She darted off, Tobi still in her arms.
“She always did move quickly,” Cal said, as they watched Em stop by Claudia.Tobi leaned toward Claudia and the other woman took her.Then the three hurried across the community center.
“Suzanne will listen to Claudia better than she will Em, at least.”
“Em rushes in where angels fear to tread, doesn’t she?”he asked, leaning closer.
“Sometimes.It’s always worried me.”
“Me, too.She and Clancy…I remember when Clancy was this small.”He took Markie’s blanket from Auggie’s hand, and covered the little monster with it, expertly.Markie was almost out.Right there, on his shoulder, like she’d been there a thousand times.“I used to complain about having to babysit, but…now…I wouldn’t trade those times with her for anything.They are some of my best memories.”
“I know.I feel the same way.”She looked over her shoulder.Junie had stayed a bit behind, Maeya in her arms.Her eyes met Auggie’s, and she smirked.Made eyes at Cal’s back.And then the bratfanned herself.
Auggie turned away.Looked at her pack of little sisters.“Ok, ladies, let’s get to it.Everyone look down.All shoes are present, correct?”
She’d learned her lesson with the heathens before.They fully believed shoes were optional, her children.Which…Junie, too, for that matter.
She did a spot check.They had all the little girl shoes they’d come with, at least.Markie had her glasses—they had a strap on the back to prevent her losing them; Auggie removed them quickly—Maeya’s bag was slung over Junie’s shoulder.“Everyone has everything they brought tonight, right?No one brought any toys?Books—" She shot their number one bookworm a look.Jules shook her head.“Anything?”
“We’re good, I think,” January, her quietest sister, said.Always quiet and responsible and thinking it was her job tohelp.“We’re ready, as soon as we have Em and Tobi.”
“Ok, did anyone check to make sureEmhad her shoes?She’s notorious for taking them off and losing them everywhere.”Her sisters giggled.But Auggie was only half joking.Em was a bit uncivilized and always had been.
Of course, she wouldn’t have her sister any other way.
Em and Claudia and Clancy returned, with Tobi.Then they were ready.Cal told his sisters he was taking Clancy home with him; and telling Claudia and Cloe they should just camp over at his house.Because it was late out, and he would worry about them out there on the roads.He did like to hover over his sisters.Cloe just sent him a quiet look—she only lived ten minutes away from him, at most.
It was one of his real redeeming qualities.Cal was a good brother.She was half-suspecting he’d be a good father, too.He just…looked so natural holding her little girl like that.
A warm hand snaked around her waist.“Lean on me if you need to across the gravel.I’m here if you need me.And I’m strong enough to carry you.For however long you need it.”
She shot him a look.She didn’t trust the man one bit.He knew it, too.The snake.He was sneaky enough to try something right now, too.Her stomach clenched when she thought aboutthat.“Are you after something from me, Calloway Grady?”
“Just being a good best friend’s older brother?”He shot her a look right back.
Oh, he was a dangerous sort, wasn’t he?Giving herthatlook, while holding her kid.“I don’t trust you one bit.You’re after something.Your kind usually is.You’re not the first to try to charm me, you know.”
“I bet not.What did Slater Davis want, anyway?”
Besides dry pants?Auggie hadn’t missed it, though he’d said it was a food accident.Down thebackof his pants.She could only imagine what had caused it.
Slater Davis probably wanted the same thingthisman was wanting.Auggie was wise to their male ways.Guys like those two—yes, they were used to getting what they wanted.Especiallyfrom women.
“To dance.When I told him I couldn’t, he offered to get me something to drink.He kept staring at my hair.”She shrugged lightly.She wore her hair long because when it was short she looked horrible.And the longer it was—the less it stood up all over the top of her head.Her cousin Nikki had beautiful curls that rioted everywhere.Gorgeous.ButNikki’swere manageable.Auggie’s were twice as thick, and usually out of control.Like snakes on Medusa’s head.
So were Tobi’s, January’s, and the baby’s.She envisioned a lot of hair detangler in her future.But Slater had apparently liked the wild red chaos.
“I’m sure he wanted more than dancing.You look very nice tonight.Tempting to every mortal man in the room.I was trying to catch you to dance with me, too.But the other men in this place kept getting to you first.I think it was some sort of conspiracy.”
“Why, Calloway, I think that was a compliment.”That was the last she could say, as the kids had caught up with them from where they’d been telling her uncle Nick’s and uncle Phil’s children good-bye.
“Just a fact.I don’t believe in flattery.Just fact.You look good, and you know it, too.And the hair—tempts a man.It tempts a man.In so many ways.”His hand tightened on her waist as Avril slipped in front of them to push open the doors of the community center.“I didn’t realize it was as long as it is.Until last week—at breakfast.I can’t get that night out of my head.The afternoon—completely gone, but that night…”
“You still don’t know what happened?”Auggie immediately put her hand on the little girl’s shoulder.Avril tended to dart out of places sometimes.And she was going toignorethat he was saying things like that.
He shook his head.“No clue.I have an appointment with my doctor next week.I think itcouldhave been a migraine, though.Cloe thinks that was the most likely explanation.”
She had to focus on her girls, not Calloway Ellis Grady.The butt.Her sisters, not the man.“I remember when you’d have them as a teenager.I remember Cloe being scared once.We were there, and you were sleeping on the couch, I think.Your mom made us move to another room, and turned all the lights off for you.And we had to be really quiet.”
