Page 95 of To the Chase

Chapter Thirty-five

Bea

BenjaminandIwerecoming home from a walk when I spotted the familiar sight of Lacey, Talon, and Scarlet on the sidewalk in front of my house. Only they had Tony with them. Even if Benjamin had let me turn around and head the other way, I wouldn’t have. On the contrary, I found myself speeding up—just a little—to get to them.

“Bea!” Lacey waved her casted arm, a white piece of paper clutched in her fingers. “I have to give this to you.”

Benjamin sat like a good boy, plopping down in front of Talon without me saying a word, his tail wagging happily. Talon immediately dropped to the ground and rubbed his face into Benjamin’s silky coat.

I crouched in front of Lacey. “Hello, darling. What do you have for me?”

She shoved the paper into my hand. “I made this for you yesterday, but then I fell, so I kind of forgot to give it to you. It took me two whole days to draw. I hope you love it. I didn’t have a picture of Benjamin, so I had to draw him from my memory.”

Onthe paper, in bold crayon lines, was my boy. She’d captured his flopped ears and goofy grin perfectly. Benjamin’s tongue lolled out like he was laughing, and perched on his head was a bright-yellow-and-black bumblebee with sparkly wings.

“Oh, wow,” I said, my chest going gooey and warm. “This is amazing.”

“Do you like it?” She pointed to the bee. “That’s you, because your name is like a bee, even if it’s spelled differently.”

Lizards, how was one girl so adorable?

“I love it so much. You want to come in and show me where I should hang it on my fridge?”

Where had that come from? I’m supposed to be taking space, not inviting Tore’s family into my house.

She blinked her big brown eyes at me. “Yes, Bea. I really want to.”

The kids and Benjamin ran inside first, and Tony and I followed.

“You doing all right?” he asked.

“I’m good.” I wondered if he knew I was dating his son, but I wouldn’t ask. “Did Lacey sleep okay in her cast?”

“From what I heard from my son, she had a pretty restless night. Poor guy looked like a zombie when he left for work this morning, but Lace’s step is full of pep.”

I forced out a smile, shoving my mind way past his comment about Tore, even though it hurt my heart to think about him up all night with Lacey and not getting any sleep.

“I have a feeling Lacey’s step is always peppy.”

Tony chuckled. “You know her well.”

I did. Somehow, I’d let myself get to know all three of these children. It hadn’t been intentional, but it’d happened anyway. And even though kids weren’t my thing, I liked these specific ones. Alot.

Blurgh.

Lacey picked a spot on the center of my fridge, and we both stepped back, eyeing the picture critically.

“You know…” I scratched my chin, pretending to consider. “I think I might buy a frame for it. Sometimes I’m messy when I cook. I’d hate to splash anything on this masterpiece.”

She gasped. “You want to frame it?”

“You spent two days on it. That’s commitment. It would be insulting the artist if I didn’t.”

She folded her arms across her puffed-up chest. “Yeah. You’re right. Iaman artist. Did you know Uncle Sally collects art? The stuff he likes doesn’t fit in frames, though. But maybe he should think about it. I think he pays alotof money for that stuff.”

“Does he have any of your art hanging up?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yep. Our fridge is covered in art Tally and I made. Uncle Sally doesn’t like messes, but he says he doesn’t mind some chaos when it’s contained in one spot. Sometimes, I catch him standing there, staring at everything, kind of smiling. I think he likes it a lot.”