Beckett (Robinson Destruction #4) - Kathi S. Barton Page 0,53
dad has a trip in mind for them to take with him. I don’t have all the details, but then I trust him as much as I do you.”
“Thank you. My dad is planning to take them on a whole day fishing trip. He’s hoping they enjoy it so much that they’ll want to keep doing it with him.” Allie told him she’d never been. “Apparently, neither have the kids. But it might not be a complete wash for him. Dad would fish every day if he could. Mom would kill him, simply because he is that good at it. But she’d have to get a bigger freezer if he were to catch more than they could eat.”
“I wouldn’t even know how to take a fish off the hook, much less catch one. But I do love fresh fish. It has a taste so much different than the frozen stuff that I could have it daily. Okay, not daily, but perhaps every other day.”
Beck told her about the one and only fishing trip that Dad had taken all of them on. “He was either baiting hooks, taking them out of one of us, or keeping us from tipping the boat. When I look back on that, it’s a small wonder that he didn’t drown us all. Mom would have been upset, but Dad, we really put him through a hard time that day.” Beck laughed. “I don’t think we caught a single fish. Thatcher ended up getting three hooks in his head. I think Dawson got soaked twice when we tipped the boat. I really think we should try it again with Dad. Do you think he’d take us?”
“Doubtful. It sounds to me like you made him not want to do anything with the six of you at once ever again—your poor dad. I can see him, too, getting frustrated with you guys. Trying hard to be patient with you.” She laughed. “I do think your mom would have enjoyed you guys taking more trips with your father. I doubt there was ever any peace for her when you guys were all home.”
“No. And even when we started to leave home, she still had to contend with us. One of us would need her help with something or another. Most of the time, it was how to cook something, or even for us to come by with a laundry issue. Mom taught us all how to take care of things like that, but an odd thing would pop up unexpectantly.”
Allie listened to all his stories about his parents and family. The Robinsons, a family that she loved being a part of, seemed to get along better than most families. She didn’t think it was wholly due to them being cats, either. They just loved each other that much. And that hard. Even the in-laws, the other women, loved as they did.
When they made their way back home, she realized how exhausted she was. There were several messages on her service, nothing that she was going to deal with tonight. Even Beck had a few of his own that he left for tomorrow.
“I’m thinking before it gets too much later in the year, we should decide if we’re going to put in an outbuilding for the lawn things or just store it in the barn that we have now.” She asked him why he thought of that now. “I have no idea. I was just thinking that we might want to invest in a larger barn so the kids can store their cars in there. Just now, it occurred to me that they’ll have to not want to drive for us to be storing their cars. I never went anywhere that didn’t involve me driving when I got my first car.”
“Your mom told me that you all had to pay half for your first cars.” He said that was right. “Then, since it worked out so well for you guys, I see no reason to make our kids do anything less. I know that Conor has a job now, and Holly will have one when she’s old enough. Anna did mention to me tonight that she thought that Holly was responsible enough to babysit for the family.”
“I thought she’d enjoy the kids.” Allie thought of the message she’d gotten from Holly and nearly cried again. “Don’t be getting all mushy with me, my love. I don’t think I can handle your tears tonight. I love you so very much.”