Page 39 of Bright Lights, Big Christmas
chapter 22
“Kerry?”
It was Tuesday. Kerry looked up to see a harried-looking Gretchen McCaleb, standing at the entrance to the tree stand. She wore a black cashmere coat, fur-trimmed boots, and demure pearl earrings, and her hand rested lightly on her son’s shoulder.
“Oh, hi, Gretchen. Hi, Austin. Did you change your mind about getting a Christmas tree?”
“Heavens, no. Look, I’m in a terrible bind. I have an important meeting outside the city this morning, but the school has one of those stupid in-service days today, and my babysitter canceled. I can’t reach Pat. I realize it’s a terrible imposition, but Austin is so fond of you…”
“I’d love for Austin to hang around with me and Queenie today,” Kerry said quickly. “I could use the extra help.”
“See, Mom?” Austin said, beaming. “I told you they needed me here.”
“All right then,” Gretchen said, consulting a slim gold watch on her wrist. “I’ve got a car picking me up in ten minutes.” She reachedinto her tote and thrust a quilted red Spider-Man lunch box at Kerry. “Here’s his lunch, and some fruit for a snack. No telling how long my meeting will be. Hopefully, his father can come this afternoon and…”
A black town car glided to the curb and the driver blinked the headlights. “Oh no. He’s early. I really do have to go.”
She leaned down and kissed the top of her son’s head. “Bye, love.”
Kerry and Austin looked at each other. She liked kids and was certainly fond of this particular kid, but she’d never actually been in charge of a small human before. Unlike most teenagers, she’d never done any babysitting, and most of her friends back in North Carolina were either single or still childless.
They turned to see Murphy standing in Spammy’s doorway. His hair stood on end and he was dressed in thermal long johns, his preferred sleeping attire.
“You’re up early,” Kerry drawled.
“Mom just called,” he said, keeping his voice low. “Dad had to go back in the hospital.”
Kerry stared. “How bad is it?”
“Not that bad,” he said. “He was refusing to eat right, got dehydrated, and because nobody can tell the great and mighty Jock Tolliver there’s anything he can’t do, he decided last night would be an excellent time to go out and chop some firewood.”
Kerry closed her eyes and groaned.
“He passed out, hit his head on a tree stump. Mom called the ambulance, and they took him to the hospital. He’s got a gash on his forehead, they gave him some stitches, and they’re keeping him for observation, giving him IV fluids and running some tests.”
“Thank God it’s not worse,” Kerry said. Her heart was racing. “Maybe we should close up shop and go home—”
“No way,” he said, cutting her off. “Mom won’t hear of it. She knows we need to sell these trees to get back in the black. And she swears she’s got it under control.”
“Really? She’s gonna stop Jock from being Jock? She couldn’t do it while they were married, so how’s she gonna manage it now?”
Murphy’s expression was grim. “I’m gonna stop him. I called him up just now, cussed him out and called him every name in the book.”
“So? The two of you fuss at each other like that all the time.”
“This time is different. I told him if he don’t do exactly what Mom and the doctors say, I’m out. I’ll get a job with the Forestry Service, get my own place.”
She studied her brother’s face. “You’d do that?”
“In a heartbeat. That old man is so stuck in his ways. I go to all these agribusiness seminars the state puts on, take classes at the university, but every time I try to do something different on the farm than the way him and Granddad have always done it, he shuts me down. I’m nearly forty years old. He’s gotta start treating me like a man, listen to some of my ideas.”
Murphy ran a hand through his unruly hair. “I need to get dressed.”
She reached out and touched his elbow. “You still haven’t told me what Dad said to that.”
He laughed sheepishly. “I guess I finally got through to him. He bawled like a baby, begged me not to move on. He promised to listen to Mom, really quit smoking, and do exactly what the docs said.”
“I’m glad,” Kerry said. “You don’t really want to leave the farm, do you?”
