Two pairs of wide brown eyes gazed up at me.
“First, this time, both your momanddad have to say okay.And if they don’t, you can’t be mad, because they’ve said yes to everything so far, and that makes them the way coolest parentsever.”
Liam didn’t buy my line.
He screwed up his cute little face, probably already knowing this was a no go.
Then again, I’d been floating through the amazing Misted Pines Art Center opening, rows of tents with all the good stuff you could ever need, wafting Rich Auntie vibes in my wake and spoiling the shit out of my shop manager’s kids.
To wit, Liam had a Captain America mask painted on his face, courtesy of moi (and the librarians at the Misted Pines Public Library).Emma was a kitty (again, me).They’d both sucked back Italian sodas from the Aromacobana tent (also me), which was the start of the sugar rush.We’d stood with me shelling out dollar after dollar (after dollar) while they threw hoops to win prizes at the MPHS cheerleaders’ fundraising drive to go to some camp.
Just to say, both kids walked away with prizes.
And the cheerleaders were probably going to that camp first class.
The cotton candy machine made Emma’s eyes get so wide, I thought they’d pop out of her cute little face.
“It’spink!” she’d screeched.
So she got cotton candy, as did Liam (his was blue), and the high school band got six dollars.
Of course, I made certain I had nonverbal permission from Mom and/or Dad (mostly Mom) for all of these things.I wasn’t a heathen.
But I was seeing, now that Liam had picked three caramel apples (mini-M&M’s, turtle and chocolate chip and mini marshmallows) and Emma had picked two (rocky road, and another vote for mini-M&M’s), I might have created a monster or two, and Brett was coming to the end of his tether.
I had to rein it in.
Fortunately, Abigail was giggling herself sick.
She turned to her husband.“Just think, honey.They’re never going to want to come home with us.They’ll want to go to Mabel’s so she can spoil them for all their days.We’ll be childless again.”She clutched his arm and leaned in.“All that freedom.”
Overhearing this, Emma threw her skinny, little girl arms around Tonks’s neck and shouted, “Yay!If I live with Mabel, I get a doggie!”
Tonks rewarded this love with a full side-of-the-face lick, ruining her kitty paint.
Emma dissolved into giggles.
Needless to say, my dog was in her element with people, kids, and all sorts of stuff to smell, including other dogs’ booties.
She was in heaven.
And she’d been my perfect little puppers angel.
I was in heaven too, and having an extremist Christian cult as neighbors notwithstanding, the Misted Pines Art Center opening was winning mewayover to the side of staying.
I had not lived in a small town in my life.Even when I was with my uncle, he lived in a suburb of Memphis.
This wasrealsmall-town living.
And I was here for it.
It felt, after thirty-one years, like I’d finally come home.
“Right, Buckner family huddle, plus me,” I stated.“New proposed deal.I buy the caramel apples if the kids not only agree they have to wait to eat them, but when they do, they get one each, and they have to share them with the entire family.”
“M&M’s!”Liam yelled.
“Ruggy road!” Emma shrieked.
