Page 48 of Twins for Three Bad Boys

My chest warms.

I guide Evan over, and he climbs onto the bench eagerly.

Millie leans in immediately, eyes bright. “Okay, emergency. I need your opinion.”

Evan gasps. “Emergency?”

Millie nods solemnly. “The most serious kind.”

She flips her tablet around. “What do you think about my designs?”

Evan points instantly. “That one’s scary.”

Millie bursts out laughing. “You think?”

I grin, settling in. “It kinda looks like it’s about to ask me for spare change outside a gas station.”

Millie clutches her chest. “You might be right about that.”

Evan giggles. “Spare change.”

Millie leans toward him. “Do you have any spare change?”

Evan shakes his head seriously. “I only have dinosaur money.”

Millie gasps dramatically. “Even better.”

For the next half hour, we talk and laugh and drink coffee while Evan demolishes a cookie Lorna gives him “for being the fiercest dinosaur in town.” Millie shows me more of her art, and I find myself genuinely absorbed, offering ideas without even thinking.

It feels easy.

At some point, Millie says, “Oh! There’s a Friday night bonfire party next week, June. You should come.”

My heart lifts instantly. “Yeah?”

Millie nods. “It’s fun. Everyone goes. There’s food and music and kids running wild, and it’s basically an excuse for the town to be nosy together. And drink as well, obviously.”

I laugh. “That sounds… interesting.”

“It is,” Millie agrees cheerfully. “Very. In a good way. And it’s like, the best way to meet people without it being weird.”

I nod quickly. “I’d love to come.”

The words come out too eagerly, but somehow, I don’t care.

And then, an unwelcome thought slips in.

Will Wayne be there?

Will I see him again outside the work environment? And if so, how the hell will we act around one another?

The questions sit in my chest, heavy with uncertainty.

I don’t know what Wayne does outside being Evan’s dad, the boss at work, the man who won’t look at me for too long. I never know what he’s thinking. And I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with the part of me that wants to find out.

CHAPTER TEN

Fletcher