AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Daddy? You okay?”
There was a muscle ticking at the side of his jaw.
“Daddy?” He was starting to worry her now.
“No. I’m not fine. What were you doing?”
“Um, well, I was trying to get in some wood. The wood box is empty.” She waved her hand over it. “And there’s a storm coming in.”
More teeth grinding. “You do not bring the wood in. You do not go outside on your own when there is a storm coming in.”
“Don’t you think you’re overreacting?” She moved her foot around. That was getting really cold.
Suddenly, he stood and loomed over her, one hand was on the back of the sofa. The other was on the arm of the sofa behind her back.
Uh-oh. There was ‘the Ed look’.
“No, I don’t think I’m overreacting. You could have gotten hurt. You did get hurt!”
“It’s just a bruised toe. It will be fine in an hour or so.”
“If only the same could be said for your butt, my girl.”
Her mouth dropped open. “You can’t spank me for this.”
He stood up, his arms crossed over his chest. “What is your rule about putting yourself in danger?”
“But I wasn’t in danger. I was getting the wood in!”
“You got hurt! It could have been worse. What if some of the wood pile had fallen on you? What if it had knocked you over and you’d hit your head?”
“Does that happen often? The wood pile falling over?”
“No, but it doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen.”
“Ed, I wasn’t in any danger,” she soothed.
“You could have tripped on your way back into the house, fallen, and hit your head.”
“You have an obsession with me hitting my head.”
“What if I’d been on the phone for longer? You’d have been lying outside, bleeding out.”
“But none of that happened.”
“Not the point. You shouldn’t have gone outside, with bad weather coming, to carry in a heavy load of wood and you know it.”
“I was just trying to help you out.”
“That’s not your job, it’s mine.”
“But you don’t let me help out around here at all. I can’t cook. I’m not allowed to clean.”
“You were in the hospital less than a week ago. I want you to rest.”
“I feel fine.”
“You’re still having problems sleeping. And you’re still pale.” He crouched down beside her. “I just want to take care of you.”
