I'm not selling. Not now, Maggie. I said no, Travis. Just a firm, plain no. So different from the Maggie of before that even she was surprised by the sound of her own voice.
Travis could tell she wasn't going to give in. He went back to playing with Sam as if nothing had happened. But late that afternoon, he walked past the shed where Isaac kept his tools and stopped in the doorway with a smirk. So fixing a few boards makes you the man of the house now, huh? Isaac didn't even look up from his work.
I'm not the man of anything around here. Travis laughed, pleased with that answer. Then Isaac set down his tool, looked him in the eye, and added calm as could be. Maybe that's why I never needed to take anything from her to stay. The smile slid right off Travis's face, and on the other side of the shed wall, without either of them knowing it, Maggie heard every word.
Travis realized he wasn't going to win Maggie over. Not now. He hung around a few more days, but he was losing patience. He stopped talking about rebuilding the family and started talking about missed opportunities, about people who didn't know a good thing when it landed in their lap. One morning he packed his bag and announced he had to go take care of some things in Charlotte.
Sam dropped his toast on his plate. Daddy, you're leaving again? Just for a little while, bud. I'll be back. But you said you came to stay.
The boy's voice came out small and shaky. You said you weren't ever leaving again. Travis crouched down and smoothed his son's hair. I just need to take care of some things first and then I'll come back for good. I promise.
Sam didn't throw a fit. He didn't cry in front of his father. He just climbed down from his chair, walked into his room, and closed the door. Travis gave Maggie a curt wave, and got in his car. The silver sedan disappeared down the gravel road in a cloud of dust.
And this time, Maggie felt nothing but tired. After his father left, Sam went quiet for days. He'd drift over to the shed where Isaac was working and sit on his same old crate, but he didn't fire off questions like before. Isaac didn't try to comfort him with words. He didn't promise to be better than Travis, and he never said one bad word about the boy's father.
He just kept working, kept the boy close, and every now and then handed him a piece of sandpaper. Until one afternoon," Sam asked very softly. "Are you leaving too?" Isaac stopped hammering and looked at the boy. "When I finish what I promised your mama."
Sam looked over at the house. The porch was done. The roof was done. The fence was standing. All that was left were two windows and the kitchen door.