“You look hot in that tank,” she encouraged.

“Joe’s seen the tank. He was at my house this morning and he was with me when I bought it.”

Her head tilted to the side in confusion. “He was at your house this morning?”

“He’s installing a security system at my house, not by my choice.” I sighed when she looked even more confused and explained, “It’s complicated.”

“I thought you said it was a couple night thing. He took you shopping?”

“Shopping was after he was done with me, before the security system.” When she just stared at me, I finished. “It’s a long story, also complicated.”

She nodded and got up, saying, “I’ll get our margs and my brat then come back and you can tell me.”

“It’s not interesting,” I warned.

She looked down at me on the grass from her slut shoes, high-heeled height and remarked, “Known a lot of men, mostly ass**les and players, so got some experience, so much you could pretty much say I’m an expert. Don’t know a single player who takes a woman shoppin’ and installs a security system in her house after he’s done with her.” She leaned down a bit and smiled, saying, “So, babe, gotta say, this complicated business sounds all kinds of interesting.”

Before I could reply, she walked away, somehow managing to walk through grass in high, spiked heels without looking like a fool and I decided Cheryl was very cool.

“Momalicious!” I heard shouted from beside me and I turned to see Keira running into the yard, her arms wheeling, her hair flying, her face in a full-on smile.

She threw herself at me and I caught her because I had no choice and went down on my back. She slid off my side and got up on a hand to look down at me.

“Get this!” she shouted.

“Hello, my darling Keira,” I cut her off and my eyes went up to see Heather, Keira’s friend (who, incidentally, looked exactly like a Heather, petite, tons of curly-to-frizzy red hair and about seven million freckles all over her body). I came up on both elbows and said, “Hey Heather.”

“Hi Miz Winters,” Heather smiled at me.

“Mom!” Keira called my attention to her. “Guess what?”

“What baby?”

“Heather’s dog had puppies!” she shrieked.

Oh f**k.

Keira had always wanted a dog, always. She’d been at Tim and I since the minute she knew dogs existed and she could speak intelligent English. Tim had wanted a dog too. It was me who held back because I loved dogs and my Dad got me one when I was nine and she’d been run over when I was fifteen and that had been the worst day of my life, losing my dog (until two years later, when I found out I was pregnant and Mom and Dad had thrown me out of their house). I didn’t want that for my daughter (or Tim, for that matter), the inevitable day when your beloved family pet would go away. I wanted to shield Keira whose heart, like mine and her sister’s, was too big for her own good, from that hurt.

Now it seemed ridiculous, she’d lost something far more precious than the family pet.

“They’re all white and so fluffy and cuddly and Heather’s Dad said they’ll give us one for only two hundred dollars!” Keira went on.

I stared at her.

Two hundred dollars?

The money situation had settled, mainly because Bobbie still hadn’t found anyone part-time and she didn’t seem to mind paying me overtime. It was high season for her (outside of Christmas, Bobbie put on a whale of a Christmas at her shop, her displays were extravagant and you could buy anything Christmas there, she was known for it, people came from neighboring states just to shop at Bobbie’s for Christmas crap or simply to wander around). I was getting five to ten hours a week on time and a half which helped loads.

But she could find someone and things would change. I didn’t need an extra mouth to feed, even a canine one and especially a canine one that cost two hundred dollars.

“That’s a lot of money for a dog,” I told Keira.

“They sell them for a lot more than that, he’s gonna give us a deal,” Keira replied.

I was acutely aware of Heather standing there so I said to my daughter, “Let’s talk about this later, honey.”

“I know what you’re thinking,” she told me. “But we can’t have the puppy for a couple of weeks and I thought I could save my allowance until then and talk to Kate. She and I can go halves.”

There was no way in hell Keira was going to save her allowance for however many weeks it took to wean a puppy.

Kate saved her money and spent it frugally. She got the job at the Custard Stand for the summer for extra cash and because it was the cool place to work. It was a coup she got it. Everyone who worked there did it because most of the kids hung out there so she was essentially making cones and sundaes during a summer-long party. But with Dane carting her everywhere her Fiesta barely ever left the drive, she was depositing her money in her account and not even paying for gas.

Keira, on the other hand, went through money like water. With my overtime and Kate’s work, Keira’s household chores had increased. She’d complained but she did it because I upped her weekly allowance from ten dollars to twenty. But it was a wonder, with the way Keira was with money, that her allowance didn’t go up in a poof of smoke the minute I handed it to her.

“We’ll talk about it later,” I repeated.

“Mom –”

I lifted up a hand and put my fingers to her lips, saying quietly, “Later, baby.”

She emitted a heavy sigh and said against my fingers, “All right.”

I moved my fingers from her mouth to slide into her hair and I pulled her forehead to my lips and kissed her there. When I let her go, I knew there were no hard feelings because she lifted up and kissed me back the same way.

God, I loved my daughter.

Her head turned, her eyes caught on something, her face went bright and she shouted, “Joe!”

I looked across the yard and saw Joe, Cheryl holding a brat in a bun standing next to him, watching us.

My stomach again tied in knots.

Keira scrambled up, jumped over my body and grabbed Heather’s hand. Then she dragged Heather across the yard straight to Joe.

Okay, so I loved my daughter but she was a nut and I hoped she didn’t have some kind of teenage girl crush on Joe. That would suck, for Keira and for me.

“I have got to take a load off,” I heard Feb say from my side and I tore my eyes away from Keira skidding to a halt in front of Joe, bringing Heather up beside her, tipping her head back and saying something to him. Mostly, I had to admit, I tore my eyes away from Joe dipping his chin to stare down at my daughter, his face going soft when he did.