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“Know what?” she asked, glancing at Shelia who held a roll of floral tape between her lips and glared at an arrangement that obviously wouldn’t behave.
“Huh?” she mumbled.
“I’m going shopping.”
“For what?”
“Something sexy to wear this weekend.”
The tape dropped to the table and rolled off onto the floor. “I thought y’all were taking the kids with you.”
“I’m not planning on looking like I charge by the hour, but I wouldn’t mind ditching my spinster librarian vibe.”
“I know some kinky librarians.”
Addy laughed and it felt good. “Touché.”
“I do love when you get sassy,” Shelia said, with a twinkle in her dark eyes. “I’m about sick to death of looking at a walkin’ funeral around here.”
“Maybe I could wear gladiolas in my hair?”
Shelia snorted.
“I’m taking an early lunch and walking over to that cute boutique a few doors down.”
“Good girl.”
Addy grabbed her purse, double-checking she had her phone and key ring with the pepper spray.
She might feel bold, but she wasn’t stupid.
She might take a chance, but she couldn’t deny her past.
Addy would always be Addy.
That wouldn’t change.
Saturday dawned partly cloudy and warm. Lucas couldn’t have dialed it up any better.
Finally, something going right for him. He and the kids had been cooped up in the sick house for so long, he felt like a shaky colt emerging from the barn for his first romp in the yard. The sun felt almost too bright when it peeked out from behind fluffy clouds and the breeze was almost fresh.
“I’m gonna go get Addy,” Chris yelled running toward the camellia bushes and ducking between.
“Sure,” Lucas muttered tugging the bow he’d tried to attach to Charlotte’s ponytail. It had taken him a good thirty minutes to wash and comb the snarls from the tight curls. He’d done the best he could and once it dried, he’d pulled it up with a weird-looking plastic clear rubberband thing. Michael had taken the matching bow off a ribbon hanging in the girl’s closet and clipped it in, but it looked crooked to Lucas.
Charlotte was dressed in a bright pink dress and something called tights that had little hearts on them. Little girl clothing confused the hell out of him.
Grabbing his cameras, he escorted a finally happy Charlotte to the truck. Michael lagged behind tapping on his phone. The boy had been eerily helpful over the last few days. Maybe Lucas saving him from Joe the Toad and seeing him barf his guts up had a way of mellowing the fury within the boy at the uncle who’d ignored him.
Lucas could hope.
“Hey, sport,” he said over his shoulder as he settled Charlotte in her car seat. “How about we leave the phones at home?”
“Why?” Michael didn’t look up.
“Because we’re going to interact with the world around us… not the world on our phone,” he said.
“What if we get separated? It’s a safety precaution.”
