Chapter Five
Adam picked up his lunch box and realized he still hadn’t eaten his apple from lunchtime. The afternoon had turned out to be really busy and they hadn’t even had time for a tea break mid-afternoon.
As he was very hungry and he had at least a ten minute walk home, the apple was a welcome find.
“Night Mick, night Tom. See you in the morning.” He left the other two to lock up, and started his walk back to his wife and children. His initial concern about the lack of work had disappeared after the afternoon they’d had. They were now booked up with work for the next week.
And he had lasagna for dinner. Life didn’t get much better than that.
William and Jake were still at school. It was an after-school club designed to look after children of working parents, so they didn’t have to worry about paying for childcare or having a family member come and collect them. It was ideal for Adam and Louise, as they didn’t always need to use it, depending on what shifts Louise was working at the hospital. It also meant the boys could play with their school friends for longer.
It was a lovely June evening, warm but not too much, an ideal night for sitting in the garden reading a book or playing soccer with the boys. On the short walk home from school Adam asked them what their plans were between now and bedtime.
“I’ve got some homework,” said William, sounding a little down about the prospect.
“And I’ve got a book to read,” said Jake, proudly holding up his reading book.
“Then you can read it to me while we wait for the lasagna to heat up.”
As soon as they got home Adam got the lasagna out of the fridge and put the oven on. Once he had put the dish in the oven he called Jake and they sat down in the living room next to each other.
“Right then, let’s see how well you can read.”
“OK Dad.”
It had been a while since Adam had heard Jake read, and he couldn’t believe how well he was doing. With the exception of a couple of words he read the whole book without any help, so they then sat and looked at the pictures, using their imagination to expand the story from what he had just read.
William was sitting at the dining room table doing his homework.
“How are you doing, Will?” Adam asked, looking up from Jake’s book.
“Not bad. I’d be doing better if you two weren’t making so much noise,” he said, a little grumpily.
“Sorry. We’ll try and keep the noise down. Actually, I’ll go and check on dinner. Jake, you read the book to yourself while I’m gone.”
What Adam forgot was that, being only six, Jake still had to read out loud, so it wasn’t really any help for William.
The lasagna was looking nice and brown already. It had only been in for half an hour, and Louise had said it should take forty-five minutes. Concerned it might burn, he turned the oven down a little, and then started to get ready to serve. Plates, glasses, cutlery, paper napkins. If Louise were here she’d have the boys do that part, but as they were busy doing their homework he left them to it. There was no point in disturbing them now.
There was a small pile of unopened mail on the counter. Two looked like junk, one was addressed to Louise, and the last was addressed to ‘The Parents of William Wells’, which he opened and took out the letter inside. It was from their dentist, advising them that William was overdue for a check-up, and could they call as soon as possible to book an appointment. He’d have to check with Louise with her schedule and see if she would be able to take him after school one day. Although thinking about it, Adam probably needed a check-up as well, and it would make sense for them both to go together. He could ask the dentist about having a missing tooth replaced.
