She was drawn to the side porch every five or ten minutes to see how Simon was doing. He and Flynn were a team against Caleb and the younger boys, which seemed pretty fair, considering Flynn was the best and Simon was just learning.From the laughter and jibes that were flying between the two teams, it appeared that Simon was fully enjoying himself. The sight blessed Lorabeth’s heart to no end. Just the fact that her father had accepted the invitation still astounded her. They’d been on pathetically few visits to other people’s homes during her growing-up years, and she didn’t remember ever getting to join in the families’ leisure activities. Leisure was synonymous with idle hands, and the Holdridge siblings knew how their father felt about idle hands.Flynn looked over, spotted her and waved. Simon turned his attention, too. She gestured for him to come and raised the hem of her skirt to descend the stairs.“I haven’t got one to actually hook on to the stake yet, but I’ve struck it several times.”
