Summer Burns (6 page)

Matthew started digging in his wallet, looking for a bit of change. Because that bear was just hanging there, waiting to be snagged.

"
Wait, I have some in my car. Stay here.
"
Summer darted toward the door.

Matthew glanced at Emma.
"
Uh, okay,
"
he said, but Summer was gone.

"
She
'
ll be back,
"
Emma said, not seeming the slightest bit worried about her mother leaving her alone in the restaurant.

Matthew, however, wasn
'
t nearly as relaxed. His gaze darted around the pizzeria again, suddenly looking for threats against little Emma, like someone would try to take her away while on his watch.

Not going to happen
.

Emma plastered herself in front of the machine, blocking anyone from seeing the almost freed teddy bear. A couple of kids walked up, obviously wanting to try the machine, but Emma held them at bay.

Summer came back, quarter in hand.
"
Got one!
"
She shoved the coin in, and glanced at Matthew, grinning.

Emma squealed.

"
Emma, do you want to do the honors?
"
Summer asked.

The little girl grinned and with a couple of quick moves, the teddy bear fell into the prize hole and she pulled it out, shrieking with delight.

"
She
'
s happy now,
"
Matthew said.

"
She
'
s been after that bear forever.
"
Summer grinned, and he wondered if she was just as excited as the little girl was.

Emma babbled over what she was going to name the blue stuffed bear--Elsa, he thought she
'
d said--as they walked out of the pizzeria. Summer got her in the backseat, and Emma started fastening the bear into a seat belt then got herself situated in her car seat.

Summer climbed into the driver
'
s seat, and he handed her the leftover pizza.

"
You can keep it if you want,
"
she said.

"
It
'
s all right,
"
he said.
"
Take it to work tomorrow. Lunch at the salon.
"

She grinned.
"
Well, thank you again.
"

"
Mister Maffew! Mister Maffew!
"
Emma called from the backseat.

He leaned in the window a bit to see her.
"
Yes?
"

"
You have to come watch
Frozen
with us! Elsa wants you to come!
"

"
Oh, honey, that
'
s nice of you to invite him, but I
'
m sure Mister Matthew has things he has to do this evening.
"

The sad thing was, he really didn
'
t. Just watching something mind numbing on
Netflix
.

He glanced at Summer.
"
Is it any good?
"

She smirked.
"
It was the first time I saw it. Now, I can quote it to you. And I
'
m not proud of that.
"

He smirked.

"
Please Mister Maffew? Please?
"
Emma
'
s words hit him right in the gut.

"
Emma, don
'
t beg.
"
Summer fastened her seat belt.

"
Maybe for a little bit,
"
Matthew heard himself say.

Summer arched her eyebrow.
"
You don
'
t have to. It
'
s fine.
"

He shrugged.
"
Probably better than watching
Neflix
all night anyway.
"
But if he did, well, at least he would be able to check in how she was living. He
'
d promised Jake, after all, that he
'
d make sure they were okay.

It was only doing what he promised, right?

Chapter Five

I stood behind the couch where Emma had planted Hennessey--Matthew, I have to remember that--and her new teddy bear to watch the Disney movie. He
'
d finally relaxed. At first he
'
d been very nervous watching with her. He kept glancing at me, then he
'
d get sucked into the story for a second, then he
'
d start looking around again.

I wondered if he
'
d ever been around kids much.

Regardless, he was doing better now. Emma either didn
'
t notice or didn
'
t care that he was uncomfortable, because she kept a running monolog going about every little thing in the movie, explaining the plot as only a six-year-old could do.

And surprisingly, Matthew would jump in with questions that kept her talking. Maybe he did that on purpose so he didn
'
t have to talk?

Regardless, Emma was having a blast.

I smirked as they discussed the finer points of the talking snow man
'
s song. Feeling like she was in good hands, I decided to refill my drink.

Glancing at them as I tossed some ice in my glass, I couldn
'
t help thinking about how Jake would have loved sitting there, watching the movie with her. She was his world--everything was for Emma. Nothing else mattered.

And she lived for him. So I shouldn
'
t have been surprised at how much she seemed to enjoy having a father-ish figure around.

I hadn
'
t really considered what Emma was missing out on when I decided to not bother with dating. Not that I was terribly interested in it, but I wanted what was best for my little girl.

I didn
'
t want to be one of those single mothers who paraded a string of men in front of my kid. I saw enough of that in the beauty shop with my clients.

Every time I hear the story, I
'
d be glad I decided to stay away from dating, if only for Emma
'
s sake.

Yet seeing her talking to Matthew, I could tell she missed that. There weren
'
t a lot of men in the family anymore. Mom hadn
'
t been with anyone in years. My husband was gone. Winter got divorced and her ex moved to nicer climates, and my other sister Autumn, well, who knows what
'
s going on in her life. If there
'
s a man, she hasn
'
t said anything.

Of course, if I wanted to know, I could always check
Instagram
. She was forever posting pictures of, well, everything, on her account there.

I picked up my phone and scrolled through the photo sharing app. Sure enough, my feed was flooded with odd pictures from my sister.

Looked like she was in Chicago. At least, there was a selfie of her outside Wrigley Field. Whether she was living there, or just visiting, I had no idea.

Mom came into the kitchen. Yes. I live with my mother. I
'
m not exactly proud of this, but when Jake died, it was the best arrangement. I saved as much as I could each month so I could buy my own house for me and Emma--we were almost there.

"
Autumn
'
s in Chicago.
"
I held up my phone to show Mom.

"
Her job sure is sending her everywhere.
"

I blinked.
"
She has a job?
"
My sister has always been a leaf on the wind, tumbling wherever she could, and never staying in any particular place for very long.
"
I thought she applied for that cruise line.
"

"
I don
'
t think she got it,
"
Mom said.

"
Too bad, that would have been great for her.
"

"
Autumn, stuck on a ship for months at a time? That would not end well.
"
We both smirked, because Autumn was, well, Autumn. She seemed to have our flighty father
'
s bohemian tendencies.

"
Well, at least she
'
d be able to say she
'
s been all over if she did that,
"
I said.

Mom grinned.
"
When you
'
re young with no obligations, you can do that.
"

For the briefest second, I wondered what that would be like, just tumbling from place to place with no plan, no money, and no worry how I would get there, or what I would do. Such a foreign concept, I couldn
'
t imagine what it must be like.

Laughter from the living room jarred my attention and jerked me out of the wandering train of thought, and I smirked at my daughter
'
s excitement over the movie.

And, I daresay, the company as well.

I had to do what was best for Emma. A new worry had been creeping in the back of my mind -- how quick Emma was connecting with Matthew.

Mom watched Emma and Matthew laughing at the movie.

"
He seems nice,
"
Mom said as she started the water to make herself a cup of tea.

I got down the powdered drink mix and started making a fresh pitcher.
"
He is.
"

"
Emma seems to enjoy him being here.
"

"
Emma likes anyone she can watch
Frozen
with.
"
Though I figured I
'
d probably better get back in there before he loses his mind over the singing. Don
'
t most guys hate movies with singing in them?

Though surprisingly, Matthew hadn
'
t tried to break away yet. Maybe he actually was enjoying the story?

I wondered as I stirred the mix. Was he enjoying himself? Or just humoring the little girl of his fallen comrade?

"
What about you?
"

"
What about me what?
"
I asked as I put the finished pitcher back in the fridge.

"
Do you like him being here?
"

I shrugged, because I really didn
'
t have an answer. It was nice talking to a man at dinner, a grown-up that wasn
'
t my mother, or a client.

But I knew where Mom was going, and it wasn
'
t just simple adult interaction.
"
I don
'
t think I
'
m ready to date, Mom.
"

"
Then why
'
s he here?
"

I glanced back at them. They laughed over something with the trolls, though Emma was carrying it a bit too far, as little girls tended to do. At least, as mine tended to do, anyway.

I opened my mouth to say something, but Matthew shushed her, and surprisingly, Emma listened to him.

Imagine that.

"
Summer,
"
my mother said.

I met her gaze.
"
I don
'
t know why I let him come, Mom. Emma wanted it, and frankly, I wanted to make her happy. She misses her dad.
"

"
She does. But with all the love around her, I don
'
t think she
'
ll suffer without him.
"
She dug through the variety of tea bags stored in the cabinet to select whatever herbal brew that would heighten or tighten or straighten whatever chakra was out of alignment today.