Short Story-A Writing Surprise-Day 2

Thanks for joining us this week for a short story. If you missed the previous section, read it here.

Why couldn’t he do anything right?
The coffee—it was supposed to be a sweet surprise for her. Fixed exactly the way she liked it. And he knew he’d gotten the ratio of creamer to sugar to roast right because he’d seen the blissful expression on her face as she took another sip.
She hadn’t even said anything about the card. That had been a stupid idea. A poem. Who did he think he was? Wordsworth? Browning? Store-bought would have been a better idea. And maybe flowers.
Well, he still had time to do those, but they’d just wilt while she was gone.
“Dad, are we going?” Benjamin waved a hand in front of Chris’s face.
“Yes. Got your gear?” Chris grabbed his wallet and keys. “Come on, Maddie. Time to drop your brother off at practice.”
“Why can’t I stay home?” She gave him attitude better known for someone a year older.
“Because I don’t trust you.” He motioned with his head for her to head to the truck.
Benjamin filled up the passenger side with his long legs, pads, and helmet. “When can I drive?”
“When you have your permit.” Chris reversed out of the garage. “Have you even been studying for the test?”
“Some.” Benjamin ran his fingers through his hair, combing it over to one side. The curls flopped back into disarray almost immediately, but Chris didn’t tell him. The helmet would mess up any fancy ‘do Benjamin tried to achieve right now anyway.
“Dad, what about Grandma?” Maddie spoke up from the back.

“What about her?”
“You said—”
“I know what I said. And the plan still stands. I’m just going to have to do some finagling to make sure it works now. I had forgotten you had theatre camp this month.” Chris shot her a look in the mirror.
“Well, I don’t know why you’re trying to do all this to surprise Mom. It’s not like she even notices or anything.” Maddie slumped with her arms crossed over her chest.
“You’ll understand when you find someone you love enough to spend the rest of your life with.” Chris pulled up to the field and barely had the truck in park before Benjamin was out and waving over his shoulder.
“Javier is bringing me home.” Benjamin called out before he ran to join his friends.
“Did he ask permission for that?” Maddie asked in a way obvious to show she wanted her brother to get in trouble.
“I’ll let it slide this time. The schedule’s too packed to do anything different.” Chris drove home, listening for the beep to alert him to a message from his assistant. If she couldn’t get that meeting rescheduled, he was sunk.
“Do you have to work this morning, too?” Maddie pouted as Chris grabbed his phone and started scrolling immediately upon getting back in the house
“Do you like to eat?” Chris raised an eyebrow.
“Ugh.” The almost-teen stalked off to do whatever it is she did.
Chris sat down at his desk and pulled up the notes he needed for his morning conference call. Please let the other meeting get rescheduled.

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Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you're enjoying the story. Be sure to swing back tomorrow for the next piece.