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I smiled and tipped my chin in greeting. “Annette. Good to see you.”
She smiled at my use of her real name. Everyone in town had called her Annie since she was a kid. With her unruly red hair, she had acquired the unfortunate nicknameOrphan Annie, which was more insensitive given that she was a literal orphan. At some point, as it so often did in Outtatowner, it was the nickname that stuck.
“You too, Wyatt.”
Annie smiled one last time at me before turning toward the house. Her gaze snagged a fraction of a second on Lee before she climbed the stairs into the house. It was obvious she had grown into a very pretty woman. Her coppery hair was pulled back, and she looked elegant in her simple black shirt and dress pants. Gone was the squirrely little redhead with unruly curls who’d followed Lee around and had chronically dirty knees.
Nowadays Annie was a stunner, and Lee’s head was probably too far up his own ass to even see it.
Idiot.
“Hey, where’d Annette go?” Lee set Penny down, breathless.
My head swooped toward the door. “Inside, I think.”
Lee only shrugged. I guess he didn’t see or didn’t care that a good woman was right under his nose.
I looked around the back porch while Penny sat in a chair and sipped a drink at the patio table. “Jesus, this place is in rough shape.”
“Yeah, it’s getting pretty bad,” Lee agreed.
“Pretty bad? There’s a box holding up that table. It’s not okay.” I pointed to the table leg, which was, in fact, a rickety stack of wooden boxes. “We need to call Katie.”
A muscle ticced in Lee’s jaw, and his fists clenched. He saw it too. Tootie was trying to make do, but the old house was rapidly crumbling around her. That stubborn woman would never listen to reason. But our sister, Kate, had a soothing way about her. She could scheme her way into convincing Tootie that calling a repairman was her idea, and maybe the worst of it could be fixed in a few weeks.
Worst-case scenario, if she didn’t want to fix it up, I could just have it knocked down and build her something new. A fresh start.
“You heading out?” Lee didn’t miss how my eyes flicked toward the exit more than once. The sad resignation in his voice made my gut feel heavy.
When I saw the crowd inside through the patio door, I tried to think of a good excuse to get us out of there. Work. Bedtimes.Anything.
My eyes moved to Penny, who had overheard Lee’s question, and the sad resignation gnawed at me.
“I think one night might be okay, don’t you think, Pickle?”
Penny’s eyes shot to mine, and a huge smile spread over her sweet face. “Really, Daddy? Can we?”
She leaped from her chair and flung herself into my arms.
Lee laughed and clamped a hand down on my shoulder. “I’ll let Tootie know you’re staying.”
As he climbed the steps to the patio door, Penny continued to hug my middle. “Thanks, Dad. Thank you. Thank you.”
I rubbed a circle on her back. “One night.” I was telling both herandLee.
Lee laughed and shot a salute over his shoulder before he disappeared into the house.
4
LARK
You know,a girl could fall in love with Outtatowner, Michigan. I sat at a high-top seat along the huge picture window of the local bakery, the Sugar Bowl. My hot latte was steamed to perfection, and the ribbon design in the foam was almost too cute to drink.
Almost.
Happy faces moved in pairs down the sidewalks as I overlooked the quaint strip of downtown. Just as the main road entered the downtown area, there was a sign that read,Outtatowner, Michigan—where strangers become friends.
Tourists and townies alike were waving and smiling as the sun filtered through the trees that lined the middle of the main road, separating the two sides of town.
