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Chapter Eleven

Kyler

This week’s guests were well organized and included many parental chaperones, though the decibel level those squeals and screams hit was off the charts.

But that was all in fun and the troop was having a great time, though it reminded me it had been far too long since I’d seen my nieces.

With their leaders and chaperones here, the most I’d had to do was check out the aquatic equipment in the form of pulling out canoes and beach towels.

Twenty-four hours later and I missed my boy something fierce.

The gnome explosion I’d ordered for him had started trickling in. Mark helped me shift the bed and dresser around in his old room to make more space for Roen to play in before he left Monday morning. Now it was up to me to turn it into a playroom.

Roen’s playroom.

I was really doing this.

While I couldn’t find a playroom rug that had gnomes on it, Mark directed me to colorful foam interlocking pieces that formed a soft, fun, playroom floor that would keep his tush and knees pain free. Those were readily available and had just been delivered.

Little squishy gnomes and the tiny homes they fit into were due this week. I’d also purchased a shelving unit and a variety of colored baskets that fit into each slot to store his toys in. Just to be silly, I bought a gnome wind chime to hang on our porch opposite the bird feeder.

How was it that I was having just as much fun with this as I knew Roen would?

I’d fully embraced this Daddy side of me and slid right into it. It just felt right, especially with my happy little Sprite by my side.

“A gnome garden.” How had I not thought of that before?

In the winter it would be covered in snow, but I bet my Sprite would enjoy the flowers during the summer.

They even had solar figures that lit up at night.

Oh, my goodness, 3-D gnome puzzles like building blocks and a handheld one that farted bubbles.

I could already hear my sweet boy’s giggles during tubby time.

Who knew they had bathtub gnome toys. My boy will be in gnome heaven.

Added to an already overflowing online shopping cart I’d come back to later. I had a tendency to overfill, then return to edit and make final choices.

“I have one of those at home. They’re so much fun.”

“Good lord, you scared the daylights out of me.” I hadn’t heard the bell over the door chime when the young girl came in. “I’m sorry, how can I help you?”

“Mrs. Sally asked if we could have a fire and s’mores tonight.”

“Absolutely. I’ll get it going when you break for dinner.”

“Yay!” she cheered. “Thank you, Mr. Kyler.” Pleased with the answer, she skipped out the door and returned to her waiting friends. I might’ve missed my calling all these years buried behind spreadsheets and numbers. Bringing joy to others brought even more to me.

I set an alarm on my phone for it and got back to work, happy to see that once I plugged in the final numbers from our first week of business that last week’s event had indeed turned a profit.

It pleased me to no end that Ms. Vivienne and I had scheduled an event for next summer with littles and pets.

I felt like such a fool once I’d learned about pet play but was excited to see it in action for the first time.

My eyes had been opened to a whole new world in such a short period of time. Who knew there were lifestyles filled with so much fun and frivolity out there?

When my phone alarm chimed I shut down for the night, locked the office and proceeded to start the firepit.

Once the blaze was going I grabbed the lidded tub of s’mores treats from the kitchen pantry and took them out.

I’d learned the hard way to make sure there were lids on everything, or those sneaky squirrels found their way inside.

Heck, I’d even caught a couple trying to pry the lids off but with the guests making their way over there’d be too many eager eyes for the pesky rodents to so much as try to sneak their way in tonight.

“Thank you, Mr. Kyler,” the group of girls thanked me.

“You are very welcome. Have Mrs. Sally text me when you’re done so I can put the fire out.” Having our Wi-Fi extend across the grounds was genius. Then if our guests had no cell reception after hours, they could utilize it to contact me if I wasn’t within sight.

After dinner I laid down the foam puzzle floor pieces in the new playroom.

By the time that was done, the text came through that the girls were off to bed.

With the fire out and me now smelling of smoke, I showered and got ready to call Sprite to read his nightly bedtime story to him.

He had left his books here, so I picked one I hadn’t yet read.

“Hello sweet Sprite, what’s all that giggling I hear?” Multiple female voices were in the background, but his wide smile said it was all good fun.

“Daddy! I’m at my besties house, Donna, and I’m playing with Journey and guess what?”

“What?”

“We’re having a sleepover!” He turned the phone toward them, and they both waved. “That one’s Journey, and that’s Donna. Say hi to daddy.”

“Hi Daddy Kyler!” They shouted.

“Hello, it’s wonderful to meet you both. Are you having fun?” Roen and Journey’s heads bobbed. “That’s good. No story time tonight then?”

“Yes please!” Donna called out and I laughed.

“You have a lot of energy in that room.”

“You have no idea, Kyler. When these two get together all you know what breaks out. Let me get them into their sleeping bags before you start. Then you can read to them both.”

“Yay!” They cheered and somehow during the mad scramble to get tucked in, the phone ended up in Donna’s hands.

“So, you’re the great Daddy?”

“And you’re the great best friend.”

“Touché. I’m gonna miss him but that boy is head over heels crazy for you.”

“He’s not alone. Roen is everything I never knew I wanted but now can’t live without. You and Journey are welcome to visit anytime, I hope you know that.” And I meant it. They were important to Roen and by extension were important to me now.

“We will definitely take you up on that. I hear there’s a big Christmas shindig at your place this year.”

“There is, and we’ll be expecting both of you.” I loved her no-nonsense attitude already. This was going to be a Christmas to remember and I for one couldn’t wait.

“We’ll be there. Your boy is doing gimme hands, so I better pass off the phone. I’m gonna take a few minutes to myself and let you take over.”

“Hopefully you’ll return to two snoring littles.” Donna’s maniacal cackle as she handed the phone off said she knew better than to hope for that.

“Okay, Daddy, we’re ready.”

“I see Gnomey but where is Otis?” It looked like the two of them had set up a make-shift fort in the living room they were currently perched under.

“Here you go,” Donna handed it to him. “He missed the cave.”

“Thanks, Donna.” He held up the infamous stuffie. “Here he is, Daddy.”

“Alright, little ones, are we ready?”

“Ready, set, go Daddy!”

Animation was amped up with an audience as I read and used silly voices and hand gestures.

They wound down a bit, only an occasional yawn managed to slip out.

They were settled, but not quite ready to pass out.

I hoped Donna had a movie loaded they could dive right into and hopefully be asleep by the end of.

“Thank you, Daddy. I miss you.”

“I miss you too, Sprite, but I’m glad you’re having fun. Now, be good for Donna and remember Daddy loves you.”

“Love you too, Daddy. Night.”

He disconnected the call, and a piece of my heart went missing. Roen was having a great time, and I was thrilled for that, but the distance was a challenge.

Even more reasons to make his homecoming as memorable as possible.

“Good morning, Mr. Kyler,” a couple of the girls said as they passed me by. “We’re going on a scavenger hunt.”

“Good morning, ladies. I bet that will be a lot of fun. There is a lot of wildlife to see. I wouldn’t be surprised if you spot a deer or two.”

One of the girls held up a sheet of paper and read from it. “That’s one of the items on here. Come on, I want to beat the rest of the troop.”

What a genius idea and one I’d add to the next outing a guest asked me to plan. This land was a plethora of untapped resources right at our fingertips. My mind ran rampant to the point I started jotting the ideas down in a notebook. Many of which would be added to our website.

Next week’s supply order was placed right as this week’s delivery arrived.

“Good morning, Kyler,” our usual driver, Gordon, said as I met him outside.

“Not too much this time.” Poor guy’s first delivery here was a palletized truckload.

Keep in mind, we don’t own a pallet jack.

Likely wouldn’t roll well over the uneven terrain if we did.

Thankfully, Mark let me utilize a couple of his crew members to help break it down, though it still took a couple of hours to complete.

This load would be a hell of a lot easier.

Between Gordon and I, it was unloaded in no time, which was the opposite of how long it took for me to get it all put away.

My car was parked in its usual spot behind the office next to the tool shed.

Mark’s makeshift tool storage wasn’t big by any means and with Roen bringing his back he’d need a bigger place to store them.

Not to mention a place for both of us to park.

Last winter it wasn’t fun trying to start frozen, snow-covered vehicles, and that’s when the idea struck.

Me: What would it take to build a workshop that we could also park in?

Mark: Not much. Quick set of plans drawn up. What did you have in mind?

Me: Two or Three car garage, workbenches and tool storage to the back. Maybe connected to the existing tool shed?

Mark: Before you ask, I’ll put the material numbers together for you to analyze.

Me: You know me well, my friend.

All too well, and I hoped he knew how much I valued our friendship.

Mark: That’s what family is for. We take care of each other.

Well, that answered my question.

Me: Love ya, brother.

Mark: Right back at cha.

With that ball rolling, and one Roen should likely be a part of, I shifted to a new spreadsheet.

Yes, I had more spreadsheets than Microsoft.

But I wanted to pull off the best family Christmas possible, and there were a lot of bodies and moving components to this one.

The merging of families, if you will, and with that came the added weight for perfection.

As I plugged the names into the spreadsheet, you couldn’t wipe the grin from my face.

For the adults, excluding Roen and Journey, of course, I would propose a gift exchange where we each picked a random name to buy for.

For my nieces being the only children, they’d be sent home with a carload of goodies and the same would likely go for Journey.

Mark had already spoken with his family, and with everyone confirmed, I placed an order for stockings but forewent having the names pre-placed on them. I thought it would be fun for Roen and I to make them together. Even if it did involve glitter.

Couldn’t be too big of a mess with just one little, right?

Second guessing myself, I opted for glitter pens.

Crisis averted, though I’m still not quite sure I understood the whole glittergheddon as Richard had put it. But considering every mommy and daddy warned me it was best to play it safe. I couldn’t imagine being angry with Roen for anything and planned to keep it that way.

Unless it came to his safety. That was non-negotiable.

As the week moved on, I did my best to keep busy between calls and texts with Roen. Given the amount of work to tackle not only with the campsite but in setting up his room, that was easily achieved.

I ran into town to pick up a few things along with groceries for the apartment that were just for Roen.

Some of his favorite foods I’d learned of last week.

While I was there, I checked in with a few of the local businesses, who in turn thanked me for the increase in foot traffic.

Building relationships is one of the best ways to build your business.

During these visits I was apprised of a handful of projects Mark and Roen had slated.

I only hoped it wasn’t too much for Roen, but that was something I’d keep an eye on.

If Mark had to hire another set of hands we’d gladly provide a cabin for them to stay in if need be, but I didn’t want my boy to be overworked.

Added to the to-do list was to put together a discounted package to offer to the local business owners if they ever wished to book with us. We’d love to have them and show them what our park was all about.

For now, I had a boy coming home in less than twenty-four hours which meant my overexuberant ass wasn’t sleeping tonight. Thankfully tomorrow I’ll be busy with checkouts, so I won’t count every minute as it ticks by.

Right, no use lying to myself. From the moment he tells me he hit the road, my eyes will be glued to the clock.