Page 10 of Peaches & Pistols

She’s hunched over, as if guarding herself from attack. I scramble to my feet, which backfires because she shuffles farther away from me.

“It’s alright, dear. This is Harper’s dad. He’s like one of my sons. I trust him with my life.” Cecelia’s endorsement of my character is an honor, but the only opinion that matters right now is Mia’s.

“Come sit, the girls are having a blast. Everly’s smitten with Harper.” Cecelia pats the deck beside her where I’d been sitting and I move out of Mia’s way, giving her a wide berth.

Head still down, she rushes to sit beside Cecelia, and pulls her knees up to her chin, tightly wrapping her arms around her legs.

Cecelia gently gathers Mia’s hair and drapes it over the shoulder opposite from where I stand. I want to shout my gratitude for the potential opportunity to see more of her face.

Speaking quietly, presumably so I won’t overhear, Cecelia asks, “Were you able to take a nice hot shower?”

Mia shakes her head. “I’ll bathe tonight after Everly goes to bed. Thank you, though.”

“Suit yourself,” Cecelia says lightly, gently rubbing Mia’s curved back. As her hand presses against the thin cotton, I can see Mia flinch with each touch.

“Oh good! You’ve met!” Izzy skips onto and past the deck, settling in the warm grass. “Thanks for the car seat, Grey.”

The car seat. I’d forgotten about Izzy’s request from this morning. She didn’t need it for Cecelia. She needed it for Everly. Why doesn’t Mia have a car seat?

I dip my head, the only acknowledgment I can muster.

“Auntie!” Harper squeals, as if she doesn’t see Izzy on a near-daily basis. She bounds into Izzy’s arms and topples her over with a bear-cub hug.

“How was your day?” Izzy asks, sitting them both back upright, fawning over her niece, plucking stray bits of nature from her hair.

“It was the best day ever! Thank you, thank you, thank you, for bringing me my new best friend. We…”

I zone out while Harper chatters on about her day. Everly runs over to sit beside Harper and Izzy, like she’s one of the family.

Everly has deep blue eyes; soulful, looking right through me. Are they the same as Mia’s? I haven’t gotten a good look.

“Who’s that?” she asks, unabashedly.

“That’s my daddy!” Harper exclaims, pointing at me, as if there’s any other man here who it could be.

“My daddy’s far away. We’re on an adventure!” Everly says without a care in the world.

There’s a dad in the picture. My eyes dart to Mia’s left hand, bare. Not married, then. Where is he? And why are they on their own?

Everly turns to sit on her knees, facing Harper and Izzy. Her new position reveals a birthmark on the apple of her cheek, only on one side of her cherub-like face. The rosy color adds to her delicate features. She’s a skinny little thing, much like her mother.

“Daddy, did you know Everly’s six years old? Not nine like me. I was six, and then seven, and then eight, and now I’m nine, and I’m going to be ten,” Harper professes to the group.

Six. The girl looks to be four or five. She’s small for her age. I have zero experience with kids other than my own, so what do I know about how big she should be?

“Hey y’all, dinner will be ready in thirty!” Delilah calls from the open door.

The Andersens have dinner together more nights than not. Sunday dinner’s mandatory, but they tend to gather more often considering they all live here.

Mia’s spine stiffens at Delilah’s interruption but breathes deeply and relaxes. If she’s nervous around this small group, a dining table packed with ten-plus people will be a nightmare.

“Is Livy coming?” Izzy shouts up to the house.

“Should be here any minute!” Delilah hollers back. Those sisters are a hurricane on their own; add mine to the mix, and it’s a full-blown natural disaster.

It’s not that I don’t love Olivia or want her to be here, but it means I have to keep James away from her all night. The two of them are like kids hopped up on Halloween candy when you get them together.

The flirting and touching makes me want to murder my best friend. Everyone, including the two of them, says they’re just friends. But sometimes, I’m not so sure.