Page 40 of Spotlight
“Sorry, sweetie,” Sabrina says and sets her on the sidewalk in front of her. “Miss Zoey is teaching an adult tap workshop this afternoon.”
Greer sticks her bottom lip out and stares at her feet.
“Who is going to help me pot our new plants?” I ask as I reach out and take one of her hands.
She thinks for a moment and then asks, “Can I paint the pots?”
“Absolutely.”
Greer is mostly appeased by that, though I have no doubt she’d leave me with my gardening in favor of twirling around Sabrina’s studio if she had her way.
A truck pulls up to the curb in front of us. I glance up at the driver absently and then squint.
“Is that Archer?” I ask Sabrina.
“Yeah.” She moves toward him as he opens the driver’s door.
“Momma. That looks just like our car,” Greer says as another vehicle pulls up behind Archer’s truck.
“That’s because it is,” I say, feeling dumbfounded. It’s an odd thing to see big, hulking Brogan sitting behind the driver’s seat of my little SUV.
“What are you doing here?” Sabrina asks, draping her arms around Archer’s shoulders and hugging him.
When they break apart, he looks to me.
“We’re just dropping off Olivia’s car.” Archer smiles, tipping his head to me slightly, then he stares down at Greer.
How? And why? And what the ever-loving-hell? Those and many more questions float through my brain, but I don’t ask any of them because I already know.
Flynn.
“Uncle Arch!” Greer signs his name as she says it, then goes right into showing him all the new sign language words and phrases she’s learned since the last time she saw him.
He squats down and signs back, praising her and giving her attention and adoration that has my heart squeezing. I want that for her. Don’t get me wrong, I’m so happy she has it with Archer and Brogan and Grandpa Earl. But what would it be like if she had a father that was around more to give her these moments daily?
Brogan is out of my SUV and standing in front of me with a big grin before I’ve snapped myself out of the weird thoughts swirling around.
“Drives like a dream.” With a wink, he holds out the key to me. It’s attached to a little purple tag that has Sabrina’s name written on it. I gave it to her months ago when she needed to borrow my car and never bothered to get it back from her.
I glance to Sabrina, who is wearing an appropriately guilty expression.
“You gave him my keys, didn’t you?”
“I still had the spare and it was for a good cause.” She smiles hesitantly.
“So much for offering up your car. You knew this whole time?” I ask her.
She laughs before saying, “The offer was legit. I didn’t know if he’d be able to fix it, only that he was going to try.”
Brogan scoffs. “You wait until I tell him that. Flynn can fix anything. He’s just like Knox.”
Archer nods. “It’s true. He’s great with engines and even if he weren’t, he’s stubborn enough that he would have done whatever it took. Especially for a girl.”
“Lucky me,” I quip, then sigh because I am lucky, and this is nice. Too much, but really nice. “Thank you, guys. I don’t know how to repay you. I’ll cover the parts and labor, of course, just let me know what I owe you.”
That all too familiar feeling of gratitude mixed with discomfort makes it hard to look any of them in the eye.
“Not necessary. Happy to help,” Archer says.
