Semua Bab Knocked Up By My Brother’s Best Friend: Bab 11 - Bab 20

Sarah JoLuke said he’d come by around five-thirty to help with dinner. Being used to Ryan’s planned times of arrival, I figured he’d show up when I set dinner on the table as my brother always did. Imagine my surprise when Luke drove up at 5:25 with a Pyrex dish of banana pudding that needed to go in the fridge.“We had a slow night at the station, so I whipped this up in the kitchen. After I cleaned the place practically from top to bottom.”“Wow. I can’t even get my daddy to put his own plate in the sink,” I laughed and rearranged stuff so the 9×13 pan would go on the shelf in the refrigerator. “Thanks so much.”“Is it okay if I go ahead and start the grill?”“I was just gonna make some chicken in the oven. Figured it was too chilly out to grill,” I said.“Nah, I don’t mind it. Here,” he said, holding out a grocery bag. He had picked up turkey burgers (lower fat for my dad than red meat) and some onions and red and green peppers to grill.“I’ll just go put some baked beans together

LukeSince Ryan and Donnie were in the living room having a beer with the TV blaring, I took a chance.“You want to go for a walk? You can see the fireflies come out. You used to chase those things all over. Come back with a jarful of them to use as a nightlight.”“Yeah, well, I’ve stopped killing God’s creatures for indoor lighting now, you’ll be glad to know,” she said uncomfortably. She looked like she was shrinking away from me, like she wanted to say no. Any second she was going to say she had a headache. Ryan came in and basically rescued her. I saw her smile at him, the opposite of the way she’d looked when he interrupted us out by the grill earlier.“Are you ready to go?” he said.“Go? Sarah Jo and I were getting ready to go for a walk,” I said.“I thought we’d go get a drink, just the two of us. Come on. I’ll buy you a beer,” he said eagerly.I couldn’t see any way around it without making it awkward. I shrugged. “Sure, Ryan, let’s go. I’ll drive,” I said, not wanting him beh

Sarah JoWell, that was a bad idea.I came home at lunch to go over some lumberyard orders with Dad. They were perfectly fine. I just wanted him to feel involved because he’d been so down lately. I thought it would be a pick me up for him, get him to show some interest in work. Or, it could backfire. I should have known.“I just wish Ryan would take over the lumberyard. There’s no way you can keep all of this straight, honey,” Dad said sadly. “It was so brave of you to take it on, but I knew when you wanted to try that it was a mistake. Look at you, hustling home at lunch to see if I can check your work, just like I used to have to go over your math homework with you.”I grit my teeth. “Things are going perfectly fine at the lumberyard, Dad,” I said. “I don’t need you to check my work, I just want you to look these invoices over and see if there’s anything you want to add.”“There’s no time to teach you everything you’d need to know,” he said, patting my hand and shaking his head with

“You can’t have my pickle,” I warned.“I wouldn’t dream of risking it,” he said, taking another chip and eating it. “So don’t tell me you don’t have a visiting nurse or anything checking on Donnie during the day. You can’t do both jobs at the same time. Not even you can be two places at once.”I shook my head, finished chewing, “Insurance won’t pay for a home health care worker, not even twice a week. So it’s me.”“Have you called the church secretary? June might know somebody who’d help out.”“I don’t think so. We pretty much stopped going to church when my mother passed away, and I wouldn’t want to impose on them. Rema said if there was anything she could do, to let her know, but that’s just something people say. I don’t think she wants to come babysit my dad and make him drink water and go to physical therapy.”“Give her a chance to help out, Sarah Jo. Call her up and ask if she knows anybody who’d check in on him in the afternoons. There’s no way you can handle everything yourself

Sarah JoAfter putting the finishing touches on the sale ad for the newspaper for the following week, I made sure all the calls were returned and online orders filled for the next day. I did the drop-off at the bank and went home. I collected the mail and sorted through it, put the bills in a stack to take care of later. I found my dad sitting in his chair with the TV on. I refilled his water glass that was still full from the morning with some fresh water.“I’m gonna go take a shower, and then I’ll start dinner,” I told him.“Luke stopped by and brought some food from the bar, fixed some stuff upstairs,” he replied, “He tried to get me to go up there with him, but I figured he could handle it.”I dashed up the steps two at a time. I peeled off my clothes, got in the shower and sighed as glorious hot water pounded down on my hair and cascaded down my back. Just like a real shower instead of the annoying trickle I’d been dealing with for weeks. As soon as I was done, I jumped out, towe