LITMIR.BIZ

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Pond. And while I could usually count on getting sunburned and bit by a mosquito or two, there was always something special about spending time with my daddy.”

      “But I don’t have a daddy,” the girl said.

      Angie’s cheeks warmed. She’d only wanted to help, but had probably made things worse.

      “You might not have a dad,” Toby said, as he gave one of Kylie’s lopsided auburn pigtails a gentle tug, “but you have me.”

      Toby’s hands might be skilled at lassoing horses and throwing a football, but the poor man couldn’t do a little girl’s hair to save his life.

      Still, these kids were lucky to have Toby. If he hadn’t stepped up to the plate when their aunt had gone off the deep end and lost custody, they might have been separated and placed in different foster homes.

      Justin, the boy who’d climbed the ladder, said, “Too bad we don’t have a babysitter for Kylie. She’s gonna wah-wah like a little crybaby and ruin our whole day.” Justin made fake crying noises and rubbed his eyes to emphasize his overly dramatic point.

      Maybe Angie could help out after all. “I only have to work for a half hour or so, and then my shift is over. If you don’t mind leaving Kylie here with me, I’d be happy to hang out with her while you and the boys go fishing. We can do cool girls-only things that boys don’t get to do.”

      “That’s nice of you to offer,” Toby said, “but you don’t have to do that.”

      “Yes, she does!” Kylie gave a little jump and a clap.

      Uh-oh. What had Angie done? Had she overstepped her boundaries—or bitten off more than she could chew?

      “Please, Toby?” Kylie looked at her foster dad with puppy-dog eyes. “Can I stay here with Angie? Can I please?”

      “If you’re sure you don’t mind.” Toby’s gaze zeroed in on Angie, and her heart spun in her chest.

      What was that little zing all about?

      Had that come from the way Toby was looking at her? Or from having second thoughts about what she’d just offered to do?

      After all, she didn’t know anything about kids. She’d been an only child and Doris definitely wasn’t the maternal type. Plus, unlike some of the other girls she’d grown up with, she’d never even had a babysitting job.

      But now that she’d made the offer, she couldn’t very well backpedal.

      “Of course I don’t mind.” Angie reached under the checkout stand for a stack of coloring pages and pulled out the top sheet. “The Superette is having a poster contest this month. All the kids have to do is color this picture and turn it back in for the judging. I have a few markers Kylie can use. Then, after I clock out, we’ll be on our way for the best girls’ day ever!”

      Toby shot her an appreciative smile. “All right. We’ll probably only be a couple of hours. Where should I pick her up?”

      Angie hadn’t given much thought to what she’d do with Kylie, but since she didn’t have any money to spend, they’d have to find something cheap to do at home. “I live in the small granny flat behind Elmer Murdock’s place. Do you know where that is?”

      “Sure do. Mr. Murdock owns the yellow, two-story house next to the post office. I didn’t know anyone was living in that...unit in the back.”

      It wasn’t common knowledge. In fact, she hadn’t even mentioned the move to her mother yet.

      Should she explain her living situation? Or better yet, make an excuse for it?

      She decided to do neither.

      After totaling Toby’s purchases, Angie took his cash and gave him his change. Then she watched him leave the store with the boys, walking with that same swagger the other Fortune Jones boys possessed.

      No, she’d never considered dating Toby in the past. And for the briefest of moments, she wondered why she hadn’t.

      * * *

      After a fun but unproductive day at Cutter’s Pond, Toby and the boys climbed into his truck. If they wanted fish for supper tonight, Toby would have to make another stop at the Superette and purchase a few fillets. As it was, he decided to make things easy on himself and to take the kids to The Horseback Hollow Grill for a couple of burgers. But first they’d have to pick up Kylie.

      It had been nice of Angie to offer to babysit. The afternoon had been a lot more pleasant with only the boys. Not that Kylie was a problem child. She was a sweetheart most of the time, but... Well, she had a tendency to get a little teary when things didn’t go her way. But he supposed he couldn’t really blame her. It had to be tough for a little girl growing up in a boys’ world.

      As he pulled his black four-wheel-drive Dodge Ram along the curb in front of the old Murdock place, he scanned the front yard, which looked a lot better than it had the last time he’d driven by. The once-overgrown lawn had been mowed recently and a sprinkler had brought the grass back to life.

      The old house was still in need of repair—or at least, a fresh coat of paint and some new shutters. But that wasn’t surprising. Elmer Murdock was well over eighty years old and living on his marine-corps retirement pay.

      “Can we get out, too?” Justin asked.

      “I don’t see why not.” While they’d all had a blast fishing, Toby knew the boys had been stewing over what kind of things might constitute a “girls-only” day. Apparently, the mystery of womanhood began early in a male’s life.

      He shut off the ignition, got out of the pickup and made his way to the path that led to the back of the house, where Mr. Murdock had built separate quarters for his widowed mother-in-law decades ago.

      The “granny flat,” as Angie had called it, was even more run-down than the main house. The small porch railing had come loose and was about to collapse, although the wood flooring had been swept recently.

      A pot of red geraniums added a splash of color to the chipped and weathered white paint.

      Brian and Justin lagged behind by several feet because they’d stopped to check out two different birdhouses in a maple tree. The birdhouse on the left was pretty basic, but the one on the right was three stories with a wraparound porch and looked like something straight out of his mother’s Southern Living magazine.

      Toby continued to the front door and knocked loud enough to be heard over the sound of Taylor Swift belting out her latest hit. He cringed, although he knew that, as a proud Texan, he should favor country music, even crossover pop artists like Taylor Swift. But his well-guarded secret was that he couldn’t stand the stuff. He preferred his music with a lot more soul and a lot less twang.

      When the front door swung open, Kylie, her face smeared with green goo, greeted Toby with a bright-eyed smile. “Guess what? Mr. Murdock and Angie had a nail-painting contest and I got to be the judge. And see, Mr. Murdock won because he painted the cutest little horse on my big toenail.” She lifted her right leg high in the air in an effort to put her toe in front of his face.

      “Yeah, well, Mr. Murdock cheated,” came Angie’s reply. “He took an hour to do it, using a magnifying glass and his model-airplane paint, which, by the way, isn’t washable. That horse will never come off.”

      Toby couldn’t actually see Angie, since she had her back to the door and was leaning over the arm of the sofa, a white container in one hand and a green sponge in the other.

      Both amused and touched by the sight, Toby couldn’t help but chuckle.

      “Ooh, gross,” Brian said, when he spotted his sister’s face. “What happened to you?”

      “I’m getting pretty—just like Angie.”

      Both boys began to hoot and howl.

      Toby couldn’t say that he blamed them. Kylie, who was a cutie-pie when she wasn’t

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