down in front of Mia. “Are you okay?”
Mia smiled and handed him the silver ball. It was just a gum wrapper, but it also made him smile. People usually smiled around Mia. But Lucky didn’t give Mackenzie a smile when he stood back up. Didn’t give his twin one, either.
“Remember that letter Dixie Mae gave me?” Lucky said to him. He didn’t wait for an answer. “Well, Cassie and I need to take these girls for a day or two.”
“Cassie,” the twin said in the same friendly way some people said hello. He didn’t look angry at her, only at Lucky.
“We need to take them to your house,” Cassie explained. “But they slipped out of Bernie’s office while we were trying to make arrangements to get them there.”
The twin glanced at all of them, like he was the boss or something. Even the boss of Lucky. He pulled Lucky aside, the way the lady doctor had at the lawyer’s office.
“Are these your kids?” the twin whispered to Lucky. He probably thought he was saying it soft enough, but Mackenzie had good ears.
“We’re not,” Mackenzie told the question-asking twin.
But Mia must have heard it, too. “Our daddy and mommy die-did,” Mia said.
“Died,” Mackenzie corrected. She huffed.
The twin had actually thought they were Lucky’s? No way. Of course, Lucky seemed to feel the same about them. In addition to her good ears, Mackenzie had also learned to pick up on that kind of stuff.
The boss twin studied them a few seconds longer as if trying to decide if that was true or not. Then he finally tipped his head to a fancy silver car next to the fancy building. He took some keys from his pocket and handed them to Lucky.
“Use my car,” the twin told him. “I’ll have somebody drop me off at home later. Good to see you again, Cassie. I’m sorry for your loss.”
Lucky made an I’m-watching-you gesture with his fingers, pointing to his eyes first, then aiming those pointed fingers at Mackenzie. He stooped down when he made eye contact with Mia.
“Will you promise me you won’t run off again?” he asked her.
Mia nodded. Smiled, even. “Yes, I promise.”
Lucky turned to Mackenzie next. “And now I need that same promise from you.”
She hated having to do what anyone said, but she wasn’t in a good position here. Not with these two staring at her.
“Say it, Kenzie,” Mia pressed, giving her skirt a tug.
So Mackenzie did because she knew if she didn’t that Mia would just keep at it. “I won’t run.”
It wasn’t a lie. Next time she wouldn’t run. Mackenzie would somehow get a ride to the bus station or else just walk. But first chance she got, she was getting Mia and herself out of there.
THREE CARS AND four trucks. That’s how many vehicles Lucky spotted in the large circular drive that fronted the ranch and house. Obviously, he was not going to be able to make a quiet entrance with Cassie and the girls.
“It’s really big,” Mia said, looking up at the place as Lucky drove closer.
Yeah, it was. Too big. Or at least it had been after his folks died and after both Anna and Riley had moved away. Of course, Lucky had moved even before that, and despite the pretty exterior, he didn’t see a home, not anymore. It was just a house where he used to live with his family.
Oh, man.
He tried to push all that back down into the pit of his stomach. It would churn there, but it was better than dealing with it now. Especially when he had a crap-load of other stuff to deal with.
“You told them we were coming?” Cassie asked.
Her nerves were showing. Her mouth was tight. She was gripping her purse. Of course, the nerves likely had more to do with all the things ahead of her rather than walking into what appeared to be some kind of gathering. Things like him. Dealing with Dixie Mae’s death. Their temporary custody of these kids.
But especially him.
Cassie had always had this oil/water thing when it came to him, and she wasn’t going to like being under the same roof. Lucky wasn’t going to like it much, either, not because she was under the same roof with him, but because he was under this roof, period.
“I told the housekeeper Della we were coming,” Lucky answered.
Della and her sister, Stella, had started working for his family when Lucky was just a kid, and the pair would make sure those guest rooms were ready. Lucky just hoped that the rooms wouldn’t be needed that long. Two nights max. He didn’t want this drawn out. Mia and the Runaway Goth Girl had been jacked around enough and needed some place permanent to stay, and this definitely didn’t qualify as permanent.
From the looks of it, Cassie had been jacked around, too.
“As soon as you’re settled into your room,” Cassie said to the girls, “we can talk. Would that be okay?”
Of course, Mia nodded right away. Mackenzie was practicing her “I suck lemons frequently” face. The thick makeup helped with that because it appeared to be cracking in places like meringue on a pie. It was amazing she’d perfected both the expression and the art of pancake makeup at such a young age.
“We gonna talk about Miss Dixie Mae?” Mia asked.
Cassie seemed a little surprised by that. “Would you like to talk about her?”
“Sure. I miss her. She was sparkly.”
Yeah, she was, and it only reminded Lucky that he had something else on his plate: grieving for Dixie Mae. He’d planned on having a date with some hundred-proof by now to help ease his pain, but booze would apparently have to wait. Although he might need a shot to get through this next hour.
“Dixie Mae die-did,” Mia said, sounding as sad about that as Lucky felt.
“Yes, she did,” Cassie confirmed. Heck, she sounded sad, as well. Lucky hoped they didn’t start crying, or there’d be several sets of wet eyes in the car. Mackenzie’s wouldn’t be one of them, he was betting. But his sure would be.
“What about you, Mackenzie?” Cassie asked. “Do you miss Dixie Mae?”
The look on her face intensified to “I suck lemons, and limes, too.”
“She misses her,” Mia said. “She just doesn’t like to say it.”
Wise words from such a little one. Too bad this package deal hadn’t included only Mia because Lucky wouldn’t have minded spending a day or two with her.
Okay, and maybe Cassie, as well.
That blasted attraction was still there, and he was positive now that it
