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“I'd rather be out there than in here,” said Florence, glancing over at the stairs. “Henry seems like he's in a difficult mood.”

“I'll talk to him,” Hadley promised. “He'll be okay.”

Florence nodded. “Okay, I guess I'll get going then.”

But still she paused, hesitated, until Hadley grinned at her. “Thinking about a goodbye kiss?” she teased.

Florence bit her lip and her eyes widened just slightly and Hadley was about to push her up against the door and show her what she was really missing out on.

“Imagine the kiss,” Florence said eventually. She blushed again and the color in her cheeks made Hadley laugh.

“Get out of here. Go provide the masses with caffeine. We'll be waiting here when you're done.”

Florence shot her a lingering glance that was full of so much promise that Hadley was about to need a change of underwear, then walked away.

Hadley watched her go.

They had so much to learn about each other.

For instance, she was almost definite that there was something wrong right now, that Florence was worried about something. But she couldn't know for sure. Maybe Florence was just getting used to the idea of last night.

Or maybe there was someone else, a boyfriend, say, whose name hadn't been mentioned, but who had called on the house phone to talk to her.

No, that couldn't be right.

She was pretty damn sure that Florence wasn't the cheating kind.

There was a thumping sound from upstairs and Hadley shook herself out of her thoughts. She had a job to do.

She took the stairs two at a time and then stuck her head around the twins' bedroom door. In the corner of the room there was a small shop set up, with a counter and a register and an assortment of plastic fruits and vegetables and boxes. Charlie was proudly manning the register and Emily was throwing goods into a wire basket.

Hadley grinned, they were engrossed in their game, Charlie counting out dollar bills bright and green as Emily shopped.

She left them to their business and knocked on Henry's door before creaking it open. “Ready to build that fort, bud?”

He rolled his eyes at her. “Do I look like I am?” he snapped.

He was lying on his bed, headphones plugged into his ears. Hadley shrugged. “I'm ready when you are.”

“Whatever,” he said, rolling over so that he was facing away from her.

She sighed, reined in her temper and said calmly: “I'll give you ten minutes of alone time and then I'll be back and you and I will get started on the fort.”

He grunted in reply and she backed out, closing the door.

Sometimes it was better to leave him alone rather than pressing matters.

Besides, it gave her a chance to have an extra cup of coffee before getting down to the important business of fort-building.

Chapter Twenty Five

Florence poured the coffee and handed the take-out cup to the customer. In return, he handed her cash and she gave him change and then he left.

“Are you okay?” Eleanor asked.

“Sure,” Florence said. “Why?”

“Um, because you managed to complete that entire transaction without saying a word to the customer.” Eleanor scratched her head. “Is this about the other day? Because if it is, I'd like to clear that up right now. I can guess what you think you saw, but you just happened to walk in at an unfortunate moment. Not a thing was happening, I can promise you that. I'm very much married.”