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“Nice to see you,” he muttered.
He had a nice voice, though.
Yum.
“You, too,” I said, then shrugged. “Dinner, Dad? I don’t have much time. You should’ve called before coming over.”
My dad gave me a squeeze. “I didn’t come to see you, baby. I came to see Slate.”
I stiffened and pulled out of his arms. “You didn’t.”
Dad’s eyes were crinkled at the edges.
“You were the one to give me him.” He tried to make this all right.
“He sprayed me with the sprinklers!” I cried out, this time waving my arms as if it would help.
Dad sighed. “You were on his property.”
The man that was now very much paying attention to me snorted.
I narrowed my eyes. “If you do this, I’ll never make you another peanut butter and honey sandwich again.”
Dad look amused. “It’s already done, baby.”
I opened my mouth, then closed it.
Opened it again, made a sound of frustration, then started marching toward my car.
I stopped halfway, turned, and looked at my dad who wasn’t looking at me.
Slate was, though.
So was his friend, Bayou.
I narrowed my eyes at them, then decided.
Two could play at this game.
Heading inside, I walked over to Dre, who was busy sitting on the couch looking mighty forlorn.
“Come on,” I said as I walked past him. “You’re going to dinner with me. But first, you’re going to show me how to work this goddamn sprinkler system.”Chapter 4Excuse me while I go slip into something more alcohol.
-Coffee Cup
Slate
“My married neighbor bugs the absolute shit out of me,” I found it prudent to say.
Izzy, who was busy pulling her kids out of the car, paused and turned to look at the neighbor’s house.
“Harleigh?” she asked. “Are you talking about that one over there?”
I looked to where she was pointing and nodded.
Faintly I heard a car approaching, and knew that it had to either be she who shall not be talked about, or the neighbor who’d had a moving truck over yesterday. I was seriously hoping it was the moving neighbor, because I didn’t want to see her.
“She’s not…”
Astrid came running to me, interrupting what was about to be said by her mother.
The way she did it, however, was by running toward the street to ease around the vehicle her mother had parked in front of.
I felt my heart lurch into my throat, and I started around the truck just in time for Astrid to screech her happiness at seeing me.
At first, our relationship hadn’t been such a happy one.
Astrid had been scared to death of me.
But, over time, Astrid had slowly warmed up to me, and by the end of my stay there, we’d come to be great friends.
“Hey, baby,” I said, scooping her up and pulling her into my chest.
My eyes met Izzy’s, and we exchanged an ‘oh my God’ look together.
I turned to look at the car that, vaguely, I’d heard screech to a stop the moment that Astrid had darted out into the road.
It was her.
I gave her a chin lift and turned back to Astrid who was busy animatedly telling me about her day.
“Wait, wait,” I said as I walked back to the front driveway. “Start over and tell me what you just said again.”
“I have a boyfriend!” she repeated enthusiastically.
I looked over at Izzy who only rolled her eyes.
“A new boy showed up at the daycare today,” she explained.
Well, actually what it sounded like was ‘a new boy something something something something day,’ but Izzy helpfully translated for her daughter.
I grinned and winked at Izzy, who was rolling her eyes at her daughter’s excited babbling.
I only caught every other third word, but eventually I got the gist of her new friend being a boy. And him being ‘cute.’
Well, as long as ‘coot’ meant cute, that was.
“You got the other one?” I asked, gesturing to where Izzy was trailing behind.
In answer, Izzy handed me the car seat, a look of relief crossing over her face as she did.
“Thanks,” she murmured. “I strained my shoulder at work yesterday, and now I can barely hold anything heavy. I’ve been trying to use the other arm, but now that arm is getting sore from all the heavy lifting.”
I was about to open my mouth to scold her for not telling me at first, but Astrid wriggled in my arms.
I set her down and she ran toward the hammock, throwing herself at it.
I watched in horror as the hammock spun.
Astrid, holding on to it for dear life, went ass over tea kettle and ended up on the other side, on her back, staring up at the sky.
It’d all happened so fast that I hadn’t even had the chance to tell her no.
Then the crying started, and I felt like my heart broke a thousand times.
Before I could get to her, though, that woman who I’d been studiously avoiding made it to her, picked her up, and looked at her.
