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"Your mom's here, girls!"
Stephanie stood by her car in the fading sunlight, hands on hips, her long hair immaculately styled. "Good weekend?" she asked.
"Not bad," I replied.
Her eyes narrowed. "Wait. Is that a smile?"
"From me? Not a chance."
She returned the smile. "Looks good on you, Cole. You should try it more often. Makes you look younger."
"The girls saw Ethan and Dad today. Played with Ava. Rhea opened up a little about what happened at school. Seems like she wanted to play ball with some boys, but they wouldn't share because she's a girl."
Steph grimaced. "Poor thing. Glad she opened up. Well done."
I didn't mention that it had been Elara who got through to Rhea. "Ah, you know, all it took was some ultra-spicy chili torture."
Just then, Elara appeared, walking Anthony. She waved to us cheerfully.
I clenched my jaw.
Steph waved back at her. After Elara was inside, she turned to me. "Is that Patrick's daughter?"
"Yeah," I said, doing my very best impression of an innocent person. "She's back to fix up her dad's old bar."
"What's she going to do with it?"
"Just sell it on, I think. She's going to pastry school in New York."
"Ambitious, huh?"
It was a triggering word for me. Memories of past arguments bubbled to the surface. I quietened them. "Yep. Very ambitious."
"Cute, too."
"You think so?"
Smooth as fucking sea urchin, Cole.
She gave me a knowing look. "Be careful, Cole."
Was everyone I knew a mind reader?
"Be careful how?"
Steph didn't look away. "Say, did you manage to fix that leak? Bryce said he spoke to you about it."
Fuck. No, of course I hadn't fixed the fucking leak. I was too busy with everything else. Elara. The bar. The girls. Going to family dinners. Avoiding fixing the leak.
"Yep. Sure. Fixed it."
The sound of scampering feet. "You haven't!" Ah. There was Lexi the Betrayer.
"I have!"
"Nuh-uh. This morning you said, 'I've got to fix the leak and the fuse box.'" She skipped to the car with Rhea, looking like an evil pixie.
Stephanie's eyes widened. "So, you've got electrical issues and potential water ingress?"
