A Father's Love

Chapter 9

The lizard stole a peek at the cat-like creature before turning back to fully face it.

Luke had been watching for the past few minutes.

At that moment, Rachel came upstairs. "Liddy, your mom's here," she told the little girl.

"Awww," she moaned.

Luke stood up and wandered over to Rachel. "You can come back and play," he reminded her, grabbing Liddy's jacket from its hook. Liddy went over to slip her arms through as Luke suggested Shelby walk her guest downstairs.

Shelby stood up and joined the others. The four of them headed downstairs where Liddy's mother was waiting.

"Did you have fun?" she asked of her daughter.

"Yeah!" Liddy exploded with excitement. "Can Shelby come over to our house next time?"

Her mother glanced over at Luke, looking between them. "Well, that's up to Shelby's dad."

Luke shrugged, "Fine by me if Shelby wants to." He looked down at Shelby who didn't respond at all.

Shelby ended up, ambushed in a hug by Liddy before she left when her mom told her to say thank you.

"Thank you for letting me play with your toys, Shelby." Shelby let her but did not hug back. Liddy switched over to Luke, hugging him around the legs. "Thank you for letting me come over and play with Shelby, Mister Luke."

"Any time, Liddy." He hugged the kid in return. They said their good-byes before leaving.

Once Liddy and her mom were gone, Luke lifted Shelby onto his side. "Did you have fun, too?"

Shelby nodded which Luke reminded her. "Yes," she said in a whisper.

"Would you like to do that again but at Liddy's house? I would drop you off for an afternoon like Liddy's mom did today and pick you up, afterwards."

Shelby looked away with just her eyes and shrugged.

The following Sunday afternoon Shelby did accept to give it a try. Luke didn't drop her off though. He stayed and talked with Liddy's parents.

Ten minutes had gone by before Liddy came down the stairs, stating Shelby wasn't playing with her. Luke headed up there to see what the problem was. He ended up finding Shelby leaning in the doorway, watching Liddy's brother play a Pokemon game on his TV, in his room.

Luke peeled Shelby away from the door frame and closed the door. "You're here for Liddy, not her brother, remember?" he reminded her.

Shelby nodded up at him since Liddy and her parents had followed Luke up there. Liddy led her down the hall to her bedroom so the adults could return downstairs. However, doing this made everyone realize how both girls had two completely different personalities. Shelby didn't want to do Barbie's hair, or play dress-up, or have a tea party. When Monday came, the two had ended up just sharing crayons together and that was about it. At least Liddy got Shelby out of the cupboard and sitting in her assigned seat.

Shortly after the friendship ended, though, it wasn't long before Shelby found someone else. Two boys who sat across from the girls at their table were discussing a topic that had caught Shelby's attention. They were twins who were named, Ethan and Alan, who were discussing where to find a certain Pokemon in the Gameboy game. Shelby knew where to find it but they didn't. She wanted to say something but couldn't. She finally decided to write the name of the location on the back of her worksheet and showed it to the boys. It was misspelled but they recognized it anyway. The next day, the boys had come to class, thanking Shelby, and asked if she played the games, too.