Page 56 of Firefly Effect

CHAPTER

NINETEEN

LINCOLN

Francine is ready and waiting as soon as I carry a sleepy Lucy inside. On our way home, I called and asked if she wouldn’t mind watching Lucy for a bit while I said goodnight to Evie. Of course, she was more than eager to give me that time.

Francine waits by Lucy’s bedroom door as I place my daughter on her bed then kiss her squishy, painted cheek. I’ll clean her off tomorrow. “I love you, Lucy,” I whisper.

“I love you, Daddy,” she says with a yawn so big that tears begin to leak from the corners of her eyes.

I smile. “Today was so much fun.”

She nods, her eyes still shut. “Best day ever.” A smile lifts her cheeks, and she takes a deep breath, her chest rising and falling.

“That’s what I love to hear.” I pull the light-pink blanket up to her neck and tuck it around her. “Sleep tight, goose.”

She yawns again, this time while saying, “Night-night.”

I stand, giving her one more glance before I make a move to leave.

“Daddy?” Lucy asks, stopping me in my tracks.

I turn around to find her eyes still closed. “Yeah?”

She sighs with her entire body. “I’m so happy you’re my daddy.”

My chest and throat tighten with emotion, overwhelmed as I so often am by the amount of gratitude I feel for Lucy being mine. “I’m the lucky one, sweet girl. I’ll see you in the morning.”

When I walk back out into the hallway, Francine regards me with a smile. “Good night, I take it?”

I nod, fighting off a sleepy yawn of my own. I’m not about to call quits for the night just yet. “Great night. Thanks for watching her. I’m sorry I’ve been asking for so much lately.”

Francine makes a face. “You barely ask for a single thing, Linc. Stop with the guilt already.” She smiles. “Now, go get that pretty girl of yours home safely. I’ll take the guest room tonight.” She holds up the baby monitor to let me see that it’s on and fully charged.

I wrap my arms around Francine. “You’re an angel.”

When I climb back into my car, I turn to Evie and smile. “Thanks for letting me kidnap you.”

She laughs. “You’re the worst kidnapper in the world, you know that?”

I shrug and raise my eyebrows. “I have you strapped into my car, don’t I?”

She raises her brows in an amused challenge. “Is that what you call this?” Her finger glides down along the edge of the seatbelt. “I recall putting this bad boy on myself.”

“Because you were afraid of what would happen to you if you didn’t.”

Her smile widens. “Maybe so. You should have seen me tonight before meeting up with you. Armando forgot to close the door completely when he left, and it gave me a bit of a scare when I noticed.” She laughs. “Thought maybe Jimmy got desperate and broke in to get himself a drink.”

The fact that I’ve only lived in this town a little over a month and have already heard about Jimmy’s drunken reputation at Firefly says something. “Has he been back since Gabe tossed him that night?”

Evie’s eyes widen. “Oh yeah. Are you kidding? Nothing can deter that man. He’s a regular, through and through.” Then she frowns. “I know he can act up from time to time, but that never happened before Lilith’s mom left him. I think he’s just having a hard time.”

Ignoring that interesting fact about Lilith, I focus on how Evie can see the good in people even when they’ve been ugly to her. I love that. “Maybe so,” I say, starting my car and backing down the driveway.

She sinks back in her seat, and her lips twist. “If you think about it, he’s not getting any younger, and the odds of meeting someone new in a town this small is close to impossible.”

Something about the way she says that makes me smile. “So you’re saying there’s a chance.”

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