A Father's Love

Chapter 21

Over the next few days, Shelby continued to decline her mother's calls and when a postcard she had sent arrived, Shelby paid no mind while Luke read it aloud to her, asking if she could go play, afterwards. She still did not want to go to school, even though Luke had a talk with Mrs. Avery, who hadn't noticed anything, but would keep an eye out. He couldn't help notice how much Shelby was withdrawing again and only wanted to curl up on her pillow and play her game. Luke thought it would cheer her up when he stopped by the bank to deposit her latest allowance and saw Shelby finally had enough money for her game console.

He sat down on the bed and leaned back against the pillows. When he told her the good news, a smile appeared on her face. "How about Sunday, after Lorelai brings you back, we head for the store?"

Shelby nodded. "Okay," she replied softly.

"I was thinking, if you don't have enough for a game, I would pay for it?" Luke also suggested. Shelby grew very excited to hear that. "I am so proud of you for sticking with this, kiddo. You did extra good, working downstairs and saving your allowance even when you wanted those other games."

"Ta' ta nex' ting I wan' to save for," she told her dad.

He smiled. "Is it now?"

Shelby nodded and scooted closer to lie against his shoulder. She then changed the subject, wanting to show her dad, her team at the moment.

"What happened to Pikachu?" he asked. "I thought he was on your team."

"He was. Pikachu no evolve. I try to use a 'tone to evolve him to Raichu, but ta game no le' me. So I pur him away in ta PC."

Luke nodded, "Oh, so Pikachu got benched?"

She nodded in return.

"I thought you loved Pikachu, though?"

"I do, bu' Raichu is be-ter in ba-toe." He had noticed the T sound at the end of a word was also hard for her to say, including the end of syllables.

"Raichu's better in battle than Pikachu is?" he repeated for clarity, which she nodded. Luke reached for where Pikachu laid on the bed nearby and looked at the toy, "Sorry, pal. Even the best of us get benched," making Shelby giggle.

Jess had walked into the apartment at that moment, overhearing the guy. He stopped to question, "Are you talking to a toy?"

Luke shot up, tossing Pikachu over beside where Shelby was sitting. The toy landed near Maggie, the stuffed kitten. "What? No."

"Really? Because it sure looked like it."

He just ignored the boy and turned back to Shelby to have her go bring him her backpack so he could check her homework folder. Every school day, Shelby brought home papers for him to read and sign that kept him up-to-date on how she's doing and what they accomplished that day, with comments from Mrs. Avery. Luke faintly remembered the ol' homework folder. He remembers bringing it to his mother, more, as there were some days he wouldn't want his own father to see. So far, Shelby didn't have any bad days yet, and he wasn't expecting one anytime soon, if at all.

Or so he thought...

The following day, Shelby left for school with Lorelai, then eventually, Jess also left for school. Things seemed to run smoothly through the morning. Luke had to run some errands in the afternoon, so he missed the phone call from the school. Still out when it was time for Shelby to get out, he headed straight to the school parking in the loading zone. Once he got out and looked around for her class, he spotted them. Luke couldn't help notice there wasn't a baseball cap among the many heads. His first thought was, Oh, God, she's back in the cupboard!