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Chapter Five
“You have a good day, Mace?” I asked as I drove to the clubhouse.
“Yes!” she called. “Pway with MeeHa, went to pwaygroup!”
I smiled. Macy had come out of her shell over the past few months. I wasn’t sure if it was just her getting older, or if she was finding more confidence with having Harlyn and Jayla around. For a while, she’d been the only kid in the clubhouse. But now my brothers had their daughters there too, and the three of them were a whole lot of trouble.
“Were you nice to the kids at playgroup?” I asked carefully.
“Yes.” Her voice had softened.
“You sure you didn’t call one of the boys a bad word?” There was silence. I looked in the rear vision mirror and met her eyes. Her nose was crinkled. It was cute, but I had to stay serious. “You know bad words are only for adults, don’t you Macy?”
Her lips pursed too, screwing up her whole face as if she’d just sucked on a lemon. “Yes.” Her answer was quiet and low.
She knew. She wasn’t stupid.
Macy was bright.
She went to preschool a few days a week, and to Carly’s on the others. Her teachers there had commented on how vast her understanding was.
“No more bad words?”
“Otay Daddy.”
“Good girl.”
We pulled up to the clubhouse, and I parked my truck. Op had texted just before I’d left Carly’s to say that church was on, so I needed to find someone to keep this kid entertained until I was done.
I caught Blizzard just inside. “Rose or Chel around?”
He shook his head. “They went to pick up Harlyn from school.”
“Harlyn’s back at school?” Harlyn had had some issues at school the last few months. The teachers weren’t doing their jobs, and the kids were little assholes.
“Yeah, none of us really knew what to do with that home-school bullshit she was doing, so Op enrolled her in the public school in town,” Blizzard explained. “No thanks to fucking Sugar.”
I scrubbed my face. Harlyn’s mom, Sugar was off the charts. She’d tried to force Op to keep Harlyn in the school where she was being bullied. Op had pulled his hand and taken over, but so far, Sugar hadn’t made any kind of move to be more involved in her kid’s life.
Nobody knew what the fuck was going on with her, but I hoped someone figured it out soon.
“Damn. I need someone to look after Mace while we’re in church.”
“I’ll do it.” Blizzard and I both looked over to see Hadley stepping out from the kitchen area. She had her sweatshirt rolled up to her elbows, and a sexy torn denim skirt showed off her long tanned legs. “I just finished prepping dinner, so I’m free as a bird.” She smiled.
I looked at Macy, who was sitting on my hip quietly. She seemed to be studying Hadley like she recognized her but wasn’t quite sure from where. When Hadley had picked her up the other night, Macy had been half asleep. So it didn’t surprise me that she was a little confused.
“You wanna come to the playground with me?” Hadley asked Macy as she came a little closer with a gentle smile. “You can show me which part is your favorite.”
With those words, my girl was sold and began to wiggle furiously from my arms.
Her curls bounced freely as she waved her hand at Hadley. “Come! We can swide!” Then she was gone, her little legs carrying her at high speed out the patio doors to where the kids had a playground set up.
“I’ll catch you in there, brother.” Blizzard patted me on the back and disappeared down the hall to the meeting room where we held church.
Hadley gave me a smile as she moved to pass. I reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her back. She stumbled a little and clutched my cut in her other hand to steady herself as her body met mine.
“I won’t be long,” I told her gruffly, my eyes looking down into hers.
