Summer Burns (9 page)

"
I
'
m sure he will.
"
I smiled and wondered what Matthew would think of her dress, but brushed off the thought as I reached the porch. After all, it wasn
'
t like we were dating. I wasn
'
t sure I
'
d call him again.

I
'
d thought about him off and on today, but it was mostly just random stuff. And every time the thoughts brought a smile to my face.

He didn
'
t call or text, so maybe I really was better to let it go.

When I reached the porch, Paula stood there, giving me the stink-eye. Emma had gone inside, I guessed to get her things from her overnight with Grandma.

"
Who is this Mister Matthew she
'
s been talking about all day? Mister Matthew this, Mister Matthew that. Is that her teacher in summer camp?
"

Uh oh, here we go
. I was hoping that Emma wouldn
'
t mention him to her grandmother, but evidently, her finding a new friend was worthy news to pass on.

"
He
'
s an old acquaintance that had dinner with us Thursday night.
"
I smiled, hoping she wouldn
'
t take it for more than it was.

"
Are you dating this boy?
"
she snapped. Evidently I was wrong.

I shook my head.
"
He just came into the pizzeria and joined us.
"

"
Sounds like a date to me.
"

I was about to retort, but she kept going as she shook her head.
"
You have to be careful, she
'
s already far too attached to him. She even asked me if he was going to be her new daddy today. Little children connect too easily. You can
'
t be introducing her to a string of men willy-nilly.
"

Maybe it was the heat or the long day, but I wanted to scream. How dare she tell me what I can and can
'
t do? Yet all that came out was:
"
I
'
m not.
"

In twenty minutes, I
'
ll have the perfect comeback. I know I will.

"
I know you
'
re young, and I don
'
t expect you
'
ll never date again,
"
she drug out the last few words like she really did expect me to do just that.
"
But you should honor Jake better, and not introduce Emma to every man you meet. You want her to have a string of daddies in her life? Besides, what do you know about this guy? He could be a child molester.
"

"
Okay, stop right there, Paula.
"
I took a deep breath, and shifted gears back to hairdresser-dealing-with-a-difficult-client-mode. Not terribly hard, because I had several today. Still not what I wanted to be doing right now.

I just want to get my kid and go home, maybe have a glass of wine while I prepared macaroni and cheese with hotdogs in it.

Not deal with judgy people.

"
Number one, I think I know how to handle my daughter. Number two, while I appreciate your concern, I
'
m not dating anyone. Matthew Hennessey is a friend from high school who served
with your son
in Iraq. He paid his respects to me last week, and when I saw him in the pizzeria, I invited him to join us for dinner. He
'
s not a child molester, he is a soldier.
"

"
That doesn
'
t mean he couldn
'
t be,
"
she said, her voice a snarky whisper.

I rolled my eyes.
"
You need to quit watching the true crime shows. I
'
m not marrying anyone. I
'
m not even dating anyone. Including Matthew.
"

"
Well then
you
need to have a talk with
your
daughter.
"
With that, she spun and walked back into the house.

I rubbed my temples.

Seriously? This was way more attitude than I could stand. Between bitchy clients who had me running around like a lunatic today and now this, um, no thank you. I followed her inside, where she was hugging Emma. Emma still wore her dress.

"
Emma go put that away, and then we
'
ll go.
"

"
But Grandma said I could take it home,
"
she whined.

"
Please take it off, and we will take it home. It
'
s hot in my car, and I don
'
t want you to get all sweaty in it.
"

"
Okay fine,
"
she stomped off.

"
She didn
'
t have to take it off,
"
Paula said.

I turned my glare on my mother-in-law.
"
We need to finish this conversation.
"

"
I have nothing more to say on the matter,
"
Paula said, her arms crossed.

"
Right now, if I plan on going on a date, or spend some time with a guy, that
'
s not your concern.
"

"
I beg to differ.
"

"
No, you had your speech, I get mine now.
"
I inhaled a breath so I didn
'
t rip into her like I wanted to.
"
I get that you just want to make sure Emma
'
s not hurt. And I appreciate that. But you have no right to tell me how to handle any dating situation. I
'
m not some stupid kid who would date anyone who would hurt my daughter. If I want to spend some time with him, or any man, that
'
s my choice. Will we go on a date? I don
'
t know. Maybe. Maybe not. But that
'
s not for you to decide. It
'
s been three years, Paula. I love Jake. I miss him every day.
"

"
Then you shouldn
'
t even be thinking about dating.
"

I shook my head.
"
No, I should. I should want to go on with my life. Jake would have wanted me to.
"

Emma came back into the room, stopping Paula from saying anything.

"
Mommy, are you okay?
"

I glanced at my little girl, who was looking between me and Paula.
"
I
'
m fine sweetheart.
"

"
Uh huh.
"
She glared at me, and folded her arms, looking way too much like her father when he would give me the same look.

"
Let
'
s get going, okay?
"

"
Sure Mom.
"
She walked over to her grandmother and gave her a big hug.

Paula kissed her cheek and whispered something in her ear, and stood up, looking way too smug.

"
Don
'
t,
"
I said to her.

She raised her eyebrow, like she expected me to challenge her.

"
Come on, Emma.
"
We walked outside and got in the car.

I resisted the urge to scream.

After we got under way, I flipped down my rear view mirror and glanced at Emma.
"
So what secret did Grandma whisper to you today?
"
I tried to keep my voice light, hoping she
'
d tell me.

Because, yeah. Was not amused at Paula
'
s little maneuver.

"
Only that if I needed her, I could always call.
"

"
And why would you need Grandma?
"

"
If I was sad.
"

"
Well, I hope you
'
re not sad.
"

"
I
'
m not! I got this new dress and everything!
"
She held up the dress, like I might have forgotten already.
"
And the wig is really neat, but it gets hot on my head sometimes. Then I take it off and pretend I
'
m Ana trying on Elsa
'
s dress.
"
And on she went.

And such is the mentality of a little girl.

Her oblivion to grown-up issues eased my conscience.

~*~

I swallowed the last bite of the cranberry-apple-feta salad my mother made and glanced at Emma
'
s mostly empty plate of macaroni and cheese. All the hot dog bits were gone, left with just a little macaroni.

Emma did not eat green things, unfortunately. Her two leftover lettuce leaves looked sad and lonely on the side of her plate. She
'
d eaten one of the three I
'
d given her.

"
Eat up,
"
I said.

"
Can I have a cookie if I finish?
"
she asked.

"
In a little while, yes, you can have dessert.
"

"
Yeah!
"
She dove back into her mac and cheese with abandon. I doubted she
'
d touch any more lettuce, but well, she ate carrots and apples, so I call that a win.

Mom tossed her napkin on her plate.
"
That salad came out fine,
"
she said.
"
Crisp and cool on a hot summer day.
"

I agreed with her. It was totally what I needed tonight. Cool and relaxing--all I needed to finish off my night was a glass of wine and--

A heavy knock on the door made both of us jump. Mom glanced at me.
"
Are you expecting anyone?
"

I shook my head as I started to stand. It wasn
'
t horribly late, but we didn
'
t normally have visitors unannounced. Twenty years ago, Mom always had people popping by, but now, well, that just wasn
'
t done.

I headed toward the door and saw the handle jiggle. The lock wasn
'
t thrown. We may live in the Midwest, but burglaries still happened. I was far too familiar with someone breaking in--I had one back when Jake was deployed. Not a great thing for a woman by herself with a kid.

My gaze darted to the nearest heavy object--a vase on the side table. I picked it up and had it in my hand, ready to throw it.

The door popped open.

I hurled the vase.

Smash.

It hit the wall just next to the door.

"
Good god, Summer! Are you trying to kill me?
"
My baby sister Autumn stood in the doorway, suitcases in her hand, her fire-engine red hair--good lord, red, really?--and dusted the shards off from the shattered vase.

"
You should be glad I never could throw well,
"
I said, hand on my heart.

"
Well, there is that,
"
Autumn said as she sat down her suitcases.

Adrenalin still pumped through me as I turned to get the broom from the kitchen.
"
You couldn
'
t have waited thirty seconds for me to open the door?
"
I muttered.

"
This is my home too, I shouldn
'
t have to wait to be invited in.
"

I would have said more, but Mom came down the hallway.

"
Autumn!
"
Mom cried, as she entered the foyer.
"
What have you done with your hair?
"
Mom
'
s gaze darted to me.
"
You
'
re cleaning that up.
"