Without that phone call, she didn’t know if she would have gotten Billy back.
“Any time.”Maxie’s eyes were damp when she pulled away.She surreptitiously wiped at the tears.“We saw the remains of the billboard as we drove over the bridge.I can’t believe it’s gone.”
Roxie cast a glance at the bar.Skeeter and Roux were deep in conversation.With the jukebox and all the chatter about, she couldn’t hear them.She tried to read Roux’s lips, but she couldn’t quite make out what he was saying.“I blew it” or “I knew it.”Something like that.
Skeeter caught the kid by the elbow.Roux looked surprised, but when he turned it wasn’t to fight.“Don’t let them leave,” he said.
That was loud enough for everyone to hear.Maxie even glanced over her shoulder.
“Whatever you do, don’t let them leave!”
Roxie started to get out of her chair, but by then the kid was darting for the door.Skeeter shrugged, lifting his hands helplessly.At least he hadn’t had to throw him out.
“I’ll keep an eye out, too,” Billy promised.
“Thank you,” she murmured quietly.He’d worked here.He knew how quickly things could spiral out of control if not contained, but she didn’t want anything to spoil tonight.She wanted to spend the time with her sisters and her family.
Her family.
She inhaled deeply, happiness running through her.Damn it, tonight should have been the grand celebrationwithballoons.And beer and streamers and teeny weenies.She was in the mood to party.
“That was one mighty billboard,” Charlie agreed, returning them to the night’s topic.
“Was it your idea or the Evil Twin’s?”Cam asked.
Roxie stuck out her tongue at him.
“Who do you think?”Charlie said with a laugh.“Whenever she got an idea in her head, I just stepped back and let her run with it.”
“It was good for business,” Roxie defended for the millionth time.
“And good for us,” Lexie interjected.She took Cam’s hand.“It brought us all together.Roxie and me.Cam and me.It started the events that led us to Maxie, too.”
Her train of thought hung out there, and Roxie felt validated.She wasn’t the only one who’d hoped it might lead to more reunions, but they couldn’t be greedy.She was more than happy with the way things had turned out, but she wasn’t giving up.They’d continue with their search.They’d find their parents or the reasons why they’d been given up.She’d get her answers, but they weren’t the most important thing in her life anymore.
Maxie smiled at the bartender as he gave her a bourbon.“Have you made any progress with the lead that clerk at Social Services gave you?”she asked.
Roxie shook her head.“I thought I would, but it hasn’t led anywhere.”
She played with her glass of beer and watched the liquid swirl.“I went to a psychic,” she finally admitted.“She told me I’d meet someone who would lead me to my past.”
Lexie leaned forward in her chair.“The psychic down in Boutique Village?”
“Yeah.”
“I knew you were eyeing that place.Why didn’t you take me with you?”
Roxie squirmed in her seat.
Billy bumped her with his shoulder.“Not as sly as you thought?”
“It was weird,” she confessed.She toyed with her coaster, thinking back to Ingrid and Moonlight.“It kind of freaked me out.”
She put down her beer when the goose bumps popped up all over again.“It was so intense; I would have sworn something was going to happen.”
“What did she tell you?”Lexie asked.
“Lots of things, but they were all vague.”Roxie bumped Billy’s shoulder back.“Except for you.She nailed that one.”
