Page 206 of Finding Hope

Bean runs to the front counter and presses her nose to the frosted glass. “I want Strawberry Sherbet.”

“Unless you’re volunteering to clean it, get your hands off that glass, Lucy Kincaid.”

She jumps back and tucks her arms behind her back. “Sorry.”

I look past the counter into the young cashier’s eyes, order our frozen treats, then pay and follow the girls to a seat in the far corner.

“This is so yummy,” Evie moans with a mouthful. “This is where Mom and I took Miss T that time.”

“Yeah?” I scoop some Strawberry Swirl into my mouth.

Nodding, Evie closes one eye as she greedily scoops hers in and gives herself a brain freeze. “Yup. But we sat outside.”

“It’s too hot for that today,” Bean adds.

She’s not wrong. It’s nearly in the hundreds. The road is melting beneath our feet.

We sit in silence and eat our treats. I assume the girls are thinking about the upcoming women’s fight on pay-per-view that they used their dads’ credit cards for. Hopefully they’re not thinking about boys. But I don’t give it too much thought. Naturally, I just think about Bambie. About her ice-cream choices, her casted arm that I desperately wanted to scribble on, but never got the chance to before herboyfriendinterrupted us

I think about her skating skills, and the fact we never got the chance to make love on the halfpipe.

Not that we would have.

She’d die if my family walked out on us, but still, the fantasy made me smile pretty damn often.

“Ewww.”

I look up into the girls’ scowling faces and pray they can’t read my mind. “What?”

“That boy just put ice-cream in his mouth, then he kissed the girl. Nowshe’seating his ice-cream.”

I smother a laugh, because that’s a little gross. I turn in my seat as discreetly as I can manage. Looking across the tiled parlor to the line of red and white booths, I find who the girls are talking about.

My heart stutters at the sight of the guy’s short blonde hair, his Bob Dylan T-shirt, the motorbike helmets sitting on the chair across from them.

I can’t do this.

I can’t see this.

I can’t be here for this.

“Nope.” Standing quietly, I collect our napkins. “Get your shit,” I murmur. “We’re going.” I don’t want to be loud, I especially don’t want the kissing couple in the corner to notice me.

I already need to wash my eyes with bleach. I don’t need them to speak and add plunging the poison into my ears.

“Where are we going?”

“Shush. We’re going home. Or to the park. Hell, I’ll take you to Disney World right this second if you keep your traps shut and hustle your asses out that door.” I drop my phone into my pocket, then glance back to the slow-moving girls. “Move!”

Evie tsks obnoxiously. “You shouldn’t say ass, Uncle Jack.”

Sighing, I drop my chin to my chest with defeat. Peeking over my shoulder, I come eye-to-eye with Luc’s curious gaze.

“Goddamit, Evelyn. You’re grounded for the rest of your friggin life.”

Sitting up straighter in his seat, Luc pats his shirt neatly, like he’snervous to see me. His broad chest blocks most of Britt from my sight, but I see her legs, her feet, her painted toenails.

Fuck, I can’t see this.

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