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“A few years? You mean,six?”
“I started coming here inPampers.”
I slap his shoulder. “You are such aliar.”
Maven comes running our way as soon as we get out of thetruck.
“Daddy!” she screams. “You brought Willow! This is the bestest dayever!”
I lose a breath when she rushes into me and wraps her tiny arms around mywaist.
“Hey now,” Dallas says, coming up behind her and peeling her away from me. “What am I, chopped liver? You haven’t seen your dad in a week, and you roll right pastme.”
She giggles and jumps into his arms. “You know I missed you, Daddy!” When he releases her, she pulls a stack of papers from her bag. “I made all of these for you and wrote letters like you said!” She snatches the top piece from Dallas’s hand and holds it out like she can’t wait for me to see it. “This one is foryou.”
“Wow, thank you,” I say with a smile. It’s a hand-drawn picture of her and a tall redhead holding hands and walking around what resembles lights. “It’s sopretty.”
Her eyes sparkle with pride, and she bounces on her tiptoes. “It’s us at the fair. I hadsooomuch fun and can’t wait to do it again nextyear!”
I squat down and give her another hug. “Me either. Maybe, next time, I can gain some courage and join you on therides.”
“I would love that so much!” She turns around. “Daddy! Willow said she’d get on the big-kid rides with me nextyear!”
Dallas smiles and winks at me. “Oh, really? We’d better hold her tothat.”
“Dallas, I thought that was you,” a feminine voice callsout.
Maven loses my attention when I see a woman walking our way. A pretty blonde dressed similar to what Lucy used to wear, and she gives me a once-over, sizing me up to see if I’mcompetition.
Sure am,sweetie.
She thrusts her hand in my face when she reaches us, and I can’t stop myself from rolling my eyes. Her face scrunches up into a sneer to assure me it wasn’tmissed.
“You must be Willow. It’s nice to finally meet you. You’re all everyone in town has been talkingabout.”
Her eyes drop down to my stomach, and I pull my arms around it to block herview.
Really?I cross my arms.Let’s see hersquirm.
“Likewhat?”
I’ve only gone to the fair and the diner for lunch once. The only other times I’ve left my apartment is to go to work, and Stella’s show is filmed thirty minutes out of Blue Beech. I’ve kept to myself, but I’m sure she’s heard about me from the videos taken at thefair.
My question surprises her. I don’t mean to be rude, but the way her eyes scrutinize me is rude initself.
She signals between Dallas and me. “That you two have been spendin’ an awful lot of time together.” Her smile is bright and phony. “You’re from the big city, like Hudson’s little fiancé,right?”
“Sure am. I’m her best friend andassistant.”
“I see,” she clips. “How long do you plan on staying here? You probably miss LA. It’s pretty boring aroundhere.”
“Cindy,” Dallaswarns.
She whips around to smile at him. “What? I’m only introducing myself to the town’s newest …” Her attention moves back to me. “Visitor?Resident?”
“Resident,” he growls to her back. “Willow is a newresidentof Blue Beech, so you march on and relay that to your gossip club and quit interrogatingher.”
She throws me a flat smile, turns around to give him her attention, and slides her hand across his chest. He jerksaway.
