Page 11 of Touch of Heartache


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“No,” said Nolan, taking another carrot. “She works here. WithEarl.”

“Ugh,” said Jo and Cheryl at once. Jo added, “Poorwoman.”

Nolan felt something in his stomach sour and he put down the rest of his carrot. He’d eat like a bird tonight—look it up, he’d tell anyone who ever doubted his phrasing, birds eat more of their body weight than horses—but when he was actually in character as one, it was all he could do to get some water down. But he needed it. He wore a sheen layer of sweat in that mascotcostume.

Earl really is a sleaze on top of being a jerk, isn’t he?thought Nolan. There werewhispers.

Eddie bumped his arm. “So is shehot?”

“Who?”

Rolling his eyes, Eddie spun his pasta around his fork. “Your grandma! Who do you think? The girl you werecanoodling!”

Jo spurted some of her tea out, causing Cheryl to jump back to protect her costume—not that it was anywhere near the line of fire. “Who says ‘canoodling’?” askedJo.

“I’ll show you what that means, my queen,” said Eddie, wiggling his eyebrow. “Betwixt the royal sheets of the royalbedchambers.”

“La la la, not hearing this,” said Cheryl, covering her ears with her fluffy hands. “Queen Animaliao is chaste and pure and her boytoy is just for eyecandy.”

Maybe so, but Jo and Eddie had left their chaste days behind months ago. Everyone knew they were banging eachother.

Nolan shrugged, sipping on his straw until the echoing sound of his empty cup made his whole table jump. “I don’t know. I couldn’t see clearly. But I think she was… better than average.” Like he was about to gush over a woman being hot in front of twowomen.

“Wow,” said Jo. “That might be the highest praise you’ve given a girl since I’ve metyou.”

“Nolan’s in love,” said Cheryl and Nolan winced. He couldn’t hear perfectly through his mascot suit, but he had heard what Willow had said in front of that new girl and he’d seen the woman laugh it off but her face had reddened even so. Leave it to his kid brother and sister to let the hot new girl know who was inside that suit, too, and now she had aname.

But it was just a hug and a fake little kiss atop her head. Was that so weird? He hugged kids and adults all the time. A “kiss” in a suit was just like a fluffy stuffed animal bonkingyou.

It was just… He hadn’t seen Landon look so happy in a while. He’d smiled when he’d looked back at her, had said she’d reminded him of theirmom.

He still didn’t know what to do about Landon. Their dad was no help. He didn’t even believe Landon fully remembered their mom, and he refused to recognize there was any problem. Maybe Landonhadbeen too young when she’d died to fully remember her. She hadn’t looked much like that hot new girl at all. But he remembered the feeling of warmth and comfort and support their mom had alwaysprovided.

“She was just nice to Landon and Willow is all,” said Nolan. “So I had Silly give her a big peck and ahug.”

He’d been looking for his brother and sister as soon as he’d entered Tildy’s Tots. It was hard to see much beyond a few feet, though, so he hadn’t noticed them until they’d come toward him, Landon’s hand in the woman’s. Tanya had introduced her to “Silly” and Angie as Earl’s new assistant manager once the kids had gone off to play, but they’d left shortlythereafter.

“What’s Willow doing at daycare instead of school?” asked Cheryl. Nolan was grateful for the change in topic. He hadn’t gottentoogood a look at the new girl through the mesh over his eyes, but it’d been hard to miss her curves. Pair that with her business suit and Nolan had felt himselfmelt.

Not that he had told Angie that. She’d drawn her own conclusions based on a plush-beakkiss.

“Suspended,” said Nolan, clearing histhroat.

“Yikes,” said Jo. “Little wicked Willow strikesagain.”

“Dude,” said Eddie, cocking his princely head at Nolan. “What’d she do thistime?”

“Hit some boy,” said Nolan. He tapped a finger on the table. “Busted hislip.”

Tsking, Cheryl bit her own lip. “What does your dadthink?”

“He doesn’t care,” spat Nolan. “As long as he doesn’t have to stay home from work to watch her, he couldn’t care less.” Nolan shrugged. “We get free daycare as full-time employees, so it was just easier to bring her here withLandon.”

No one said anything about how that policy typically applied to the parents who worked there, not the older siblings, but everyone knew that HR had made an exception for Nolan when his mom had died and he’d asked to go from part-time to full-time.

Frowning, Cheryl finished slurping her water. DeShawn, her Tildy Scout caretaker for the day and their shift supervisor, was heading over, nodding at a few friends as he passed them. “No,” whispered Cheryl. “It can’t be time to go back. He can’t make me!” She was clearly kidding, although a small part of Nolan knew thefeeling.

Nolan grabbed a fresh towel from the rack behind him and passed it over to Cheryl. “Thanks,” she said, grabbing it with her furry hand and dabbing it to her forehead. Her short black bangs were soaked and stuck to her pale brown skin. “You know, I never thought that coming to work at Tildy World would beso…”

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