Limbo

Unexpected

DAWN:

I pick up the plates that I've stacked on the table, and carry them across the room to the sink. Ashley's grandma reaches out to take them from me, saying, "Thank you, sweetie," as she puts them into the soapy water.

"You're welcome," I reply. "The breakfast casserole was really good. Don't be surprised if Lily bugs you for the recipe later."

"I've already promised to write it down for her before you go back home," she chuckles. "What about you, Dawn? Do you cook?"

"Yeah, I can cook decently. I'm not quite as in love with it as she is, but I don't hate it."

"Ashley says that you like to sew, so that's something that you have in common. He always had a creative streak, even when he was just a youngster."

"Out of curiosity, how did he get started on that?" I inquire. "I mean, I guess it's not totally unheard of, but most boys would rather be playing video games, or doing sports and stuff."

"Oh, he definitely had his share of sports, and outside activities," she tells me. "And we didn't own any video game systems when he was young, so if he played, it was only if he went to a friend's house. But I always made sure all of my kids could do at least basic sewing when they were young, even the boys, and I taught Ash the same way I did everyone else. He took to it better than the others, though, he was just fascinated by the idea that if he could master that machine, he could have things that were different from what the other kids had."

"Yeah, I can see that. He does like to stand out," I agree.

Then I feel a pair of arms wrap around my waist from behind, and a chin prop itself on my shoulder. "So you two are talking about me behind my back, huh?" his voice murmurs in my ear.

"Yep, that we are," his grandma responds with a smile. "You're only here for a couple of days, so I have to fill her in on as many embarrassing childhood stories as I can."

"Besides," I chime in, turning my head to place a kiss along his jaw, "you're the most interesting topic of conversation I can think of, anyway."

He grins, and turns his head, so I miss his jaw and kiss his lips instead. "Much better," he informs me, still grinning. "So, are you ready to go out and see the rest of the place?"

"Are we gonna ride the horses?" Lily calls out from the other end of the room. "You said we could while we were here!"

"Well, yeah, I guess we..." he starts to reply, but I put up my hand to stop him.

"Have you done any of your homework?" I ask her.

She looks a bit sheepish, and says, "No, not yet, but I can do that when we get done riding."

"No, you can do some of it now, or we won't go riding," I answer. "You know that one of the conditions of you being able to come was that you do the homework they got the school to send with you. So if you're having to scramble to get everything done when we go home, I think it's a pretty sure bet that they won't let you go with me again. Is that what you want?"

"No, but we've got two more days, so what's the hurry?"

"Because you're supposed to go to the movie with Emily this evening, and Ashley's party is tomorrow, so that kind of cuts down on your available time, and the longer you put it off, the more you're not going to want to do it."

Ash cuts in, saying, "She's right, kiddo, if you keep putting it off, the time is just gonna fly by, and you'll be freaking out when we leave Saturday morning because you've still got all of that work to do. But would you like it any better if you had someone else to do homework with?"