Page 146 of Faking the Shot

She kept an eye on her phone in case Diana messaged, or someone called that would provide an escape. There came various noises from the kitchen, the sound of plates being loaded into the dishwasher, then the patter of feet running out to join her in the living room.

“Aunty Ainsley, can you read us a story?”

“Yeah, you’re really good at stories,” Jack said. “She’s even better than you, Uncle Zac.”

“That wouldn’t be hard,” Zac said softly.

She swallowed, and looked at the book Faith had placed in her lap. Then almost laughed at the title. She peeked up at Zac. “Did you put them up to this?”

“Me?” That expression was too wide-eyed and innocent to be anything but a “yes”.

Laughter escaped despite herself, and she frowned to squash it.

“Don’t look like that,” Zac said softly. “It’s good to see you laugh. I know life has been really tough lately.”

She exhaled, and glanced away, blinking away unwanted emotion.

“Uncle Zac, why are you making Aunty Ainsley cry?”

“I didn’t mean to,” Zac said as she wiped tears away.

She dug deep and forced cheer to her tone. “So,Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, huh?”

“I loves this story,” Faith said, snuggling onto Ainsley’s lap. “They’re not wearing many clothes, though, are they?”

“How is this appropriate for children, that’s what I wanna know,” Zac mumbled.

She bit back a smile. And read about gumnut babies and banksia men and all kinds of exotic creatures from the Australian bush.

“I love their pink frilly hats,” Faith said, pointing to the floral crown one of the cupid-like gumnut babies wore.

“I think they’d get pretty cold in winter.”

“I’m not sure if it gets as cold there as it does here,” Zac mused.

Faith reached up and touched Ainsley’s hair. “Why don’t you have your beautiful princess hair?”

“Because I got it cut off so a little girl will have it.” Alistair had promised that once it was turned into a wig he’d show her the result. She’d post that on her socials. It didn’t matter anymore what Rosie would think.

“You gave your hair to a little girl?”

She nodded.

“Lucky little girl,” Zac murmured.

“Not so lucky if she needs my hair,” she countered.

“She’s blessed to have beautiful hair to wear instead of the alternative.”

True.

Her phone rang, and she glanced at the screen. Diana. She snatched it up. “Hey, how are things?”

“Good. We’ll be a few more hours though. Is that okay?”

“Uh, sure.” She eyed Zac.

“Oh, Chris said that he asked Zac to stop by, so maybe you can tag team.”

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