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“Why don’t I just walk with you now?”
—:—
“We could order out,” Monk suggested as they walked two houses over.
“I really do make good pizza.”
“You were blindsided.”
“I know how to say no, Monk.”
He smiled. “Based on how well-behaved your girls are, you must be very good at it.”
Saylor smiled too. “Thank you. I think.”
“It was a compliment.”
“It isn’t easy, I can tell you that. Yachats is a very small place, and there aren’t many divorced families in it. I think sometimes having only one parent is harder on them than they’d ever admit to me.”
He put his hand on her shoulder, unable to resist touching her. “You?
??re a good mom.”
“I’m sorry I haven’t been around much.”
“Don’t,” he said, stopping to turn her body toward him. “I told you before not to apologize.” He scrubbed his face with his hand. “I like you, Saylor, and I like your girls. I’d consider it an honor to get to know all three of you better.”
“I can’t promise anything.”
“Neither can I.”
SIERRA AND SAVANNAH had been right about how good their mother’s pizza was. She made the dough and the sauce from scratch and then let each of them pick their toppings, most of which were fresh vegetables.
When they finished dinner, Saylor refused to let him help clean up, which left him available to be the third player in Pigmania.
“You have to say it,” pressed Savannah when he rolled all his pigs upside down. “Listen, it goes like this. ‘Soooooie.’ Now you try it.”
Every time he tried, he laughed too hard to get it out. He looked into the kitchen, and Saylor was laughing as hard as he was.
“Oh…my…gosh,” said Sierra, hand on hip as she did so often. “He can’t say it, Savannah, just give him a pass.”
“That means it’s the end of the game and I won,” said Savannah.
“She cheats,” whispered Sierra as she put the game away.
“Bath time, girls,” Saylor said from the kitchen.
“Yes, Mama,” they answered in unison before heading down the hallway.
“They would do well in the south.”
“What do you mean?” asked Saylor, coming to sit on the sofa next to him.
“Their manners.”
“Are you from the south, Monk?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he answered, exaggerating the accent he’d lost years ago.
