Page 34 of The Snuggle is Real
“Yeah, my ex-wife needed me to keep her for a while.” I cleared my throat. “But Griff is actually why I called.”
“I don’t follow.”
“I heard the festival handyman might be moving on.” There was a beat of silence, and I rushed on. “It was just town gossip,and normally I’m not one to pay it much attention, but if Griff or the city were going to look for someone to pick up the slack…”
“Oh, I hadn’t heard that Mr. Jones was leaving.”
My shoulders slumped. “Maybe the gossip got it wrong.”
He hummed. “Griff would know better than me. I’ll find out what I can.”
“Thanks. And even if he’s not, if they ever need someone to fill in or be a second pair of hands, I’m here.”
“I’ll tell him. Griff loves to have a Plan B and C for when things go wrong, so he might go for that.”
I blew out a breath. That was something, at least. “Thanks.”
“Even if the festival doesn’t need help, he may know of something else. Griff knows everyone in this town. Hang in there. Something will eventually work out.”
“Thanks. Appreciate it.”
I hit the Disconnect button and threw my head back against my bedroom wall with a defeated groan.
As a roofer, I was used to being slow on work during this time of year. But usually it was just me. I could forgo the holiday hoopla, live tight for a little while, and eventually something came along just like Logan said.
This year, everything was different.
Sure, Mason wanted to help out, butIstill needed to pull my weight. His organization could only do so much for Charlie.
And nothing at all for my utilities bills coming due.
The cupboard door slammed. Speak of the little angel. I couldn’t wallow in my bedroom. It was time to make dinner.
I found Charlie elbow-deep in Cheetos at the breakfast bar.
“Whoa, what’re you doing there, short stuff?” I plucked the bag out of her grasp. “You’ll ruin your dinner.”
“I was hungry, and I didn’t know if you were coming back.”
“From the bedroom?” I bent to open the freezer and pull out some chicken. “Why would you think that?”
Charlie shrugged and licked orange dust from her fingertips.
“Charlotte,” I said a little more firmly. “Does your mom go to bed without feeding you dinner?”
“She gets tired sometimes.”
My heart dropped.Jesus. LuAnne was in rehab now, but I’d missed the signs. If I had ever noticed her being a bad parent to Charlie, I would have tried to intervene. I had no rights, but I could have checked in more, maybe moved closer.Something.
“We always have stuff around to eat though,” Charlie continued, much less bothered than me. “It was fine.”
No, it wasn’t fine. But I didn’t want to upset Charlie by showing my irritation.
“Well, I like to have a proper dinner around here, okay? And I’m never going to disappear before you go to bed. I was just making some calls about a job.”
“What is your job?” Charlie asked while I put the chicken in the microwave to defrost. “You’re home a lot more than Mama.”
“Oh, uh, well…this is the slow season.” I opened the pantry to pull out a box of stuffing mix. I showed it to Charlie and she wrinkled her nose. I put it back and pulled out a box of stovetop mac-and-cheese.
