“What first?” he asked, “Swings or the slide?” Over Gable’s shoulder, he mouthed another ‘thank you’ to Lulah, and placed the wriggling child back on the ground. He swept her up against him, pulling her head against his shoulder, wanting to hold her so tight but worried he’d crush her. “Daddy,” she called, raising her arms to be picked up. “Go on get over there,” she said, nudging him away.Īs he turned, Gable came running towards him. This is more than I could ever have hoped for. He wrapped an arm around Lulah, taking her chin and tipping her head up to him. He looked back at Gable again, afraid she’d vanish, scared that maybe this was a dream. He watched her nodding, her mouth tight as if worried she might have made a bad call. Ah…” He glanced back over to Gable then back to Lulah, raising his eyebrows to ask the question he was too afraid to put into words. As he walked towards her, she came to meet him. He chose Lulah, because hell, if this was going to cause a scene, he needed backup. He didn’t know whether to approach them or go to Lulah. She stood alongside Taryn, twiddling with the end of the leash that Taryn held.

It wasn’t the sight of Taryn, who appeared to have stuck at the dog training course over the past few weeks that stopped him in his tracks sending his heart completely wild and flooding him with the most extraordinary warmth. She was notorious for dressing too light for the weather, but she’d even gone for a hat tonight. Clipping the leash to Calliope’s collar, he climbed out of the pickup, gathering a jacket and scarf from his bag on the seat.

The meeting with the lawyer took longer than he’d estimated, which made him overdue for his other appointment that afternoon.

Soul Scars by Tasman Gibb