Sweet Saturday

 

Welcome back! I apologize for the technical glitches with last week's excerpt. I'm out of town again this weekend, so I hope pre-posting works this time! Here's another excerpt from Sunlight and Shadows:

Another typical Monday morning in the Carmichael household. Brad wanted to pound his head against a wall. He couldn't find a clean shirt, and none of his socks had a matching mate. He'd forgotten to do the laundry over the weekend, and now he was out of clean clothes. How could he have been so careless? Lynn would never have forgotten. The house was always showroom perfect, and the entire family always wore clothes that were not only clean but perfectly coordinated. He'd never appreciated that, just took it for granted.

"Daddy, do you have another headache?"

Brad turned to his daughter, who stood in his bedroom doorway. She was dressed in one of her Sunday dresses, complete with tights and dress shoes.

"Princess, it's not Sunday. You're going to school today, not church."

"I know, but I don't have any clean shirts or socks for school. So I put on a dress."

He grimaced. "I'm sorry honey. I'll have to do laundry tonight."

"I'll help you, Daddy."

"Thanks sweetheart. You're so smart, figuring out what to do. I wish I could figure out what to wear because all my shirts are dirty, too."

Jennie's little face crunched into a frown. "What about that sweater Grandma gave you for Christmas? You haven’t worn it yet."

A sweater. He'd never been into sweaters, and the stylish cable knit creation his mother-in-law had given him was still in the gift box in his closet. But desperate times called for desperate measures. He pulled the box from the closet floor and opened it. "That will work, but what shall I wear under it?"

Jennie pulled the sweater out from the box. "Daddy, there's a shirt in here, too."

He looked. A turtleneck shirt. Definitely not his style, but it was clean. It would do.

"Princess, you're a genius. Have you eaten breakfast yet?"

"No. I couldn't find any milk."

Rats. He hadn't done the grocery shopping over the weekend, either. "I'm sorry, Princess. I don't think we have anything on the calendar tonight. It looks like laundry and grocery shopping are what we're going to do."

"Okay."

"So what shall we eat for now? We have some leftover Chinese food."

"I don't feel like eating that. Can I have some crackers and peanut butter?"

Peanut butter. Protein. Crackers were almost like toast. "Okay. Do we have enough for me to eat some, too? Do you need me to get the peanut butter out of the cupboard?"

"I think there's enough. I can reach it. You put it in the snack drawer."

"Okay, sweetie. Crackers and peanut butter for breakfast."

He finished dressing, feeling like the shoe-in candidate for Worst Father of the Year.

Tonight, he would definitely have to put his band director hat away and wear his Dad hat.

****

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Sweet Saturday

            Welcome back! I'm continuing with the next part of my work-in-progress, tentatively titled Sunlight and Shadows:

Brad Carmichael buckled his daughter into the back seat and gave her another hug before closing the door. His heart still beat furiously as he thought about the danger his little girl could have been in if the lady at the quilt shop hadn’t taken her in and called him. How could he have been so irresponsible? He’d known what time the party was over, but he’d gotten engrossed in the task of finding parents to chaperone the high school band’s trip to the festival next week, and the time had slipped away.

Starting up the car, he checked his rear-view mirror. His little miracle sat quietly in her car seat, content to gaze out the window.

“How was the party, Princess?”

She looked up and connected her gaze with his in the mirror. Her grin showed the gap between her teeth and he felt his lips lift in an answering smile. “It was fun, Daddy. We played games and stuff. And we had ice cream and cake.”

“Sounds good. Were all your friends there?”

“Yes. Sherry, and Callie and Bethanie…”

Brad smiled and let the girl chatter while he navigated the car toward their home. He and Lynn had made plans to buy a bigger home and expand their family, but now he was glad they hadn’t moved from the tiny bungalow. Upkeep on a bigger house would have been a greater expense and more effort to maintain, and right now his time and money were stretched to the limit.

“Daddy?”

“What, Princess?”

“Where are we going?”

“We’re going home to have supper. Why?”

“Because we passed our house already.”

Rats. Daydreaming again. He turned the car around in the nearest driveway. If his daughter hadn’t been on the ball, there was no telling when he would have realized where he was going. He might have ended up in the next county. Spotting a family smorgassboard type restaurant, he pulled into the lot.

“Princess, I changed my mind. If I start cooking when we get home it’s going to be late by the time we eat. So would it be okay with you if we eat here tonight?”

Jennie’s eyes lit up. “Okay, Daddy. I like their chicken. And they have corn with butter and stuff on it. And mashed potatoes and applesauce…”

The rest of jennie’s list faded away as Brad opened his door and got out. He went to the back seat to unbuckle his princess, who continued to name off her “favorites.”

“…And can I have chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce for dessert, Daddy?”

“Sure Princess. Anything you want.”

He’d be a good dad and make a home cooked dinner for his daughter some other night. Right now he just needed to get them both fed. One of these days he’d get caught up, and then he could think about nutritious dinners. In the meantime, they’d have to make do with someone else's cooking.

****

Thanks for stopping by! Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about Brad and the others in this story. Is he believable, or too syrupy? Be sure to check out other excerpts by going to Sweet Saturday Samples.