After the Storm {Book 2}

Chapter 17: Tragedy Strikes Again

The next day, I decided to go back to Heather's place and pick up Ryan- without Yolanda, of course. The kid was probably confused as ever.

When I pulled into the driveway, I noticed Heather's car was missing but Kendrick's was still there. I never really had the chance to go into a deep conversation with him. Our exchange of words usually consisted of "Heys", "How are yous", and "Byes".

I figured now would probably be a good time to change that.

As I was getting out of my car, Kendrick was coming out of the house with some dirty overalls on. He looked like he'd been working on the yard.

"Hey Mr. Thomas." I said, setting the alarm on my car.

He looked over at me and smiled warmly. "Hey, son. How are you?"

"Good. Yourself?" I went over and shook his hand.

"Good, just working on the hedges and the grass." He pointed over to a spot on the ground. "I've got some nasty weeds over there I'm tryin' to get rid of."

"Need some help?"

"Yeah, I could always use some help. The boys are around here somewhere," he said, waving his hands towards the back of the house.

"Is Heather here?"

He shook his head. "No, she took the twins and Devry to the store."

We began walking to the back, where a huge wooden shed was standing.

"You made this yourself?" I said, admiring the tall building.

"Yep. Made it a couple years back. 'Used to do some carpentry in my younger days." He said, grinning.

I touched the side of it and felt the wood. "This is an amazing job."

 He nodded, his pride beaming. "Thanks. Took me exactly 6 months to build."

"Wow. Well, it's really nice."

"Got the time on ya', son?"

I took my phone out and checked it. "It's a quarter past eleven."

"Hm."

"So, how's Ryan been?"

"Fine. Boy's got a mouth on him though." He said tilting his head towards the ground and spitting.

"I heard. I'll try to straighten him out."

"Eh, don't worry about it. Just means he's becomin' a man." He chuckled.

"I wish you had been my dad. Would have loved to hear him say that."

We both laughed.

A couple of minutes into our conversation, Chris and Ryan came running from the farther side of the house.

"Gimme my game!" Ryan yelled at Chris as he chased him.

"No! I was playing first!" Chris called over his shoulder, not missing a step.

"No! It's my game! Give it!" Ryan finally caught up to him and tackled him to the ground. The game flew out of Chris' hand and in front of my feet.

Kendrick whistled and shook his head. "Another fight."

He walked over to the boys, who were now wrestling all over the grass. "Alright, that's enough of that boys. Come on, get off of em'."

I followed him, unsure of what to do or say. I had no experience with dealing with a son.

"Come on, off!" Kendrick struggled to pull Ryan off of Chris, who was still kicking his feet with all his might.