Page 38 of Taking What's Ours

“Four.”

“What a big girl you are. I bet you’re a wonderful older sister.”

The child nods vigorously.

“Do you love kettle corn?”

She nods again. “I like the rainbow one. It tastes like candy.”

“It sounds delicious. I may have to get that, too.”

They get their order, and Elaina waves goodbye to the child.

I notice the soft expression in her eyes as she watches them leave. I hate that she believes time is running out for her.

We place our order. She gets the rainbow; I get dark chocolate drizzle and a long plastic sleeve of bacon cheddar flavor.

“Who’s that for?”

“Rock, our president. It’s his downfall. Might buy me some points.”

“Points?”

“Never hurts to be in the good graces of the boss.”

“Is he a nice guy?”

“He’s tough when he has to be, but he’s a good man. You’ll love him.”

We wander down the street, eating our kettle corn.

“I’ve always wanted to live in a small town with a main street, one that goes all-out on the holidays.”

I gesture to the end of the block. “You should see the park at night. They light about a million pumpkins. I’ll have to drive you past it later.”

“I’d love to see it. This town has a lot of bars and restaurants, huh?”

“Yeah. We get some tourists. The Fall Festival attracts a lot of out-of-towners. You should see this place at Christmas. They really go all-out with a million lights strung across the street and garland and wreaths on every lamp post. Plus, the park is filled with decorated trees, and they sell hot chocolate.”

We pass another stand that’s selling apple cider, and I buy us each a cup, then we wander up the opposite side of the street and back to where I parked the bike.

We’re gone for about two hours before we return for Rosie and the truck.

Elaina’s practically bouncing up and down when we climb off the bike. “That was so much fun.”

“I knew if I could talk you into climbing on the back, you’d like it.” I wink. “I’ll have to take you again.”

We load the dog into the back of my crew cab, and she hangs her head out the window.

I back us out of the drive and spin the steering wheel around with one hand, reaching over with the other to lace my fingers with Elaina’s hand.

Rosie puts her head between the two seats and rests her paw on our linked hands, and we both start laughing.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Elaina—

We drive into the hills outside of town where it’s more woods than neighborhoods. Eventually, Baja turns off the highway into a gravel lot and parks in front of a log structure with a porch running across the front.

---