Page 163 of Small Town Firsts
I toyed with my arrow necklace as the lakeside road curved around the bend. The gazebo and the pier came into view. It was late enough that most of the pedestrian traffic was light as people finished up dinners and the shops started closing up for the night.
It was late for Laurie to be up. If she was already down for the night by the time I got there, I was going to string Seth up by his short and curlies.
My car made the steep climb up to the mansions on the far side of the lake. They were surrounded by gates of all kinds to keep the riffraff out, and the moneyed in. The house Seth had chosen for his home with Laurie after his divorce definitely wasn’t at the top of the scale, but they definitely weren’t slumming it.
Hamilton’s never did.
According to my mother, a Hamilton had been in residence since the town had been established. In fact, the town had nearly been named Hamilton Cove, but some of the residents had fought for the name to be a bit more welcoming. Hamilton sounded so stern.
Much like the men, and the women, of the line. Seth even had his moments of stoic behavior, but Laurie had definitely changed him for the better.
I parked in the long, winding driveway and sat with my fingers wrapped around the steering wheel. There were wear marks from a hundred thousand miles of me gripping them. From the various levels of news about my mom’s sickness, to money issues, to frustration—all of the handprints were carved into this wheel.
Tonight, it was nerves and frustration adding another layer to the already worn gray leather. I wasn’t ready to face Seth, but his little girl trumped all. In fact, she was the reason for much of the drama in my life right now.
Seth wouldn’t have looked twice at me if Laurie hadn’t vocalized her very passionate view on having a sister. A brother wasn’t really in her purview, though Seth tried to indicate she was open to either. We both knew it was female or bust in this princess’s life.
I leaned over and dug my sandals out of my canvas bag, swapping my dusty ancient sneakers for more comfortable shoes. Especially if bath time troubles were in my future.
I was pretty sure my poor feet swelled to double their size the minute I took my sneakers off. I needed to be horizontal for a week.
My heart raced at the thought. No.
No.
No.
Not that kind of horizontal.
I peered into my bag for any other goodies. I was good at packing extras of most things, including clothing, but nope. Dusty T-shirt and cutoffs it was. My backup shirt had been used when a toddler sprayed me with ketchup yesterday.
I slammed the door and tromped through the river rock edging the wide driveway, then up the grand staircase. Solar lights flared from large lamps flanking the double entry door. The aged walnut wood screamed of money and affluence.
I didn’t even get the pretense of knocking. A blood-curdling scream had me pulling the large door open.
“Laurie Elizabeth Hamilton, that is enough.” A rare bellow from Seth kicked my heart rate into high gear as I hit the stairs at two at a time.
“No boys allowed!”
“I washed your hair two days ago and you didn’t say a thing then, young lady.”
Uh-oh. He’d dragged outyoung lady. This wasn’t going to be good.
I came around the corner to find a frazzled Seth crouched next to the door with his fingers fisted in his hair. The dark wavy strands were sticking up in damp tufts. Wet splotches arced across his chest and his arms were beaded with water.
“Didn’t even let you get a towel, huh?”
He spun on the balls of his feet and stood. “Thank God.”
He was wearing his oldest jeans—you know, the kind that were worn at all the good stress points—with bare feet and a waterlogged blue Oxford dress shirt open a few extra buttons to show off way too much of his chest. There was obviously no justice in this world.
“I just tried to go in again. I’m her father, for God’s sake. We just had a bath the other day without incident.”
“That was the other day.” I swallowed down my nerves. If he could act normal, I could act normal. I strode down the hall and knocked on the door briskly. “Hey, can I come in, munchkin?”
“Ally! Do you have my Care Bear bubbles?”
“Honey, you dumped your tubby bubbles, remember?” Seth called through the door.
