For the next couple of weeks, Nathan, the men and Archie built on the additional room for Archie to stay in. Once the drywall was up, Nathan and Archie were going to finish up together. Nathan and Archie's conversations were broad and mostly consisted of sports or Nathan's case for the row house tenants. Meanwhile, Archie and Allie grew closer. Archie would tell Allie stories about her mother and about her uncle when they were little. When Archie would tell these stories, Nathan wondered where that man was when he was growing up and where did it all go wrong.
Nathan and Archie did tell Allie how sick Archie was. Allie told Archie that she hoped he would make it to Christmas. Archie told her he would pray for that.
It was Friday morning before Thanksgiving break. Allie had gone to school early to finish a project. Nathan was sitting on the front steps of the house, sipping coffee and looking over paperwork when a young man approached him.
"Mr. Grant?" The young man asked.
"Yes?" Nathan said
"Mr. Grant. My name is Robert Wolfe and I go to school with your niece." Robert said.
"Okay. And how can I help you today?" Nathan asked.
"I was hoping to get your permission to take Allie out on a date tomorrow night." Robert said.
Nathan put his coffee down and stood up and walked up to Robert.
"How old are you?" Nathan asked.
"Seventeen." Robert answered.
"And you know Allie is thirteen." Nathan asked.
"Yes sir." Robert said.
"That's quite an age difference." Nathan said.
"Yes sir. But Allie is mature for her age." Robert said.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Nathan said sternly.
"Nothing sir. Just that she isn't like the rest of the girls at school. The other girls at school are more worried about the latest fashion while Allie cares more about school and reading." Robert said.
Nathan didn't say anything but stared at Robert.
"And you can be our chaperone. I would like to take her to the café." Robert said.
"And would you be paying for this dinner?" Nathan asked.
"Yes sir. I have been doing odd jobs around town to make money." Robert said.
Nathan didn't say anything. He could see that Robert was nervous.
"Let me think about it." Nathan said.
"Thank you, sir!" Robert said shaking Nathan's hand and then leaving.
Nathan smiled at himself.
After drinking his coffee, Nathan went into Archie's room who was already in there painting the walls.
"Who was that?" Archie asked.
"One of the boys from Allie's school. He wants to take her on a date." Nathan said.
"And what did you say?" Archie asked.
"I said I would think about it." Nathan said.
"Why?" Archie asked.
"Because Allie is only thirteen and he is seventeen. Allie is only a couple years younger when Colleen met Dylan who was a few years older than her." Nathan said.
"You should just let her go. Let her be independent." Archie said.
"Sorry if I don't defer to your stellar parenting. Maybe if you had been around, Colleen wouldn't have been drawn to Dylan." Nathan said sharply.
Archie put the paint brush down.
"Nathan. I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you or your sister. It is my biggest regret." Archie said.
"Archie. I'm not your Priest. I'm not going to give you absolution. What is done, is done." Nathan said.
Archie left the room. Nathan sighed. After few minutes, Nathan went to find Archie. It didn't take long to find him. Archie was having another cough attack in the backyard. Archie was bent over and coughing.
"Let's go sit down." Nathan said taking Archie's arm and guiding him to a chair. Once Archie was in a chair, Nathan went inside and got water for him. Once Archie drank the water, his coughing started to subside. One of the handkerchiefs fell out of his pocket. Nathan picked it up. He saw blood. Much more than the last time.
"Here you go." Nathan said handing him the handkerchief.
Archie nodded.
Once Archie had stopped coughing, he sat right up in his chair.
"Thanks." Archie said.
Nathan nodded. There was a silence between them.
"Look, Archie, there is so much pent-up anger that I have at you. And I'm trying to chip away at it, but it's difficult. Year after year, the anger built up. It's not going to go away easily." Nathan said.
"After your mother passed, it changed me. The woman that I loved was gone. I messed it up. Even after your mother and I broke up, I never stopped loving her. When she died, I changed my ways. I paid all my gambling debts and started doing legitimate work. And then after your sister died, I broke down and cried. So many years missed because I was selfish. Once Dylan told me about the custody hearing, I knew this was my chance to be part of Allie's life. She is the only person that connects me to Colleen. I'm hoping to build a bond that Allie will remember and cherish. But I'm hoping to make some kind of amends with my son." Archie said.
"It is going to take time. Which isn't on our side." Nathan said.
"I know." Archie said.
The two sat in silence.
"We should go finish painting the room." Nathan said with a smile.
Archie smiled and they both went back and finished painting the room.
Nathan walked over to the school to let Robert know his answer. Robert seemed like a responsible young man who saw Allie as intelligent. Nathan decided that he would chaperone the date.
Nathan approached Robert outside the school.
"Robert." Nathan said approaching him.
"Mr. Grant." Robert said standing up tall.
"You may have dinner with Allie." Nathan said.
Robert let out a big breath.
"Thank you, sir." Robert said shaking his hand.
"Please pick her up at 6:00." Nathan said.
Robert nodded his head and ran over to Allie. When Robert told her the news, her smile grew large and she smiled at Nathan who smiled back at him.
"Looks like someone is happy." Elizabeth said walking up to Nathan.
"Yes. Robert will be taking Allie out on a date." Nathan said.
"I know. I'll be chaperoning." Elizabeth said.
"Wait. Robert asked me to chaperone." Nathan said.
"Allie asked me to chaperone this morning. She said that you said yes to a date if I was going to chaperone." Elizabeth said.
"I think we both got played." Nathan said.
"I guess we'll both be chaperoning." Elizabeth said.
"Don't worry, I'll bring my gun." Nathan said.
Elizabeth laughed.
"I guess it's a date." Elizabeth said with a wink.
"Looks like it." Nathan said.