Great Idea Part III

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Great Idea

Part III

An R.L. Mathewson Chronicle

“Go tell your mom that we need to work on the back roof and to keep the kids away from it so that they don’t get hurt,” his father said, not bothering to glance at him as sorted through his tools while Cole stood there, wondering how this day could get any worse.

“Mom wants us to organize the garage,” Cole pointed out, not because he was looking forward to spending the day cleaning the garage, but because he would rather do that than spend the day on the roof, tearing up shingles in this heat with his father glaring at him.

“And I told you to go tell your mom that we need to fix the roof,” his father said as he continued doing whatever the hell he was doing as Cole resigned himself to spending the day on the roof with his father.

Once upon a time, he would have done anything to spend the day with his dad, but…

“Fine,” Cole said, turning back around and headed inside to find his mother in the kitchen, making frosting with his brother and sister.

Of course, they were making frosting, Cole thought, biting back a sigh as he gestured towards the back of the house. “Dad said that we need to work on the back roof.”

Pushing her glasses back up her nose, his mother frowned. “Is it leaking?”

“I don’t know, but Dad doesn’t want anyone going back there until it’s fixed,” he said, watching as his little brother helped himself to a large spoonful of frosting.

“Okay,” his mother said, sending him a warm smile. “Just be careful, okay?”

“I will,” Cole promised her as he grabbed a couple waters from the fridge and watched his brother make a show of devouring another spoonful of frosting.

Deciding that he’d get him later, Cole headed back to the garage, grabbing his work gloves along the way even as he debated faking his death to get out of this. He’d been hoping to save that for his sister’s dance recital, but he might not have a choice, not if it meant spending the day working on the roof while his father glared at him.

He could easily think of a hundred other things that he’d rather be doing today, Cole thought as he headed outside and made his way toward the large ladder waiting for him. He climbed up and-

“What’s this?” he couldn’t help but wonder when he spotted his father relaxing on a large beach towel spread out on the roof with his shirt off, wearing a pair of sunglasses, and sipping a beer.

“This,” his father said, gesturing towards the other beach towel laid out across the roof, “is fixing the roof.”

“I don’t understand,” Cole said, joining him on the roof.

Chuckling, his father said, “You have so much to learn about being a Bradford,” as he reached into the cooler that Cole hadn’t noticed before. He grabbed a Coke and tossed it to him with a murmured, “Pizza will be here in twenty,” as he took another sip of his beer while Cole stood there, glancing from the ice-cold Coke in his hand to his father and…

Felt his lips pull up into a smile, deciding that spending time with his father might not be so bad after all.