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Annoyance flashed across her pretty face.
“You stamp your foot, and I’ll know I’m right.”
“If I say I’m okay and you don’t need to break anyone’s face, will that be enough to leave this alone?” Zoe said.
“For now.” He kissed her forehead. “It’s good to have you home. Now go dance.” He grabbed her shoulders and turned her, then pushed her away from him.
Something was off with Zoe, and he’d get to the bottom of what, but for now Sawyer got a whiskey and then headed out the door for a walk. Or so he told himself. Sawyer checked all the rooms he passed on his way to the reception area. He didn’t find Birdie or his niece.
“Can I help you, sir?” one of the lodge staff asked.
“I’m looking for the flower girl, she’s with—”
“Birdie,” the man said, and of course he knew her. She always talked to everyone. “She walked outside.” He pointed to the glass doors.
Sawyer found Birdie with Ally and Ritchie seated on the stone front steps.
“They twinkle because of the movement in the Earth’s atmosphere,” Birdie was saying when he arrived. She was pointing to the sky.
He stood behind them so he could watch and listen because she intrigued him. She shouldn’t intrigue him, Sawyer understood that, but he couldn’t help it.
“Most of the stars in the universe are red dwarfs,” she continued. “Many stars come in pairs and there are some groups that have up to four stars.”
“Some of them are so small,” Ritchie said. He was leaning on Birdie from one side, and Ally from the other.
“The smaller they are, the longer they live,” Birdie said. “Giant stars are bright, but they burn out faster. The nearest star to us here on earth is 4.2 light-years away.”
“What’s a light-year?” Ally asked.
“The distance that light can travel in a year, which is nearly six million miles.”
“How old is the sun, Birdie?” Ritchie asked.
“Well now, I don’t know exactly but—”
“Around 4.6 billion years old,” Sawyer said, which had all three of them turning to his way.
“Come and sit, Uncle Sawyer. We’re looking at the stars,” Ally said.
“I can see that. Does anyone know you’re out here?”
“I told their parents we were going for a walk,” Birdie said.
She was so sweet sitting there with the children. Her face turned up to look at him. The dress she wore today showed off even more of her body. No straps, it fitted to the waist and flared to above her knees. He’d spent the day imagining stroking the bare skin of her chest, then slipping his hands into the bodice to cup her breasts.
Sawyer sat beside his niece and tried to focus on her and not the woman driving him crazy beside her.
“Uncle Sawyer likes the sky too,” Ally said.
He tweaked her braid.
“He has a telescope,” Ally added.
“I bet you see some amazing things,” Birdie said. She was looking up at the sky.
“I do.”
“Did you know we’re part of the Milky Way?” Ritchie said. “Earth, I mean.”
