LITMIR.BIZ

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burned me when I was roasting marshmallows on the stove. I only caused a little fire, though. Uncle Jake put yucky stuff on it and wrapped it up. Do you want to see it?”

      She made a face. “You’re such a dork,” the girl said.

      Tanner stuck his tongue out at his big sister. “You are.”

      “No, you are.”

      Caroline decided to step in before the conversation degenerated further. “Would you like to help us make these? We wanted to make a snack for you. They won’t take long.”

      Natalie frowned. “My grandma always fixes me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich after school.”

      The truculence in her tone had Caroline gritting her teeth. “I can make you one of those if you’d prefer.”

      Natalie shrugged. “I’m not really hungry. Maybe later.” She paused. “What friend did my grandma go on a trip with? Señora Cruz? She lives next door on the Luna Ranch and she’s her best friend.”

      Caroline debated how to answer and finally settled on the truth. If Wade didn’t want his daughter to know her grandmother had eloped, he should have taken the time to tell that to Caroline.

      “No. Um, she went with my dad.”

      Natalie digested that. “Is your dad named Quinn?” she asked after a moment.

      Okay, so Natalie apparently knew more about her grandmother’s love life than her father had. “Yes. Do you know him?”

      Natalie shrugged. “Grandma talked to him a lot on the phone. I got to talk to him once. He’s funny.”

      Oh, her father could be a real charmer, no question about that.

      “Where did they go?” Natalie asked.

      Here, things grew a little tricky. “You’d probably better ask your dad about that.”

      “Will they be back by tomorrow?”

      “I doubt that.”

      “But I have a Girl Scout meeting after school. Grandma was supposed to take me. We’re making scrunchies. If she’s not home by then, does that mean I can’t go?”

      Blast Quinn for putting her in this position, she thought again. For grabbing what he wanted without considering any of the consequences, as usual. She doubted he had spared a single thought for these motherless children and their needs when he’d charmed their grandmother into eloping with him.

      “I can probably take you. We’ll have to work out those details with your dad.”

      “I don’t want to miss it,” she said. “Grandma and me already bought the fabric.”

      “We can explain all that to your father. I’m sure there won’t be a problem.”

      Natalie didn’t look convinced but she didn’t pursue the matter.

      The rest of the afternoon and evening didn’t go well. Tanner’s pain medication started to wear off and he quickly tired of the limitations from wearing the gauze on his hand. He wanted to go outside in the sandbox, he wanted to play with Play-Doh, he even claimed he wanted to wash the dishes, that he loved to wash dishes, that he would die if he couldn’t wash the dishes.

      Caroline did her best to distract him and calm his fractious nerves, with little success. How could she blame him for his testiness? Burns could be horribly painful, especially for a child already off balance by the absence of his grandmother, his primary caregiver.

      Cody, the toddler, also seemed to feel his grandmother’s absence keenly as bedtime neared. He became more clingy, more whiny. Several times he wandered to the front door with a puzzled, sad look on his face and said “Gramma home?” until Caroline thought her heart would break.

      Though she did help with Cody, Natalie added to the fun and enjoyment of the evening by bickering endlessly with Tanner and by correcting everything Caroline tried to do, from the way she added pasta to boiling water to how she made the crust on the apple pie she impulsively decided to make to the shade of crayons she picked to color Elmo and Cookie Monster.

      By the time dinner was finished, Caroline thought she just might have to walk outside for a little scream therapy if she heard That’s not how Grandma does it one more time.

      At the same time, Caroline couldn’t help but notice the girl never said anything about the way her father did things, only her grandmother. And none of the children seemed to find it unusual that they didn’t see their father all evening long.

      She had to wonder if this was the norm for them. Poor little lambs, if it was, to have lost a mother so suddenly and then to have a father too busy for them.

      The only reference any of them made to their father came when Caroline found a cake in the refrigerator and asked Nat about it.

      “Oh! That’s my dad’s cake. Today is his birthday and we forgot it!”

      “I made a present,” Tanner exclaimed. “It’s in my room.”

      “Present. Present,” Cody echoed and followed after his brother up the stairs.

      “Why don’t we save the pie for your dad’s birthday?” Caroline suggested.

      Natalie shrugged. “Okay. But grandma made the birthday cake and she makes really good cakes. He probably won’t want any pie.”

      Caroline sighed but set her crooked-looking pie on the countertop to cool.

      Despite Natalie’s bossiness, she was a huge help when it came to following the boys’ usual bedtime routine. She even helped Caroline tightly wrap a plastic bag on Tanner’s hand so he could have a quick bath.

      Her cooperative attitude disappeared quickly once the boys were tucked in their rooms, right around the time Caroline suggested it might be Natalie’s bedtime, since by then it was after eight.

      “I don’t have a regular bedtime.” Natalie focused somewhere above Caroline’s left shoulder and refused to meet her gaze, a sure sign she was stretching the truth.

      “Really?” Caroline asked doubtfully.

      The girl shook her head, her disheveled hair swinging. “Nope. I just go to bed when I get tired. Like maybe ten, maybe eleven.”

      “Hmm. Is that right?”

      “Yeah. My grandma doesn’t care what time I go to bed. Neither does my dad. He’s usually out working anyway. Sometimes I even stay up and watch TV after he comes home and goes to bed.”

      Natalie said this with a such a sincere expression that Caroline had to hide a smile. She wasn’t quite sure how to play this. She didn’t want to call the girl a liar. Their relationship was tenuous enough right now. Natalie had made it plain she didn’t like the way Caroline did anything, that she wanted her grandmother back. Caroline didn’t want to damage what little rapport she’d worked so hard to build all evening.

      On the other hand, she certainly couldn’t allow the little girl to stay up all night for the sake of keeping the peace.

      She pondered her options. “How about this?” she finally suggested. “I’ve got some great bath soap in my suitcase that smells delicious. You can use some while you take your bath and then I’ll let you stay up and watch TV until nine. Does that sound like a deal?”

      Natalie agreed so readily that Caroline realized she’d been conned. She could only hope Quinn didn’t decide to take his new stepgrandaughter on as a protégé, the willing pupil he had always wanted. The partner in crime Caroline had always refused to become.

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