Apparently tight was an understatement, with him telling me all four boys had taken to walking with eyes downcast. They had hoped to come across spare change.
“It was also a good way of avoiding the pitying looks cast in our direction.”
He falls silent as a group of about ten kids pass by, singing some made-up song at the tops of their voices.
“With priorities, mom was more interested in seeing we ate and that she paid the electricity and rent on time. She’d hand-wash our one set of clothes on the weekend.”
He bursts out laughing before pressing on. “Who knows what the neighbors thought of us running around naked while everything was on the line?”
His words having painted such a rich picture, and with no more kids passing by, I grab my coffee cup and stand.
“Hmmm, I don’t know. I wouldn’t have minded if you were my neighbor.”
Before he’s processed my words, I fly down the front steps and shoot around the side of the house. He catches up with me halfway through the orchard.
His coffee cup tossed into the knee-high weeds, he grabs me and swings me around before pulling me in for a tight embrace. Our kiss, rather than being sensual, is of shared laughter that warms my soul.
On breaking the kiss, he looks down at me, obviously grappling with something. I’m about to ask him what’s wrong when he speaks.
“What are you up to tomorrow?”
If not for the serious light in his eye, I’d have answered with something sexy like, “You?” Instead, I simply respond with, “I’ve no plans at this stage.”
His smile is slow to form, but when it does, it transforms his face. This is a surprise, because after the day we’ve spent together, why would he think I’d say no?
“Great, we’ll swing by and pick you up at nine. You’d better be ready, because Zoe doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”
This has me swallowing deeply. He’s planning on introducing me to his daughter already? While part of me is excited to meet his little girl, another part of me is nervous as all get out. What if she doesn’t like me?
“Are you kidding? Of course she’ll like you.”
Wait, did I ask that out loud? I don’t think I did?
“Hey, I’ve still got some work to finish at the house.” He swishes his boot back and forth through the weeds before bending over and grabbing his coffee cup and handing it to me. “You want to join me, or take it easy?”
As tempting as it is to sprawl on my bed and make like a noodle, working side-by-side with this gorgeous man appeals more. “No, I’ll come back with you. But no more cat hair.”
It’s only as he’s leaving that he tells me tomorrow’s outing is to the aquarium at Taylor’s Mistake. That’ll be fun, although I don’t know what I’ll wear. I’d only packed enough clothes for a week, with those more suited to sorting out the last of Nanna Dot’s affairs.
I’m not sure I’ve got anything appropriate for a day-trip with a little girl and her dad. Even the overalls I’ve been as good as living in had been a snap purchase at a local charity shop. I’d thought about buying new, but decided if they were going to end up splattered in paint and who knew what else, that secondhand would do fine.
A quick look at my watch and I know that whatever I wear, I’ll need to find it in my suitcase, because it’s too late to shop for anything else.
A whirlwind of unpacking later, and I’ve sorted my outfit for the following day. What’s odd is that I don’t remember packing the flowing maxi-dress, deciding I must have missed it when unpacking after Mitchell and I returned from Mexico.
If I knew then what I knew now, I’d probably have been better off staying down that way, where the cost of living was better.
Unfortunately, in unearthing the dress, I’ve trashed the trailer, with not a flat surface left clear, and clothes hanging from every available latch. It’s more a charity shop than a home.
The only plus to having everything out is that it’s allowed me to sort through everything and even put some clothes in the built-in dresser next to the bed. If I’m living here for as long as it takes to flip the house, I may as well make myself at home.
The last thing I put away is the sexy underwear I’d bought when shopping for the mattress in Taylor’s Mistake. It was when buying the condoms that I decided I’d trash my beige granny monsters the moment I got home. The only difference between now and when I’d worn racy lingerie for Mitchell is that it’s now MY decision to wear it.
The next morning I’m bleary-eyed. I hadn’t slept well even with the mattress having flattened out. It also hadn’t helped that my dreams—make those nightmares—were full of a petite blonde fairy of a girl arriving with Tyler and declaring, “She’s fat. I don’t like her,” and variations on that theme.
I’d learned firsthand how cruel kids could be, and so I’m not confident this morning will be any different.
Despite my nerves, I’m out front early, waiting on the steps, ready for them to arrive. It’s all going as expected until Tyler helps Zoe out of her booster seat in the back.
