Cattail Ridge (11 page)

Chapter Fourteen

A
rcher was waiting for Sydney when she got off the small yellow bus from preschool. He’d had a nice visit with Mrs. Hendricks, and could see why the Campbells thought so highly of her. When Sydney saw him sitting on the front porch she shrieked with excitement and ran the rest of the way up the walk.

“Archer! Are you here to see
me
?”

“Maybe.” He winked at her.

She tilted her head to the side and gave him the sweetest smile. “You
are
here to see me.” Her ponytail was a little lopsided and her backpack was slipping off her shoulder. She was a danged cute kid, he thought, and a familiar lurch went through his chest. There was no getting around it. He wished she was his kid. His and Emma’s. With any luck, someday she would be.

“How about you and I spend the day together? Go do something fun?”

Sydney’s eyes grew huge. “Really? Just you and me?” she whispered.

He nodded. “Just you and me. Then I’ll drop you off to your mom this evening.”

Her arms went around his neck in a tight hug. “Let’s go.”

Standing, he lifted her onto his hip. “Mrs. Hendricks, sounds to me like I have a date.”

“Yes, it does. It was nice to finally meet you, since this young lady talks about you all the time.”

“You do that?” Archer asked Sydney with a smile. “Talk about me?”

She nodded vigorously. “I like you.”

He kissed her forehead. “I like you, too. Mrs. Hendricks, we’ll see you soon.”

Once Sydney was safely strapped into her booster seat, they hit the road.

“Where are we going?”

“I thought we might head down to Natural Bridge. Have you ever been?”

She pursed her lips in a manner she got straight from Emma. “I don’t think so. What is it?”

“It’s a big stone arch like a bridge, but made from rock. You have to climb waaayyy up the mountain to go see it.”

She frowned. “Okay, but can we eat first? I’m starving.”

“Absolutely. Can you reach that little bag there next to your seat?” Mrs. Hendricks had warned him that she was used to eating as soon as she got off the bus, and had been kind enough to pack a small snack for her. “There’s a sliced apple and three cookies. Eat a couple of the apple slices, and one cookie. That should tide you over until we get there and then we’ll have lunch.”

He uncapped a bottle of water and put it close enough that she could reach it. In between bites of food and sips of water, she kept up a happy chatter the whole way to Slade and the turnoff of Mountain Parkway that led to the State Resort Park. By the time they got there he almost felt like he’d been at her birthday party, she’d described it so well.

“Mommy took lots and lots of pictures, and we made you a picture book so you could see my cake and all my presents. I had a tea party yesterday with Mary from next door. She’ll be six in November. She wants a tea set for her birthday. Her mommy is having a baby brother for her someday. She’s got him in her belly now. Do you think I could ask Santa for a baby brother for Christmas?”

Archer blinked. “Um. Well, I suppose you could.”

She nodded. “I might do that. But Mary says you have to have a mommy and a daddy in order to get a baby brother. But Mommy got me without a daddy. Maybe I’ll just ask for a big-girl bike. Does it really take a daddy to get a baby brother?”

Oh, he was way out of his depth here. But she wasn’t finished.

“You have a brother. Is he a baby brother?”

“No. I’m the baby brother. Logan’s the oldest. He might come visit me for Christmas. You’d get to meet him.”

She thought about that for a minute and Archer hoped she would be distracted enough that she’d lose the “baby” train of thought.

“Does he look like you?”

“Some. You know how Aunt Rachel and Amelia look like each other? He’s got dark hair and he’s not as tall as me, but you can tell we’re related.”

She liked that comparison and she grinned over at him. “So you’re Aunt Amelia, and he’s Aunt Rachel? ‘Cause Pip is the baby, and you both have blond hair. So you’re the baby, too?”

He nodded. “Exactly.”

To his relief she did drop the subject of baby brothers. But she kept him on his toes the rest of the afternoon, asking curious questions about anything and everything, from queries about the waitress’s shoes to how the natural bridge had been formed in the first place.

“Well, scientists say the bridge was formed by erosion. Wind and water made it, and there was a weak spot in the rock where the water got in. But the Indians who lived around here thought it was made by God. There were two families who fought a lot and he separated them by a creek that used to run through here to keep them from fighting. But they missed each other. He knew they’d fight if they were together all the time, so he built a bridge so they could see each other every now and then.”

Sydney, who was perched on his back piggy-back style, said a quiet, “Wow. Which story do you think is true?”

He hefted her into a better spot so that her knee wasn’t digging into the sore muscle on his back. “I think they’re both true. Come on, let’s look on the other side. There’s something I think you’ll get a kick out of.” He took her around to the back side of the formation, where a narrow walkway had been created between two rock faces.

“What is it?”

“They call it Fat Man’s Squeeze. Think we can fit through it?”

She pushed against his shoulders and he eased her to her feet. “Let’s try it!”

Of course, Sydney was able to walk between the two faces easily, but Archer had to turn sideways. His shoulders wouldn’t fit. That caused her to dissolve into giggles and once they were out of the passage, he scooped her up and tickled her.

“You think that’s funny, huh?”

She nodded. “Do it again!”

“We will on the way back down. Let’s go up top.”

A surprising thing happened once they got to the flat surface on top of the bridge, though. Sydney got very quiet and instead of tugging at his hand, she clasped her arms around his leg. He put his hand on her head.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t like it up here. It’s too tall.”

“Too tall? You don’t like heights?”

She shook her head and he saw that her lower lip was sticking out a little, complete with a tremble.

“But it’s no different than being at Grandma and Grandpa’s,” he told her.

“Oh, yes, it is. There’s not a big hole under me there.” She held her arms up, and the sad look on her face almost broke his heart. He picked her up and she clung to him tightly, her face buried in his neck.

“We’ll go down. We don’t have to stay up here.” He turned and headed back down to the ground.

Sydney sniffled wetly. “I’m sorry, Archer. I like your bridge. Just not the tall part.”

He smiled. “It’s okay. The other parts are just as cool.”

They headed back down the trail and he carried her the whole way. She was tiny and probably only weighed fifty pounds or so, but by the time they got back to the trailhead, he was sweating. He’d gotten some raised-eyebrow looks from families when they were going up the trail, and now he figured they’d probably been wondering just how long Sydney would make the trek on her own. A five-year-old’s endurance, he was learning, wasn’t that great.

“Live and learn, I guess.”

“Hmm?” she asked, lifting her head to look at him. Her eyelids were heavy and he knew she’d probably be asleep by the time he got her to the truck. If Emma let him pick her up again he’d have to make sure to ask her what an appropriate day trip for a five-year-old was.

Sure enough, she slept most of the hour-long drive back to Hazard. They’d just entered the city limits when she woke up.

“Morning, sleepyhead. Did you have a good nap?”

“Yes.” She squirmed in her seat. “Archer, I gotta pee.”

He glanced over. Her frown was intense. “Can you hold it for a couple of minutes?”

“I think so.”

That didn’t sound good. He evaluated their options. They were on the bypass and the turnoff to a shopping center was coming up. There were several fast-food restaurants located just after the turnoff, and he deftly maneuvered the truck into the parking lot of the first one. By the time he got out of the truck and around to her side, she was standing beside the vehicle, dancing in place.

“Hurry, Archer. I gotta go!”

They dashed inside and to the side of the restaurant where the restrooms were located. Judging from her whimper he figured they might have a minute, tops. He tried the women’s door but it was locked.

“Occupied!” someone called from inside.

“Shit.” Scooping her up, he said a mental prayer. “Close your eyes.” If his choices were letting her wet herself or taking her into the men’s room, the men’s room it was. Fortunately it was empty, and he hurried her into the stall. They got paper on the seat just in time, and as soon as her rear hit the seat, she was going. He stepped outside the stall to give her privacy and hoped she was big enough to either ask for help if she needed it, or not need it in the first place. There was a lot more to this parenting thing than he’d ever known, and he was perfectly aware he’d just barely scratched the surface.

Her sigh of relief matched his but her words had him nearly in tears, they were so unexpected.

“Thank you, Archer. I had to piss like a racehorse. I couldn’t hold it anymore.”

He laughed so hard, he coughed. “Sydney Marie, where did you hear that?”

“Aunt Rachel and Mommy.”

“Emma’s going to be so proud,” he murmured, still chuckling. When an older man opened the door and stepped in, he gave Archer a wary look.

Archer held his hand up. “Five-year-old girl. Can you give us just another minute?”

“As long as it’s a fast minute.”

“We’ll hurry. Thanks.”

Sydney flushed the toilet and came out, and he held her up while she washed her hands. “I can’t wait to tell Mommy I got to use the boy’s room. That was fun, Archer. Can I do it again someday?”

“We only do that in emergencies. It’s better for you to use the girl’s room when you can,” he explained as they left the restroom, her hand in his. The humor of the fact that she was more excited over using the men’s room than she had been about seeing Natural Bridge was not lost on him.

After a quick stop at the post office, he made a proposal. “How about we swing by the library and see Grandma? Maybe see if they have any new books you want to read?”

“I think that’s a good idea.”

Sydney’s trip to the bathroom had made him aware of his own pressing need. He didn’t want to show up at Emma’s studio just to use the restroom, and he hoped that Sarah would be able to watch Sydney for a couple of minutes for him. Just that one little aspect of being with a young child of the opposite sex made him appreciate with newfound respect what single parents went through. If just using the bathroom was such an ordeal, he couldn’t begin to imagine the myriad other things that happened in everyday life that a parent had to learn to account for.

He thought of his own father. Steve Gibson had found himself alone, raising two active boys under the age of nine, when he was only thirty years old. From what Archer remembered of his mother, as well as what he’d been told, she’d been very much like Zanny Campbell. The kind of woman who kept a perfect, if lived-in, house, and took great pride in taking care of her family. Having seen how much John and Zanny relied on each other, he realized, for perhaps the first time, that his father had to be have been completely overwhelmed when Tamsin Gibson died.

Sarah was manning the front desk when they went in the library, and when she looked up to see Archer with Sydney, her smile softened. “Well, would you look at this. What are you two up to?”

Sydney told her where they’d been. “And then I got to use the boy’s room, and everything!”

Sarah coughed to cover up her laugh. “I’ll bet that was exciting.”

“Speaking of the boy’s room… Could I excuse myself for a minute?” Archer asked.

“Of course. Sydney and I will look at the new arrivals.”

When he came back out he found them in the children’s section. Sydney was browsing and Sarah was on the phone. He waited until she hung up to move up beside her. “Thanks, Sarah. I never realized the logistics of having a little girl with no one around to watch her if you have to step away.”

“Oh, it’s a challenge when the child’s a girl. Boys are a little easier, but there were a few times Owen found himself with two or three little girls and no one to watch them. Ask him, and I’m sure he’ll show you a few gray hairs from the whole ordeal. Jack was in, by the way. He told me what happened. I’m sorry.”

Archer shrugged as the embarrassment of being fired washed over him again. “It’s probably for the best. Neither of us was happy there.”

“Still, that’s stressful. And you’ve had enough stress lately.” She put her arm around his waist and hugged him. “You look like you’ve caught up on at least a little sleep. You’re coming to dinner this Sunday, right?”

Archer hugged her back. “I’ve slept late two days in a row now, and yes, ma’am. I wouldn’t miss it. I thought I might even bring that banana pudding everyone is so fond of since I don’t have to work this weekend.”

Sarah’s knowing look told him that while the banana pudding was a hit, the “everyone” he referred to was Emma.

“They do say the way to a person’s heart is through their stomach,” she teased.

“Humph.”

After getting Sydney some books, as well as some for himself, he decided to take her back to his apartment. He knew she had crayons and a coloring book in her bag, and one of the letters he’d picked up at the post office required a phone call. Besides, if he was being honest with himself he had to admit that he was exhausted. The idea of putting his feet up for just a little bit sounded like an excellent plan.

Once she was settled in and coloring, he made the call. With that done, he kicked his shoes off and sat on the couch beside her. For about an hour, he read while she entertained herself with the coloring book. When she got up and wandered over to his bookcase though, he knew the quiet time was up.