Page 26 of Defender

Her face heated.Well, she wouldn’t mention the time she and Ashton had spent making out on her couch last week, but the times he’d come over to fix things.She just wanted them to know how helpful he was.What a great employee he was.

Chloe lost her balance and plopped backward onto her diapered bottom.

“Uh-oh,” she said, looking over at Summer.

“Yeah, uh-oh.You okay, sweetie?”She helped her daughter stand and wiped the dirt off her back.Chloe immediately started her not-quite-steady forward progress again, holding on to the edge of the stroller.

Right back up and on her way.Summer wished she could be a little more like her daughter sometimes.

She’d talked to Ashton briefly a couple of times since he’d broken their date on Friday.She didn’t know exactly what had happened, but she knew it had involved his truck.Evidently it had been totaled.That had been part of the chaos she could hear when they were on the phone Friday.Summer didn’t imagine a handyman’s job was overly exciting, so she looked forward to hearing about whatever mess had happened.

Except they’d yet to exactly reschedule.

Ashton wasn’t overtly avoiding her, she didn’t think.And she knew he’d been busy with work; breakdowns didn’t stop just because it was the weekend.

He’d told her he had something to say.Something he thought she wouldn’t like.

She wished he’d just come out and say it, whatever it was.How bad could it be?

As they rounded the corner bringing the grocery store in sight, Summer knew right away something unusual was going on.Police cars were haphazardly parked all over the lot, lights blazing.A couple of news vans and pockets of people milled around recording everything with their phones.

Chloe became immediately entranced with the lights and action and began walking that way.

“Oh no, little missy.If we’re going to go check it out, then you’re going to have to get in the stroller.”

Chloe stiffened her back, making it more difficult for Summer to get her in the seat.“Hey, if you don’t go in the stroller, we’ll have to go home.”

She knew her daughter couldn’t possibly understand the whole sentence, but she evidently comprehended the wordhomebecause she became much more compliant.

“Good girl.”Summer kissed the top of her head as she buckled the belt around her waist to offset any escape attempts.

They walked toward the chaos.At the outer edge of spectators, Summer asked a woman she recognized from the store—a cashier in uniform—what was happening.

“I wasn’t in there, but I heard some guy came in—obviously high—and demanded the manager open the big safe.But it’s on a time lock, so Brad couldn’t do it.”

“Oh no.”

“They were in the office for a long time with the guy yelling at Brad.Somebody called the police.But I think it’s over now.Nobody got hurt.”

Summer put her arm around the lady and hugged her.“I’m glad you weren’t in there when it happened.”

“Me, too.Sorry, it looks like the store won’t be open for a while, if it even opens at all today.”She bent down to smile at Chloe.“You’ll have to get your food somewhere else, cutie.”

Chloe giggled at the lady’s silly voice.

Summer didn’t really need any food.This was really just more for her and Chloe to get some sun—winter and all its snow would be coming soon enough.It also allowed Summer to get out of the house and talk to some adults, even if it was just for a few minutes.

But she was very thankful she hadn’t been a couple hours earlier.Would not have wanted to be inside with Chloe when the man on drugs decided to break in.

Chloe babbled from her stroller, still enjoying the lights and noise, so Summer walked along the outside of the parking lot to get some exercise even if they couldn’t shop.

Joe Matarazzo stepped out of a large law enforcement van a few yards away.She wasn’t surprised to see him here but didn’t call out to him since he was obviously here on official business.

Chloe had no such compunctions.Summer wasn’t sure if it was Joe she recognized or just wanted to get closer to what was going on, but she started clapping her hands and talking her gibberish so loudly that Joe turned toward them.

He smiled and waved and jogged over.

“Hey gals.”He pulled Summer in for a hug before reaching down to tap Chloe on her nose.“What are you doing here?”

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