Page 42 of The Third Girl

CHAPTER 19

MATT

Saturday morning around ten, Sailor and I head over to Lucy’s bakery. I try to drop in to see her once or twice a week when I’m not working to say hello and catch up. Anytime I’m here while on duty, I’m always in a hurry, and I hate that. I see Travis a lot more, not only because of work but also because he and I are able to go out together sometimes, and more often than not, with Aidan being under a year old, Lucy gets left out.

The second I set my kid down, she takes off like a shot. Just like at Nana and Pop-Pop’s house, my daughter is very comfortable here. “An Wucy, An Wucy!” She’s behind the counter before I can stop her, but fortunately my sister sees her coming, and is ready to scoop her up.

Lucy holds the wriggling toddler over her head before bringing her back down to sit on her hip, then tickles her soft belly. “Well, hi, Sailor. How’s my favorite niece?”

Sailor doesn’t answer but wrinkles her nose and claps her hands. “Muffin?”

I shake my head. One-track mind, that kid. The best part is she’s already had breakfast. And my sister, being the adoring aunt that she is, winks at me, completely ignoring my head shake, and points out a few different flavors. “Do you want the orange one? Or the blueberry? Or the chocolate chip, hmm?”

The second the wordchocolatefalls from Lucy’s lips I know we’re in trouble. “Choc chip!” Sailor squeals.

Lucy glances up at me with a look that I know is supposed to be anoh shit, sorryexpression because she knows for a fact that my daughter will have chocolate smeared everywhere by the time she’s done eating. But Lucy is laughing loudly making it totally obvious she’s not the slightest bit sorry. She pokes her head into the back. “Mia! Are you okay to come up front for a few?”

“Yeah, be right up!” comes the shout from the kitchen where my sister and her employees make all of their goods fresh on-site.

Lucy returns, arching a brow. “Do you want some coffee, or have you had your quota for the day?”

“Please.” I gesture toward the drip coffee. “Some of the hazelnut. Black.”

She nods, then discreetly—for her—studies me, but chooses not to open her mouth yet. I sense the interrogation coming, though.

I go to get out my wallet, and she waves me away. “Stop right there. You know your money’s no good here.” She slides the mug over to me, then pulls out a paper plate for Sailor’s muffin. Putting her nose to Sailor’s, she says, “We learned our lesson last time, didn’t we? No more of the fancy plates for you.”

Sailor holds up her tiny pointer finger and wags it back and forth as she says, “No, no, no, An Wucy.”

Because, yep. The last time we came in, Sailor gripped her plate like an Olympian with a discus and slung it off the table as though she were trying out for the national team.

I huff out a laugh. “Cool. So, you’ve learned the plate lesson, but the chocolate lesson you still haven’t picked up on yet.” Taking a sip of the coffee, I shake my head in amusement, then walk over to sit down at one of the tables by the window—mostly because the people walking by distract Sailor, and sometimes I can shovel food into her mouth without getting her hands completely messy.

“Let’s sit with Daddy because I think he might have some interesting stuff to talk about today.” She kisses Sailor loudly on the cheek. “You wanna sit on Aunt Lucy’s lap?”

Sailor nods vigorously, raising her hands into the air. “An Wucy!”

I smile. This would be the other reason to come by to hang out. I love that my sister and Sailor have a close relationship. I hope it remains so as she grows up. They’re like two peas in a pod.

They get settled in the seat across from me and Lucy breaks off a hunk of the muffin for Sailor to eat. “So. I heard there was some craziness at the bar last night that Mick and I missed out on. Wanna tell me about that?”

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about all of the stuff that transpired last night, but I assume she’s referring to the incident with that dick who dared put his hands on Skylar in a way she didn’t want. Unless Lucy spoke to Skylar herself…? But I doubt Skylar would have done that.

“Come on, don’t make me drag it out of you.”

I smirk. “So, who’ve you been talking to?” My bet’s on Kennedy.

“Surprisingly, it was Travis.”

My brows shoot up.

“Yeah. He said if I saw you today, I should poke around. See what I could find out. He’s wondering how things are with you and Skylar because it didn’t seem to him that you all have a platonic relationship between a childcare giver and the parent of said child going on.” She calmly smooths her hand over the hair on the top of Sailor’s head.

Go figure.The first time I held the woman in my arms, I had witnesses. Because up until then, I’d crossed no lines with Skylar at all. Not actual ones. Only the ones in my head. I clear my throat, stalling for time. “Um. So, as you’re already aware, Skylar stays at my house five nights a week. That’s different than a teacher at a day care center, you know?” I hesitate. “If you’d seen how her date was treating her, you’d have wanted to kick his ass, too. Trust me.”

Lucy bobs her head, and it’s clear her mind is going a mile a minute. “Probably so. You know I’m protective of my friends.” She chews on her lip for a few seconds while she helps Sailor get her hands on another piece of muffin.

I slowly sip my coffee, not in the mood to volunteer information about something I’m unsure of yet myself.

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