Page 35 of My Three Hometown Hard Hats

“I love that kid. I never know what’s going to come out of her mouth.”

“You and I both,” I mutter. Miles directs us to the outdoor lumber section next to the store, where they always leave all the things we order from them.

With all three of us there, we get everything loaded up in record time.

Brooks walks out of the store hand-in-hand with Evelyn. They both have mischievous looks on their faces.

“Why do you both look like that?” Conrad asks, from my side.

“Is something wrong with our faces?” Brooks asks, dramatically running his free hand over his face and then Evelyn’s.

She giggles, then quickly straightens her features. “We have a plan,” she states.

“These are always good,” Conrad mumbles to me.

“We’re going to go say hi to Hadley,” she says, one hand going to her hip that she has cocked to the side.Give me strength for when she’s a teenager.

“We don’t even know if she’s working,” I tell her.

“Oh, but we do,” Brooks speaks up. “She’s wearing a dark blue shirt with ripped jeans, and her hair is up in a bun. I saw her through the front window.”

“Stalker,” Conrad coughs under his breath, like he hadn’t been staring over in that direction the entire time we were loading up the supplies.

Like you weren’t, either.

Fighting them is pointless, and in all reality, why would I? I want to see her, and if I can use Evelyn as the excuse to do so, so be it.

“Fine.” I hold my hand up to the shelter.

“You caved quickly,” Conrad says quietly beside me as we start to walk in that direction.

“Like you’re complaining about seeing her.” I side-eye him.

“Hell no, I’m not,” he says, stepping through the door Brooks is holding open for all of us.

“Hadley,” Evelyn shouts, peeking her head around the front desk. I guess she’s bound and determined to make me look like a terrible parent today.

Even if I wanted to do the very same thing as soon as we walked in.

“That’s my girl,” Brooks says, giving Evelyn a thumbs up. Who knows if his influence on her will pan out to be a good thing or a bad one?

“Yeah?” Hadley says, popping around the corner. “Oh… hi, all of you.”

“We came to say hi,” Evelyn says a little too loudly for indoors.

“Well, hi,” Hadley says, laughing.

“Can I see Cash?”

“Sure, come on.” She holds her hand out for Evelyn. “You three can come too,” she tells us.

Of course, we follow them into the back like little puppies.

Evelyn and Hadley kneel in front of a kennel with the same dog from the dog park the other day.He really is cute, even if he’s kind of a doofus.

The dog happily barks at Evelyn, licking her hands through the grate.

“Who’s this guy?” Conrad says, crouching behind the girls.