Page 10

Chapter Ten

H ope felt like the biggest coward. Since last Saturday’s conversation, she’d been doing all she could to hide out from Locks, including tonight.

She’d offered to babysit for Faith and Slice so they could go to Nelson’s Honkytonk Bar the earliest that Slice thought she could move in was four weeks. And that was if the weather didn’t slow construction. June in Kansas could bring torrential rains that could impact the construction process.

She’d even checked into a short-term rental in town, but nothing was available. At this point, she was considering taking Benji on a cross-country vacation. Maybe they could be gone for three weeks. It would be expensive, but she wasn’t hurting for money.

She had the life insurance from her husband that she’d never touched. She had her retirement from the school district where she’d worked, along with the online job she had of booking vacations for people. It was something she’d fallen into when she’d been given custody of Benji. She wanted to be available for all his school activities, but she also wanted something to do.

Maybe she and Benji could take a trip from Kansas to Florida and stop to stay at fun places along the way. If Faith, Slice, and the kids wanted to come, she’d be fine with that, too. As long as a certain man wasn’t in her vicinity.

He’d been walking into the diner as she and Benji were heading toward the back exit, him in his well-worn jeans that hugged his thighs and his chambray shirt that was almost white from all the washings underneath his cut. He’d even had one of his cowboy hats on. The man had more hats than she had shoes—ball caps and cowboy hats for every occasion. How he made a cowboy hat look so fine with his cut was beyond her. It was all she could do to walk out the door and not turn around and lick the man from head to toe. Despite how horrible he’d acted, her body still screamed at her to drop her panties and throw her legs open.

“Aunt Hope, can we play video games?” Micah asked.

She grinned and widened her eyes. “Don’t you know that when Aunt Hope babysits on a Friday night, there are no rules?”

Micah, Isaiah, and Benji stared at her with their mouths open.

Benji turned to Micah. “I think this is a trick.”

Micah nodded. “No rules doesn’t sound right.”

Isaiah walked over, crawled up on Hope’s lap, then kissed her cheek.

“I believe you, Aunt Hope.”

“Then you can have the first bowl of ice cream,” Hope said.

“Wait, like no rules? No bedtime? No bath? No brushing teeth?” Micah asked.

“Yep, the only request I have is that you be nice to each other.”

“So there is a rule.”

Hope snickered. “Not really. It’s more like I’m asking you to do it, not telling you.”

“Woohoo,” they screamed and ran to the kitchen. Hope followed and pulled out the ice cream, bowls, spoons, and toppings she’d brought.

Tonight was exactly what she needed. Fun with the kids and no chance of Locks being in her vicinity. Her vagina needed a break from his magnetism and attention. Though the man did know how to make her feel like she was everything. If only it could last longer than the night.

She had a couple things that were on her list to accomplish for the commemoration celebration, but maybe Regina needed some stuff from Wichita. Hope could make it a weekend and get away from the man who made her forget every self-preservation instinct she had.

“Mimi, are we doing something fun this summer? Can I play on a T-ball team?” Benji asked.

“I don’t know if it’s too late. I can check if you’d like to,” Hope said.

T-ball might throw a wrench in her getting out of town for weeks on end, but she wanted Benji to have everything he hadn’t when he lived with his dad. She felt so much safer with his dad in jail and unable to hurt her or Benji.

Benji threw his arms around her waist and hugged her tight.

“I love living with you, Mimi,” he whispered.

She leaned over and kissed his head. “I love living with you too. I’m so glad you’re mine.”