Strawman's Hammock Read Online Free PDF Page B

cooks and irresponsible waitstaff to salesmen from Sysco and Alliant. Not to mention air conditioning, plumbing, linen supply—everything necessary to make things right for the evening diners who were Laura Anne’s bread and butter. It turned out to be a round-the-clock responsibility, which meant that someone had to be on tap to feed, comfort, and when necessary, cajole Ben and Tyndall.
    Barrett would love to have that job. His separation from his family while in Tallahassee drove him into a deep depression. He vowed never to accept that kind of isolation from Laura Anne and his sons again, even if it meant leaving law enforcement. The reason he had requested a transer from FDLE headquarters in Tallahassee to a field office in Suwannee County was so that he could be with his family during the week. Be a husband. Be a father.
    Things had improved. Live Oak was, nominally, closer to Deacon Beach than was Tallahassee. Still—Bear’s hour-long commute got him out of the house before the boys were fully awake, and rarely got him home before seven in the evening. Any arrest, snafu, gripe, or phone call could cancel a commitment to a school play or a ball game. A rare evening alone with Laura Anne. But the biggest problem that remained was how to tend the boys during afternoon and evening hours when both parents were away from home. There was nothing like day care in Deacon Beach.
    Barrett solved the problem. He bought a thirty-foot push-out trailer from a dealer in Valdosta, set that fifth-wheeler up with its own septic tank, phone, and power hookup on the backside of Laura Anne’s perennially productive garden, and gave Thelma the keys. It was a good arrangement. Aunt Thelma, for the first time in her life, had a place of her own. The trailer together with a modest salary compensated Laura Anne’s kin for looking after the boys from three in the afternoon until their parent’s return.
    â€œHaven’t forgot the party, have you?”
    â€œNo, ma’am,” Barrett shook his head. Ben and Tyndall were counting the days until the celebration of their eleventh birthday. A big day for fifth graders. A day for family and friends. “I got Tyndall a football, and Benjamin the newest Harry Potter.”
    â€œBarrett. You keep that up, Tyndall won’t be reading at all.”
    â€œJust kidding, baby. Actually I got ’em both a ball and books. Same book, mind you. I don’t want them fighting.”
    â€œWise man,” Laura Anne smiled. And then, more cautiously, “I invited Cory and Corrina. Hope you don’t mind.”
    â€œNo,” Bear replied quickly. He knew he ought not to mind. Cory and Corrina were girls a little over a year apart, both younger than Ben and Tyndall. They were sired, if not fathered, by Barrett’s elder brother. The girls were orphans now, living in Dowling Park—one of the best facilities for that purpose, thank God, in the state.
    Barrett provided part of the cost for the girls’ care. It was not a sufficient emollient for the guilt of declining to raise the children himself, but Barrett knew that Cory and Corrina, through no fault of their own, needed structure and supervision that Barrett and Laura Anne could not provide.
    Or would not, Bear amended silently.
    That’s where the guilt came from.
    â€œOne party won’t make ’em family,” he warned.
    â€œBut leaving Cory and Corrina out, Bear—that would be cruel.”
    â€œYes.” He shook his head. “Do I need to get ’em?”
    â€œPreacher will,” Laura Anne said. “He’s over on visitation that morning. Offered to bring the girls by. I can have Thelma take them back afterwards.”
    Barrett grunted. “Hell of a lot of logistics for a birthday party.”
    She sighed. “It does seem like you have to think ahead for everything.”
    And how much easier things would be, Barrett reflected as Laura Anne ordered snapper