Ryleigh ran out the kitchen, leaving her bickering parents in her wake. She opened the front door and ran down the wheelchair ramp. Keenan stopped walking up the driveway and held his arms open for Ryleigh to jump in.
She crossed her legs behind his back and kissed him stupid. Between kisses she said, “I can’t believe it… that’s why you didn’t call… I’ve missed you so much.”
He laughed against her lips. When he cradled her face with his hands, he said, “We’ve got a surprise for you.”
“We?”
She looked around the driveway to find Tommy smiling at her like the cat that got the cream.
“I’ve had a talk with Tommy this morning.”
“You did?”
She furrowed her brows. “Weren’t you in New York this morning?”
“Nope.”
She looked sideways and eyed Tommy. “Weren’t you at your Grandma’s?”
Tommy giggled. “No.”
She wiggled in Keenan’s arms, needing some space. What had he been up to? He let her down this time.
“You boys have some explaining to do.”
Keenan winked at Tommy before he said to her, “We’ll get right to it. But first, we need you to come with us.”
Tommy hugged her waist and said, “Yeah, we have a surprise, Dad is—”
“Tommy Aiden Mills. It’s supposed to stay a surprise.”
Tommy looked down at his tennis shoes and mumbled, “Sorry.”
She felt sorry for Tommy, as he obviously was so excited that he couldn’t help himself. She took his hand in hers and squeezed. “Come on, boys. I can’t wait to see your surprise.”
“Okay, this is for you.” Tommy took out a sleeping mask from his back pocket of his jeans.
“This is getting better and better. I’m definitely going to be surprised now, sweetie.”
Tommy beamed up at her while blindfolding her with the green sleeping mask.
Keenan guided her into the truck and before he closed her door, her dad shouted, “Let me know what the surprise was, Ry. We’re not sleeping tonight until you’ve called us.”
“I will, Dad.”
“Love you!”
She wanted to reply, but she heard the door shut. Tommy said from behind her, “This is awesome. I wanted to tell you so bad, Ryleigh. I can’t believe that I got to see—”
Ryleigh brought her hands to her ears and said, “La-la-la-la”
“Right. Sorry.”
Keenan got behind the wheels if she heard the rustling right.
A big calloused hand engulfed her hand and lifted it over the console. Keenan’s beard tickled the back of her hand before he kissed it.
“I know this all must seem weird, but Tommy and I had a lot of fun planning this, ain’t that right, son?”