In Love with a Single Farmer-Daddy novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: Dummy

Roscoe pulled the truck over onto the shoulder of the gravel road.

He turned around in his seat.

"Hey, Bug," he said gently. "That was a good note. You hum all you want."

Posy didn't take her hands off her mouth.

She was staring at his chest.

At the place where his heart was.

"Daddy's fine," I said. "Look. He's right here."

Roscoe reached back and touched her boot.

"I'm fine, Bug."

Then, slowly, she took her hands down and put them in her lap, and she didn't make another sound the rest of the way home.

She watched him all afternoon.

When he went out to feed, she stood at the kitchen window until he came back.

When he coughed at supper, she put down her fork and didn't pick it up again.

When he sat in his chair and fell asleep with his boots still on, she crept over and stood beside him with her hand an inch over his chest, not touching, until it rose and fell.

"What is she doing?" Roscoe whispered to me later, at the sink.

"I don't know," I said. "She's checking you."

"For what?"

I didn't know that either.

At two in the morning I woke up because the bedroom door was open.

Posy was standing in the doorway in her nightgown, watching her father sleep.

She saw me see her.

She turned and ran back upstairs on bare feet without a sound.

Monday I signed up as a lunch volunteer at Alder Creek Elementary.

The principal looked at the form a long time before she signed it.

"Mrs. Ketchum, the county still has an open case."

"Then the county can watch me pour milk."

The cafeteria was the old gym, with a stage at one end.

Posy came in with her class in a straight line and saw me behind the milk cooler in a hairnet.

She stopped so suddenly the boy behind her walked into her back.

← Chapter 8 · All chapters · Chapter 10 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend