storm heading our way this week, and it looks like we’re going to be dipping down into the sub-zero temps overnight,” the local meteorologist said a little too cheerfully. “If you’ve got drafty windows or doors, I’d recommend putting something along the cracks to keep the chill out!”

“As if you’d ever lived in a drafty house,” I muttered, as I flipped the toast onto a plate and buttered it quickly. I took my coffee and toast to the counter and sat down.

Howard and I ate in companionable silence as I mentally ran through my lesson plan for the day. I knew the sophomore class was going to be rough once I handed back the papers, so I decided to wait until we’d finished the day’s lesson to give them out. The kids would grumble, but in the end, I knew it was the only way to go.

An hour later, I was at my desk prepping the assignments I planned to hand back and the ones that would be given as homework. The school was chilly, and I decided that another cup of coffee was in order, so I headed down to the faculty lounge.

“Morning, Emily,” frowned 10th grade English teacher, Betty Paxton. She had a sour look on her face.

“Morning, Betty,” I said, as I tried to slide past her. Betty had a reputation for being difficult, and I found that staying out of her way lessened the chance that she’d bend my ear. Unfortunately, this morning I was the only other teacher in the lounge.

“Have you ever known a class of 10th graders to be so absolutely lazy as this one?” she asked, as I reached for the pot that had just finished brewing.

“Lazy, really?” I said, without looking up. “No, I haven’t found that to be true.”

“Oh please, you know that this group of students is so completely unmotivated and utterly slothful!” she protested, as she leaned against the counter and wound up to let loose with her list of student sins.

“Actually, I’ve found that all they really need is some gentle guidance,” I said, knowing full well that I was understating the problem. I’d actually had quite a bit of trouble keeping the 10th graders engaged in History lessons, but then, I was also able to recall what it felt like to actually be a 10th grader. I doubted that Betty was able to go that far back in her memory in order to conjure up some empathy for the hormonal drama that teenagers experienced on a daily basis.

“Gentle guidance, my ass,” she muttered, as she turned and grabbed the powdered cream, pouring it into her cup. “More like a slap on the ass and a good grounding.”

“Different strokes for different folks,” I said a little too cheerfully as I returned the pot to the warmer and grabbed my mug. I knew that I’d pay for this later when Betty began gossiping about how I was entirely too lenient with the students, but I also knew that, like me, most of the faculty found Betty’s assessment unkind, to say the least. She was two years away from retirement, and there was nothing anyone could do until then. I headed for the hallway calling, “Have a great day, Betty!”

Thankfully, the door closed behind me before I could hear her reply. Back in my classroom, I prepped for the first class of the day. As the students filtered in, I said good morning and reminded them to pull out the assignment so we could go over it. Several students groaned as they realized they’d forgotten the homework and a few others shrugged to indicate they’d never intended to do it to begin with. At the back of the room, a few students bent across the aisle whispering and laughing as Nina Gaston entered the room and slid behind her desk.

“All right, let’s get started on Massachusetts history!” I said, as enthusi