Page 46 of Your Last First Kiss

Beggars can’t be choosers, so I nod in thanks and dig through a pile of unfolded laundry until I find a thermal and a pair of jeans.

I draw the line at wearing the guy’s underwear.

“You’ll want long johns too,” he calls to my back, and I freeze in the hallway. “We’re going to be outside all day. I’ll run you over to Remy’s for snow gear, but trust me, man. It’s frigid out, and the radar shows a six-hour window before the next storm. Layers will be your friend.”

Backtracking, I grab a pair of thermal pants from his pile and head into the bathroom. This time, I remember to lock the door.

CHAPTER14

PENNY

“Aster? What are you doing here?” I open the door wider so she can scoot in next to me. Snow is frozen like icicles to the hair sticking out beneath her hat.

“We don’t have heat,” she says, shoving Marigold into my arms and dragging Dahlia behind her.

Do come in, my inner bitch says, but I learned a long time ago to keep her in check.

With a heavy sigh, I shut the door and shift the baby into the crook of my arm.

“Where’s Eddy?” I ask as she starts to unbutton her coat.

Everything in my soul wants to hate her, but the mom in me keeps me civil. I don’t know if she knew Eddy was married or not. He did. And she was an eighteen-year-old girl, not even a woman, when he knocked her up.

“He left an hour ago. Said something about finding someone to fix the heat, but…”

She doesn’t have to finish that sentence. We both know he went in search of booze.

My gaze drops to the little angel in my arms with rosy, red cheeks and long lashes that flutter in sleep.

“Oh, you know what? I should probably wait at the house, right? Just in case Eddy has someone come to fix the heat?”

“Right, I’m sure he’s all over it,” Kai says behind me. Turning my head, I find him on his knees, helping Dahlia out of her coat. “Pull your arm through, Lia.”

I don’t have a chance to say anything before Aster is out the door and literally running from my house. It’s probably for the best. She isn’t fond of my boys, and she hates that they refuse to call their sisters by their full names. To them, it’s Lia and Mari.

“We’ll see her tomorrow or the next day,” Kai grumbles.

I take a long breath and force my emotions down deep. Lia stares up at Kai like he’s Santa, and it hits me then, but not for the first time, how unfair life can be.

Marigold tenses in my arms and lets out a wail that could wake the dead.

“Mari’s here?” Gage comes running from the kitchen and slides across the floor until he stops in front of me. He holds out his arms in a gimme, gimme motion, but I usher him away from the door with my free hand.

“Go sit on the sofa, and then you can hold her while I make a bottle.”

“Tweef,” Lia whispers to Kai. One hand covers her mouth as she leans toward his ear. When she finds me watching, her eyes go wide like a little girl used to getting into trouble for speaking.

“Lia, you don’t have to whisper here, okay?” I say gently.

She nods but looks to Kai and mumbles, “Marwe, tweef.” She points to the baby in my arms and then to her teeth.

“Mari’s teething? She’s getting teeth?”

Lia nods, and I smile. “Thank you for telling me. I think I have something to help her, okay? Sometimes a little medicine can make them not hurt so much.”

“No wonder Aster took off,” Kai says.

I don’t disagree, but I won’t talk ill about her with him or in front of her girls. “Kai, that’s enough. Why don’t you find out if Lia’s had breakfast?”