Mellie looks up and smiles. “Me,” she says. And I hear a softly whispered, “Me,” from right beside my ear.
Matt
It’s around seven in the evening when my phone rings. I’m outlining a tattoo on a client at Reed’s so I can’t answer it. Friday walks over and motions toward my pocket. “Do you want me to get that?” she asks.
I lift my gun and stand up so she can get in my pocket. “Please,” I say.
“Better be careful or Paul’s going to get jealous,” she teases as she fishes around my pocket.
Paul makes a noise. He’s been trying to get her in his pockets for as long as I can remember. “I think he’s already green with envy,” I say loudly.
“If green is the new red,” she tosses back. She pulls my phone out and puts it to her ear. We didn’t carry phones for a long time because we simply couldn’t afford it. But last Christmas, Emily’s dad bought us all new phones, since he has more money than God and nothing better to do with it. He said we were too hard to keep up with without them. But I think it was more Emily’s doing than his.
“Matt’s phone,” she chirps. “Hey, Seth,” she says, her face scrunching up. “Yeah, he’s here, hang on.” She presses the “speaker” button on the phone.
“What’s up, Seth?” I ask.
“Matt?” Seth asks, and he sound a little breathless.
“What’s wrong, Seth?” I ask. I set my gun down and start to pull off my gloves.
“Have you talked to Aunt Sky today?” he asks.
“No,” I reply, the hair on the back of my neck immediately standing up. “Why?”
“Today was the first day she was supposed to pick up the girls, and I just got home and no one is here. It’s getting late, is all.”
“I haven’t talked to her,” I say. “Do you want me to come over?” I’m already making my way to the front door and Pete is taking over with my client.
“Call us if you need us,” Paul says to my back. Like he has to remind me. With a glance over my shoulder, I wave at him, and he nods.
“Did you call her phone?” I ask.
“Yeah, but it’s going directly to voice mail. And the texts I sent say delivered but not read.”
“Her battery is probably dead, Seth,” I say. I’m not worried at all. Well, maybe a little.
“She should have called to tell me where she is,” he murmurs, and I can imagine him scruffing his hair in frustration.
“She probably thought you wouldn’t be home yet,” I say. “I’m on the way to keep you company. You feel like a pizza?” Teenage boys always feel like pizza.
###
I stop to order a couple of pies at Rico’s really quickly and take them with me. When I get to the apartment, I see Sky unloading the girls from the car in front of the apartment. She’s found a spot and is ushering them along. She has bags and bags of stuff in her hands.
“Need some help?” I ask.
She looks up and blows her hair from her face with an upturned breath. “Matt,” she says, but a pleasant smile tips the corners of her lips, and it’s enough to take my breath away. She has a boyfriend, ass**le. Don’t get any ideas. “What are you doing here?”
I grin because it’s how I’m feeling inside. “Seth called me freaking out when you weren’t home,” I admit.
Her face falls. “Oh,” she says. She frowns. “Why would he do that?”
I shrug. “He was worried.”
She slams the door of the car even though there are still more bags in there.
I look through her window. “Let me help with those.”
She shakes her head. “I’ll come and get them later,” she says. “After I calm Seth down, apparently.” She looks ruefully at me. She holds up the bags. “We went shopping.”
“I can tell,” I say. I motion toward Mellie and crouch down. She climbs onto my back and holds on tightly. I stand up and swing her around the way I would my niece, and she squeals and laughs. I still have pizzas in one hand, so I set them on top of the car.
“Do me,” Joey cries, clinging to my leg.
I scoop Joey up too and spin them both in circles.
Sky laughs. “I think they like you,” she says quietly. There’s a look of longing on her face.
I jostle them both. “Yeah, they like me.” They both squeal as I spin them around again. “I mean, really,” I tease. “What’s not to like?” I arch my brow at her, joking with her like I would a woman I might be interested in. But there hasn’t been one of those in a long time.
Her face colors, and she’s so damn pretty. But she doesn’t say anything. Her eyes travel, though, from the top of my head to the tips of my feet, staying in some places longer than others. Is that interest I see in her eyes? She licks her lips and looks away.
“Careful,” I warn quietly.
She shakes her head, like she wants me to shut up. So I do. For now.
I follow her into the building with the girls still clinging to me since I’m holding on to them and the pizzas, and they’re still squealing when I walk through the door of the apartment with them.
“Look what I found,” I say loudly as we step into the kitchen. Seth spins around, his face hard, and he starts to open his mouth. I can just imagine what’s about to come out, so I cut him off. “Your Aunt Sky was nice enough to take the girls shopping this afternoon,” I say. I meet his eyes and give him a subtle warning to keep his trap shut.