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“Coins, actually,” I said, lifting out a few rolls of pennies and smiling weakly.
He didn’t appear amused.
3
GREYSON
I sat on the curb outside the general store with an angry, pulsing pain just below my right eye. My long-lashed assailant was still inside, getting me something cold to put on the wound.
Molly stood just in front of me with her hands clasped below her waist and her eyes downcast. Billy had his arms crossed and wasn’t making eye contact.
“Well?” I asked. “Was that as fun as you hoped?” I was mostly asking Billy, and he knew it.
He looked up, eyes glinting with mischief. He had my dark black hair and thick eyebrows. He had the same gray-blue eyes as well and the beginnings of a smile that would probably get him out of all sorts of trouble. Not with me, though. I’d had that same damn smile, and that granted me immunity to its effects.
“I didn’t think you’d get beat up by a girl.”
Molly giggled and clapped her hands. “I think she’s Wonder Woman!” She started flailing her arms around in her best superhero impression, sound effects included. “Pah, wooh, yah!”
“She got the jump on me. That’s all.”
Then I noticed the long, golden tanned legs beside me. I looked up and saw she’d returned with a bag of frozen peas and an amused expression. “This should help.” She handed me the bag.
I shook my head. All my good humor and optimism for my three-month stint in Fairhope was quickly evaporating. Something about getting nearly knocked out by a five-foot-nothing woman felt like a bad omen. In fact, I’d gotten a better look at her after the blow to my head and decided she might hardly even be a “woman.” Girl might’ve been more accurate. She was probably still in college.
I snatched it from her. “Are you usually a swing first, ask questions later kind of person?”
She put her fists on her hips. I couldn’t help noticing the whole picture of her then. Attractive. Her short red hair was cut just below her jawline. She had a heart-shaped face, a freckled, upturned nose, and a generous mouth with straight white teeth. And I needed to stop noticing things like that. The girl was probably more than ten years younger than I was.
“If someone was actually trying to steal your kids, would you want me to politely ask them to stop, or take the one chance I might’ve had?”
I sighed. My throbbing face made me want to be stubborn. I wanted to be pissed at her for hitting me like that. But I counted to five in my head and let my good sense win out. “Fair point. Thank you, I guess. For hitting me in the face…”
She laughed. It was an infectious laugh, and I found myself smiling before I realized it. Damn. That could be dangerous. She’d taken me from boiling and pissed to smiling in just a few seconds.
Billy was grinning like an idiot, so I glared at him. “Stop looking so pleased with yourself. This is your fault, you know.”
“Billy told me you wouldn’t get mad,” Molly said. Then, in typical six-year-old fashion, she changed the subject at break-neck speed. “I want to be a unicorn when I grow up.” She said this to the woman–the girl. She stuck her finger up and planted it on her forehead and let out an impressive neigh. I knew that neigh was only so impressive because she’d spent hours and hours practicing it. In the backseat of my car. In my bed before my alarm rang. Outside the door to the bathroom.
The girl laughed. “I think that’s an awesome dream. You know I used to love My Little Pony when I was a kid? I bet I still have some of my old toys. I could donate them to a fellow unicorn enthusiast, if it’s okay with your daddy.”
Molly looked up at me. “Can I please, daddy?”
“It’s not a good idea to take gifts from strangers. Especially ones who assault your father.”
“I’m Harper Halloday,” she said cheerily. She knelt to shake Molly’s hand. “Now we’re not strangers.”
“I’m Molly Ashford. My middle name is Ruth because that was my grandma’s doggie’s name. But daddy and mommy fought over my middle name and mommy only won because she’s a stubborn, full-headed–”
“And that’s plenty of personal information,” I said, gently sliding my hand over Molly’s mouth.
“Bull-headed,” Billy whispered loud enough for all of us to hear. “It’s not full-headed.”
Molly nodded seriously, mouthing the correct word to herself.
Harper was smirking.
“They’re divorced,” Billy said, and I definitely didn’t like the tone of his voice. He’d said that almost like a suggestion. Or an opportunity.
I turned to narrow my eyes at him and confirmed exactly what the little schemer was thinking. “We should really be going. We’re only here for three months, but we got a small moving truck coming today.” And now I was the one giving this girl more personal information than I should’ve.
