Page 27 of Tattered (Lark Cove 1)

I was sweeping the back porch, attempting to convince myself with every swish of the broom that introducing Charlie and Logan tonight was going to go well.

It wasn’t working.

Ever since Logan had walked out of my workshop last night, I’d guessed at how this would go. I’d imagined every likely scenario. None of them ended with hugs and kisses.

Logan wanted so badly for Charlie to like him. I’d seen the desperation in his eyes. It would crush him if she didn’t run into his arms and call him Daddy.

But I knew my daughter. She wasn’t as easygoing as other children. She was a thinker. She pondered change. And a life-altering one like this would take her time to accept.

She would eventually. Someday, hopefully not too far in the future, she would adore Logan. But the chances of her embracing him tonight were slim to none. If she wasn’t all smiles tonight, I didn’t want him to give up on her.

I’d been given up on more times than I could count, and I didn’t want that for my precious girl.

I poured my nerves into the broomstick, sweeping hard to clear the dust from the porch. I held it back for one last strong push but stopped the bristles midstroke. The hairs on the back of my neck stood.

There were eyes on me. I could feel them.

But the yard was empty. Hazel was at the bar to pester Jackson and make herself scarce. Charlie wasn’t anywhere in sight, probably off in the trees to play in her fort or find some other creature to try and sneak into the house. Logan’s face popped into my mind but I dismissed it immediately. It was way too early for him to be here.

So who was looking at me?

I set aside the broom and walked down the porch steps toward the middle of the yard. I turned in a circle, looking for a neighbor close by or someone in a boat out on the lake.

There was no one.

Strange.

“Charlie!” I called loud. “Time to come inside!”

“Okay!” she called back from the trees.

I went back up to the porch, scanning the yard again as I walked. Then I shook my head, giving myself a good eye roll. The nerves for this dinner were making me crazy.

I went inside and put away the broom just as Charlie rushed inside. “Hi, Mommy,” she said, out of breath.

“Hello, my love. Did you have fun playing?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I’m thirsty.”

“I’ll get you some water.” I took down one of her plastic cups from the cabinet and filled it from the sink.

She gulped down the water and set the empty cup on the counter. Then she smiled up at me from underneath her favorite baseball cap.

The hat had once been black but was now faded to a dirty brown. The stitched logo for the Lark Cove Bar had started out white but that hadn’t lasted longer than a day.

Some Lark Cove parents frowned at me for letting Charlie wear a cap advertising a bar. But Jackson had given this hat to her and she adored it almost as much as her pseudo uncle. Since I was used to getting looks of disapproval, I shrugged it off and let her keep the hat.

The bill was too large, but Jackson had curved it to cover her face. And he’d cinched the back tight so it would fit around her small head. Other than those differences, it matched his own faded bar hat.

To Charlie, that was all that mattered.

“Let’s get your hat and shoes off.”

“ ‘Kay.” She used my shoulder for balance as she kicked off her tennis shoes. They were black with neon-green stripes and matching lights in the soles. She’d picked them out of the boys’ section at the shoe store. When I’d offered her the same style but in p

ink, she’d looked at me like I’d grown two heads.

Off came her shoes and dirt bits went flying across the scuffed hardwoods. The socks she stripped off were rimmed with dust. I didn’t know why I always bought white socks. Even bleach couldn’t keep them from turning brown.