Missing Pieces (28 page)

“Aw, Griff,” whined Roger. “Can't her mother do that? We've been planning this for months.”

“No, no. A girl needs her
daddy,
don't she, Calli? A daddy she can rely on to help her through those tough times. Her daddy should be there for her, don't you think, Rog? So Calli's gonna spend some time with her good ol' daddy, whether she wants to or not. But you want to, don't you, Calli?”

Calli's stomach wrenched tighter with each of her father's utterances of the word
daddy.
She longed to run into the house and wake up her mother, but while Griff spewed hate from his mouth toward Calli when he'd been drinking, he'd never actually really hurt her. Ben, yes. Mom, yes. Not Calli.

“I'll just throw my stuff in your truck, Rog, and meet up with you at the cabin this afternoon. There'll be plenty of good fishing tonight, and I'll pick up some more beer for us on the way.” Griff picked up his green duffel and tossed it into the back of the truck. More carefully he laid his fishing gear, poles and tackle into the bed of the truck. “I'll see ya soon, Roger.”

“Okay, I'll see you later then. You sure you can find the way?”

“Yeah, yeah, don't worry. I'll be there. You can get a head start on catching those fish. You're gonna need it, 'cause I'm going to whip your butt!”

“We'll just see about that!” Roger guffawed and squealed away.

Griff made his way back to where Calli was standing, her arms wrapped around herself despite the heat.

“Now how about a little bit of
daddy
time, Calli? The deputy sheriff don't live too far from here, now, does he? Just through the woods there, huh?” Her father grabbed her by the arm and her bladder released, sending a steady stream of urine down her leg as he pulled her toward the woods.

Copyright © 2009 by Heather Gudenkauf

ISBN-13: 9781488010194

Missing Pieces

Copyright © 2016 by Heather Gudenkauf

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