Page 56

All three of the kids had problems with their parents splitting up. But the twins had started to do better with the stability of having both her and Florence around. Emily's accidents seemed to have stopped. Charlie had stopped trying to please everyone, and was beginning to speak his own mind about things, like arguing over playing shop with Emily. A couple of weeks ago he'd have agreed immediately just to keep his sister happy.

Henry though, he was something else.

There was anger burning inside him, and Hadley could see when he was about to lose control of it.

“Henry, how about you and I build a fort in the basement,” she offered.

Henry's lip pulled back in and he grinned. “For real?”

“For real.”

“But I want to go in a fort,” Charlie said.

“Too bad, so sad,” said Henry. “It's my fort.”

“Our fort,” Hadley corrected. “Henry and I will build the fort, but we'll invite you to snack time inside when we're done. Deal?”

Charlie nodded and Henry shrugged, apparently content with the idea of playing architect.

“That sounds like a fun morning,” Florence said, nodding in Hadley's direction.

“Well, if you're all done, let's get started,” Hadley said cheerfully.

She waited as all the children filed out of the dining room and then ran off, stalled long enough in the doorway that Florence had to brush by her. As soon as they were in proximity, Hadley's skin tingled and she felt a flood of desire.

She touched Florence's arm, but Florence drew back. “Not while the kids are awake,” she said.

Hadley took a deep breath, balancing her want against making a smart decision, then she nodded. “Right. Yes. You got it.”

She managed to take a step backward, but that attraction was hard to ignore. “You off to the coffee shop?”

Florence nodded.

She frowned. She didn't want Florence to leave. Even if she couldn't touch her she could watch her. “That stupid money,” she said. “I wish I knew where the hell it had gone.”

“It's already been spent by some opportunistic thief,” Florence said. “There's no point even thinking about it.”

“Except we wouldn't need to be working at the cafe if we'd been more careful,” Hadley pointed out.

Florence sighed. “Money gets more depressing the longer you think about it, so my advice is don't think about it.”

Which sounded weird to Hadley who'd never thought of cash as depressing. “Are you really okay?” she asked.

“Fine.”

“This isn't about last night, is it?” she asked.

They'd finished the night curled up on a couch together, but had slept in separate beds, just in case one of the children woke up. But they'd parted reluctantly and Hadley for once had been sure that Florence was on the same page as she was.

“No. No!” Florence's cheeks flushed and Hadley wanted to kiss her. “Not at all. I swear. I, okay, we don't have time to discuss things. But please, don't think that I regret last night. I absolutely don't. I swear to you.”

Yet there was still something not quite right. “Who was on the phone?” she asked suddenly.

Florence flushed again. “Nobody. It was nothing. A wrong number.”

A wrong number that asked for Florence by name, at least according to Mrs. Mercier. Though Hadley supposed that maybe the caller hadn't asked for her, maybe Mrs. Mercier had simply thought Florence the best person to deal with a nuisance call.

She sighed and let her fingers almost touch Florence's skin again. “Okay,” she said, finally. “You have a good day out there.”