“It’s really not a problem at all. You should go home and get some rest.”
“Hi, Dad,” Declan said, coming over. “Is it time to go? I don’t want to leave just yet.”
Cole managed a tired smile. “Well, then, bud, I guess it’s your lucky day; you can stay a little longer and then Allie will bring you home, okay? I think I’m starting to get a little cold or something, so I’m just going to go home and lie down for a little bit.”
“You’re sick?”
“Just a cold.”
Declan nodded. “Okay,” he said. “I hope you feel better soon. I hate being sick.”
“I’ll leave his car seat by your car,” Cole said.
“That was very neighborly of you,” Kris said after Cole had left. “It’s good you can help him out like that. It’s definitely harder for the single fathers than the single mothers; they just don’t seem to have the same sort of support network.”
“I don’t mind at all,” I said.
Declan was more than happy to play with his friends for the next 45 minutes, and I could tell that he felt like it was a special treat that he got to be the last kid there. After I was done, Declan and I went out to my car. I secured his car seat in the back, and he climbed in, proudly showing me how he was able to do the buckles himself.
“Are we going home right away?” he asked. “Can we go somewhere else first?”
“Sure,” I said as I started the car. “Did you have anywhere in mind?”
“Ice cream?”
It certainly was plenty hot—with a touch of humidity—for ice cream. “Sounds like a plan,” I said. “I could go for a twist soft serve.”
So we drove to town and went to the Cream Bar, which had 35 different flavors of soft serve ice cream. Declan got a chocolate with gummy bears, and I ordered a twist in a cone, which was my perennial favorite, though I made a mental note to come back here and try some of the other flavors.
We sat at one of the picnic tables, under the shade of the umbrella. After we were finished with our ice creams, we went to the market. The air conditioning was on, and it was cool, dry, and pleasant to walk down the narrow aisles, looking at the different stuff.
“We should get something for Dad,” Declan said.
“I was just thinking that. What’s something you like to have when you’re sick?”
“Candy?”
I laughed. “I don’t think we’re going to get Dad candy. Maybe some ginger ale, though. I always had ginger ale when I was sick.”
We got a bottle of ginger ale, some crackers, and then we passed the hot food bar. There were three different soups, and even though it felt way too hot for me to eat something like that, I knew that if Cole wasn’t feeling well, something like chicken noodle soup would taste good, even if it was the middle of summer.
“Let’s be quiet, in case Dad’s asleep,” I whispered when we got back to Cole’s. It felt, in a way, like I was coming home, even though I wasn’t walking into my own house.
“Dad’s not on the couch,” Declan said. “Where is he?”
“He might be in his room.”
I peeked my head into the bedroom. Cole was lying in bed, fast asleep. His cheeks were flushed, and with his face completely relaxed like that, he looked young, almost like a boy again.
“Let’s just let him sleep,” I said as I pulled the door shut gently. “Do you want to come over to my house and we can work in the garden some more?”
“Yeah, I want to look for some more worms!”
“I bet you’ll be able to find some. We might even be able to put some of the seeds in the ground.”
Declan and I worked out in the garden for a long time, until I realized that the sun had sunk below the tops of the trees in the side yard.
“You getting hungry?” I asked Declan. “We’ve been working pretty hard out here.”