Page 40 of Ace

“All that crap about bringing me along because I’m good with teenagers?”

Ace folded his arms over his chest. “That was covering your butt, little girl. Or would you rather I told Christine why I really brought you along? Fill her in on the fact that you lied to me and said you were her family?”

Lizzie shrank back, dropping her aggressive stance. He made a good point.

“But I’m never around teenagers! How am I supposed to know what to do? What am I supposed to say to her? How is that not a lie, and how is it covering my butt?” She winced on the word butt. She couldn’t help it. Hers hurt.

Ace shrugged. “You’re good with Jade. The two of you seem to get along swimmingly, and her Middle age is practically a teenager.”

Lizzie sighed. “It’s more like Jade is good with me, but yeah, okay. I see your point. It’s probably not as hard as I’m making it out to be.”

“Probably not.” Ace leaned forward and gathered her in a hug then kissed her nose and her cheek before letting her go. “You can do this, and I appreciate it.”

Lizzie melted. “Thanks, Daddy.” Turning toward the house, she squared her shoulders and walked toward the front door, giving herself a mental pep talk the whole way there. As soon as she reached the top step, the door swung open, and Christine ushered her in.

Chapter 15

Lizzie

“Come in, come in. Can I get you something to drink? Water? Juice? Lemonade?”

The woman seemed so eager and nervous, Lizzie couldn’t say no. “Lemonade please.”

She followed Christine into the kitchen where Angela sat on a barstool at the island, doing what Lizzie assumed was homework, but she didn’t really seem too into it. Lizzie didn’t blame her. Who wanted to do homework on a weekend?

As she searched for something to say to the girl, a way to break the ice, Angela kept looking over her shoulder toward the window nervously like she was expecting a brick to come hurtling through it any moment.

“I think about moving,” Christine announced, handing her a tall glass of lemonade, “but it’s such an expense, and a hassle. I love this house so much, and I worry about the kids if I can’t find a home in the same school district, and then I get mad because if I move, then he wins. And who’s to say he wouldn’t just find us again, especially if we don’t move far?” She shook her head and hugged herself around her middle. “Sometimes I think about moving far away, but same set of problems.”

Not sure what to say, Lizzie just nodded, and Christine started apologizing. “Sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to unload on you like that. It’s just been rough for a long time, and since the trial ended the way it did, it’s just been rougher. I know I shouldn’t be surprised, with his reputation and connections, but I really thought justice would win and he’d be put away for a long time.”

“It was a bullshit verdict,” Lizzie said, wincing inwardly when she realized she’d cussed. Great. She could just add that to the list of things she was going to be in trouble for.

Christine nodded, her throat constricting as she seemed to try not to cry.

Lizzie looked over at Angela who had been listening to the whole exchange and now looked even more tense than she had five minutes ago. Sliding onto the barstool beside Angela’s, Lizzie sipped her lemonade and searched her brain for something to say. It wasn’t supposed to be this hard.

“Whatcha working on?” she finally asked, nodding toward the schoolbook spread open on the counter.

“Stupid algebra,” Angela huffed.

“Yuck. I always hated math. Do you like school?”

She was so proud of herself for finding a question to ask, and Angela just rolled her eyes, turning her barstool so she was facing away from Lizzie.

Fuck. She was failing. Gloriously and hard.

Angela was back to staring out the window, but this time her expression was more dreamy than nervous. “Are you Ace’s girlfriend?” she asked suddenly, swiveling back around to face Lizzie.

Lizzie was sure she had a deer in the headlights expression. She’d been expecting to talk about school, or sports, or music, or shopping or whatever it was teenage girls talked about these days. She had not been anticipating fielding pressing questions about her personal life.

“Angela!” Christine gasped. “That is none of our business!”

“What’s the big deal? He’s the one who brought her here. I was just asking a question.”

“And it’s fine, really,” Lizzie jumped in with far more sincerity than she felt. “I’m just not sure how to answer it. We’re dating, but nothing really official yet.”

“They’re doing it,” Angela surmised succinctly.