“No,” Rainey breathed. “Why is this so hard?” she asked Slater. He shrugged and sat down next to her on the sofa.
“We’re taking a little vacation,” she blurted.
“Are we going to the beach?” Penny asked.
“Sorry, no,” Rainey said.
“Although there is a lake,” Slater said. Penny smiled at him and nodded, seeming satisfied with his answer.
“Can I swim in a lake?” she asked.
“If you like snakes,” Sarah assessed.
“I don’t like snakes,” Penny quickly announced.
“We can go boating or even take out the canoes,” Slater promised.
“That sounds like fun,” Penny agreed.
“What about school?” Jack asked. He was the practical one of the brood.
“I’ve hired you guys a tutor who will come and teach you for a few hours each day,” Slater said. The girls groaned while Jack nodded his little head as if satisfied with his answer.
“When will we leave?” Sarah asked.
“In the morning, after I go in to talk with your principal,” Rainey said. “How do you guys feel about this?” she asked. He knew that she would be worried about her kids' mental as well as physical well-being. She was such a good mom.
“Yeah,” they all shouted together.
“Where are we going?” Jack asked.
“Up to my new cabin. I just bought it and I’m not going to lie—I’m going to need each of you to help me with fixing the place up. How are you three with power tools?” he asked.
Sarah giggled, “We aren’t allowed to use them,” she insisted.
“I’m old enough to use them, right Mom?” Jack asked.
“Um, maybe a drill, but I think we should stay away from powers saws or anything too sharp, son,” Rainey said.
“All right,” Jack groaned. “I can use a drill,” he said, looking hopefully at Slater.
“Well, I think that we can work with that, Jack. You will be my number one drill guy, how’s that?” Slater asked. The little guy shot him a smile that had made him want to call his own son. Being with Rainey’s kids had that effect on him. He seemed to miss having a little one around more than he thought he would—especially since Derrick’s teenage years weren’t exactly the easiest.
His son was in and out of trouble. Hell, he even got arrested once for underage drinking and Slater wanted to throttle him, but he didn’t. He left that kind of thing for his ex to handle. Gina seemed better equipped to handle their son when he found himself in hot water, but then, he just didn’t want to deal with Derrick when he acted out. It was one of the things that he’d go back to change if he could. Slater felt bad that he had checked out of his son’s life while he was a teen, just because he was more trouble than Slater felt capable of dealing with. Maybe he felt that Rainey’s kids were his second chance to make things right, or maybe they were just slowly steeling little pieces of his heart. Either way, he planned on sticking around for as long as they’d all have him.