Fatherhood 101. Mae Nunn
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Meg tossed beach towels over a couple of lounge chairs, poked their earbuds into place and stretched out to sun and enjoy their music.
“Carrie, turn your iPod down. I can hear Def Leppard all the way over here,” Sarah insisted.
“She’s right.” Meg thumped her sister to get her attention. “You’ll blow your eardrums out.”
“Do that again and I’ll break your fingers,” Carrie threatened.
“Let’s go, kiddo.” Joiner invited Hope with a wave of his hand and the two made a beeline for the pool.
Cullen cast a curious glance toward her surly daughter and then settled into a chair beside Sarah.
“I apologize for my oldest. She seems determined to make the awkward middle school years as tough as possible for all of us.”
“No worries, Joiner used to speak to me the same way. It lasted a couple of years but he eventually grew some respect for me and cut the crap talk.”
“Was there something in particular that made him change?”
“I shot up about six inches one summer and learned to swing a mean baseball bat.”
They shared a laugh.
“I can’t thank you enough for this break from the apartment today.”
“No thanks necessary. It’s nice to have some company besides my brothers. And Alma loves somebody to fuss over. She’s in there right now singing away while she makes chicken salad. There haven’t been any kids in this house since the previous owners moved out.”
“How come such a handsome guy doesn’t have a family of his own by now?”
“The Temple boys get asked that a lot. Not that handsome part, since the others are somewhat toady, but the marriage part because we’re all still single. I expect it’s because we witnessed an extraordinary relationship between our parents and none of us will be happy with anything less. When that kind of love comes along, we’ll recognize it.”
“I understand what you mean.” Sarah glanced toward her older daughters, who drowsed in the sun a few feet away. “I’m grateful that my girls have my parents as role models of marriage, since they’re growing up without a man in the house.”
“Do you think you’ll ever remarry?”
“Eventually, but I have the girls to concentrate on so that’s not even on my radar. I enjoyed marriage and partnership, so I do hope that blessing comes around again.”
“You have a nice outlook after the loss your family has experienced.”
“Having my daughters makes all the difference, to me and my parents. They started hinting for babies at my wedding reception.”
“I get that, too. Hunt’s engaged now so that takes the pressure off the rest of us to give Alma and Felix grandchildren before they’re too old to enjoy them, as if people in their fifties are old these days.”
“Mom keeps telling me fifty is the new thirty.”
“Yeah, well, Miss Nancy says seventy is the same drag it’s always been.”
“What’s it like to have gone to college for so many years that you know everybody on campus?”
“It’s the same as any other job after a dozen years or so, it’s just that I pay them instead of them paying me. When I wouldn’t go away after my first Ph.D., they started asking me to be a guest lecturer, and then to stand in when the history department needed short-term coverage. Doing those two things built my dubious reputation as a subject matter expert and allowed me to build a résumé. Now I can shop myself out to other universities when they have to fill some empty space in the curriculum and I want a free trip to visit a new city. I’ve got everybody fooled into thinking I know what I’m doing.”
“Cullen, why do you sell yourself short by making light of your talent?”
“It’s just easier to make a joke than to be one. I think it’s the birth-order curse of being born number three of four.”
“Well, kindly leave the doubts at home when you come to class, because the students believe you’re number one.”
“Including you?”
“Including me.” Sarah touched his sleeve lightly, to ensure he took her seriously.
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