Page 5
The morning of the fun run, Ronan stood in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee.
He knew he should have been drinking water and eating a protein bar like Everly was.
Ten had already fed Ezra and was upstairs getting him dressed.
Kaye was going to be on the race sidelines with the kids to help throw color at the runners, although, truth be told, Ronan had a feeling Ezzie and Lizbet were going to end up throwing color at each other. He couldn’t wait to see the pictures.
Ronan also couldn’t wait to see Everly make Kenny P. eat his words along with his boogers.
“What’s wrong, Daddy?” Everly asked, from her seat at the kitchen table.
Smiling at his daughter, Ronan sat across from her. “I was thinking about Kenny P. and how he talked to you last night.”
Everly sighed. “He’s like that with everyone, except his friends. He wants to be better than everyone else.”
“Right,” Ronan agreed, “just like his father.”
“I’m glad I’m just like you, Daddy.” Everly finished her glass of juice and sat it down with a thud.
“I had so many mean things I could have said to Kenny P. last night and I don’t know how, but I swallowed them.
Part of me wanted to let the little turd have it, but the other part, the part that’s like you, wanted to make you proud of me. ”
“I’ll always be proud of you. Even if you had said all the mean things in your head last night, because it would have meant you were standing up for yourself.
” Ronan, for his part, had kept his big mouth shut as well.
He had several good comebacks for that kid and his asshole father, but reined them in so he wouldn’t embarrass his family.
Kenny P. seemed like the kind of little snot to hold a grudge.
His father, even more so, and with the resources of a powerful law firm behind him.
“Dad always tells me I have to pick my battles, just like he does with you when you’re being a dumbass.” Everly giggled. “So I picked my battle and stayed quiet.”
“You and me both.” Ronan grinned at his daughter.
“What we need to do now is come up with a plan to help you beat Kenny P.” All of Ronan’s ideas would get him arrested and thrown off the force.
Like covering the kid in honey and sticking him on an ant hill, or tripping him just shy of the finish line.
He hoped to hell Everly had a better, child appropriate, idea.
“I’m just gonna run my race, Daddy,” Everly said simply, sounding much older than six.
“I spent a lot of time last night thinking of ways I could trick or hurt Kenny P., but those ideas upset me. I didn’t like how those thoughts made me feel.
Nana Erin came to see me last night and we had a long chat about why I wanted to run in the first place. ”
Ronan felt his heart pinch in his chest. Erin should be here in the flesh giving her granddaughter advice and baking cookies and going shopping.
He knew Everly being able to speak to his mother’s spirit was so much better than what other kids went through when they lost parents or grandparents, but still, it would never be fair that Erin had to watch Everly and Ezra grow up from the other side.
“Why do you want to run today?” Ronan had never asked his daughter why. He’d just accepted she’d wanted to be a part of the fundraiser and threw his hat into the ring so they could run together.
Everly wore a thoughtful look. “Lots of reasons. I want to run to see if I can do it, because I’m not sure if I can.”
It had never crossed Ronan’s mind that Everly couldn’t run and complete the 2K.
“I’m definitely sure you can.” When she crossed the finish line and was awarded her medal, Everly would get such a huge boost to her self-confidence.
His daughter always seemed so self-assured, so comfortable in her own skin.
It was hard to think about Everly struggling with confidence.
“Thanks, Daddy.” Everly ran around the table to Ronan and gave him a hug. “I also want to do the race to have fun with Aurora and Woofie. She’s worried about not being able to finish and about getting sweaty, but I told her that doing hard things makes her brave.”
If Ronan had a nickel for every time he or Ten had said that exact thing to Everly, they could buy their own island in the Caribbean. “Speaking of Aurora…”
“Uh, oh! Gotta go!” Everly tried to pull away from Ronan, but he wouldn’t let her break loose.
“Not so fast!” Ronan tried to sound menacing, but ended up laughing at himself. Everly knew damn well he wasn’t angry at her.
Everly sighed and stopped trying to squirm away from Ronan. “You want to talk about my little white lie to Aurora about getting a two-wheeler.”
“Yes, I do,” Ronan agreed easily. “On the one hand, I’m proud of you for doing everything you could to motivate Aurora into joining in all the fun. I think she would have regretted not running after you and Wolf finished.”
Everly beamed at her father. “I love helping Aurora.”
“I know you do.” Ronan’s favorite thing about his daughter was her empathy. “However, as proud as I am, you wrote a check your little ass can’t cash.”
“What does that mean?”
“You told Aurora I was gonna buy you a bike, which made Wolf ask Jude for one, and the same with Aurora asking Fitz. Their dads might not be ready or able to get bikes now. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Everly shook her head. “I didn’t until I read you, Daddy. You guys had a plan to get us all bikes together so that no one felt left out. I’m proud of you, that’s a good idea.” She patted his shoulder.
“As it turned out, Fitz was so happy Aurora wanted to participate in the fun run that he’s willing to jump on the bandwagon and get her a two-wheeler. Same with Jude, who was just waiting until you and Aurora were ready to handle bigger bikes.”
“What about you? Are you a band dragon?” Everly asked.
Ronan could see the worry in Everly’s eyes. She obviously wasn’t reading him at the moment or she would have seen a new bike in her future. “Yeah, I’m a band dragon too, but…”
“Uh, oh,” Everly muttered. “I shouldn’t have promised something I couldn’t deliver, right?”
“Right,” Ronan agreed. “The information you get from your gift isn’t always yours to give away. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Everly shook her head.
“If I tell you I’m gonna get Dad a new car for his birthday, that’s a secret between us, right?” Ronan wished he could get Ten a bitchin’ Corvette, but the closest he’d be able to come was a toy car from the store.
“Right.”
“So, if you go to Dad and tell him I’m gonna get him a Mercedes for his birthday, that’s not your secret to tell. Do you see what I’m saying?”
Everly nodded.
“Make it a BMW and you’ve got a deal!” Ten laughed as he walked into the kitchen. “It’s time to put on your costume. Give me a shout if you need help.”
“Okay, Dad.” Everly sprinted out of the room.
“Were you talking about the bike situation?” Ten asked, pressing a kiss to Ronan’s lips.
“Yeah, but I don’t know if I’m explaining it right. I told Everly that not everything her gift tells her is something she should share.”
“I definitely need to work with her on that. Figuring out what to keep to myself and what to reveal wasn’t an easy lesson to learn.”
“I agree, but we need to teach Everly that she can’t promise things that are above her pay grade.”
Ten snickered. “We’ll work on it together. What’s your plan for the race today? I know you’re both upset about Kenny P.”
“Everly told me she had a chat with my mom last night and decided that she just wanted to go out there today and have fun with me and her friends. To be honest, it’s what I should have urged her to do in the first place.
I hate bullies and the idea of someone trying to hurt our daughter, even if it’s a first grade classmate, makes my blood boil.
As a father, it’s my job to turn down the temperature, but instead, I feel like I only turned it up. ”
“You did just fine, Ronan. The most important things we can teach our kids is how to handle themselves in this scary, ugly world we live in. This is just another lesson in Everly’s ongoing education. The thing to focus on here is that it upset her to think about striking back at that rotten kid.”
“You’re right.” Ronan knew this was a big takeaway for their daughter. “I just wish there weren’t assholes in the world bent on hurting people.”
“Come on, Ronan, it’s the assholes and their karma who make life interesting.” Ten grinned at Ronan. “That and glitter.”
Ronan barked a laugh. “I can’t wait to pass your color station. I want to shimmer like Snow White’s diamond mine!”
“We’ll be stationed by the bank, which is near the end of the course.”
“People are gonna lose their shit when they start to sparkle like Twilight vampires!” Ronan still couldn’t believe Ten had been onboard with his crazy idea to add glitter to the color powder.
Thanks to several trips to local craft stores, everyone who participated in the Salem Witches Fun Run was going to shine bright like a million diamonds.