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They both stared at each other and cackled. “Who needs a reason to buy sweets? Even if it wasn’t my birthday if we wanted cake, we’d buy one. Right, Lucy?”
Lucy wiggled her shoulders and tossed one of her hands up all girly. “Yeah. Who needs a reason?” She turned toward Hadley. “Is Bubby going to Dad’s too?”
Hadley shook her head. “Not this time. Just you.”
Lucy frowned. “Not fair.”
“Your daddy wants to see you. Don’t you want to see him?”
Lucy dropped her head and reluctantly said, “Yeah, but I’d rather come back home after I see him.”
“If you get homesick, which I don’t think you will, all you have to do is tell your dad or Meme to call me and I’ll come get you. No matter how late.” Lucy nodded, and Hadley kissed her forehead while Eli reached for Lucy’s ponytail.
Lucy jerked away and huffed. “Bubby won’t stop pulling my hair!”
Hadley snickered. It grew louder when she saw me laughing too. “Lucy, he’s a baby. He doesn’t mean to.”
“Look at him! He’s smiling about it.” Lucy pointed at her baby brother who was grinning at her like she was the sweetest and funniest thing ever. “You always take his side.”
“Give your bubby a kiss and love on him before your dad gets here,” Hadley said before Lucy giggled and rubbed her brother’s head.
“You need to lay off the milk!” Lucy exclaimed.
Hadley sniggered at her again while Lucy stared at me. Since she was on a roll, I feared what she was about to say.
Lucy asked, “Doesn’t he need to stop, Elijah?”
I pretended to think about it before I said, “I don’t know. He appears fat and healthy to me.”
“You two aren’t allowed to be friends if you’re going to pick on Eli before he can even defend himself.” We were all laughing as Hadley grabbed Eli’s hand and cooed. “You’re not fat, my little butterball.”
Okay… “How is butterball better?” I asked with a toothy grin.
“Hush, you don’t understand a mother’s heart.”
“Lucy!”
My smirk vanished as I heard the unfamiliar male voice. Lucy looked up over her shoulder about the same time I saw him too. Lucy’s dad. Like the rest of her family, he was blond and blue-eyed and not very tall. He fit so well with them it made my heart sick.
Lucy stood and walked over to him with happiness lighting up her eyes. Meanwhile, he eyed me the same way I did him. He must have noticed me talking with them. “Who’s this?” His eyes darted over to Hadley who followed Lucy. Her gaze landed nervously on me.
“That’s Elijah. He lives right there.” Lucy pointed at my house cheerfully. “He’s my friend.”
“He is?” He directed his question to Hadley. I didn’t like the slimy way he glared at her like he would give her shit for being around me when I wasn’t there to protect her.
“Make sure you bring her home early,” Hadley told him, ignoring his stony scowl.
“Why don’t I just stay tonight? It’s your birthday tomorrow. Don’t you think Daddy should stay, Lucy?” The fucker was eyeballing me as he suggested it.
I was so angry that I could feel the blood rushing to my face.
Lucy’s gaze darted over to her mother. Hadley’s face was completely red, and she looked like she wanted to say something, but was keeping it all bottled in. “No, I’ll go. Elijah’s watching a movie with us tomorrow, right?” Lucy searched my face for confirmation.
Just like that, my anger dissipated. I grinned down at her. “That’s right. Have fun tonight.”
“I will!” Another grin my way.
Her dad wasn’t happy though. “Can I have a minute, Hadley?”
