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  But three strikes wouldn’t be good. And I’d walked a police officer into his house.

  Damn.

  “Right,” I whispered and noted Mitch was studying me closely, it made me feel weird and it reminded me I needed to get this done. “Can I ask why you need to talk to the office at school?”

  His head tipped slightly to the side like he was confused before he replied, “In order to introduce myself, tell them I’m a cop, explain what’s going on and get my name on the list of who they can expect to drop the kids off, pick them up and who they should call in case of emergency.”

  “My name is already on that list,” I informed him.

  “I guessed that but now my name needs to be on it,” Mitch informed me.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Why?” he repeated.

  “Yes, why?” I reiterated.

  It was then his head straightened and his eyes slightly narrowed. “Were you in there with the kids and me just now?”

  “Um…yes.”

  “So you know why.”

  I shook my head. “No, I don’t.”

  He took in a breath that appeared to be an effort to remain calm then explained, “While you get shit sorted, Ma and I are gonna help out.”

  No. No, he and his mother were not. His mother was probably a Ten Point Five too and Ten Point Fives didn’t help out Two Point Fives. That was law in Mara World.

  I straightened my shoulders and said firmly, “Thank you, that’s very kind. In fact, um…all you’ve done is, uh…very kind but I’ve got it now.”

  This time his eyes fully narrowed. “You’ve got it now?”

  “Yes,” I answered.

  “You’ve got it now,” he said disbelievingly.

  “Um…yeah,” I repeated.

  “You work twelve to nine,” he reminded me.

  This was true, this week. The other shift was nine thirty to six thirty which wasn’t much better. How I was going to pick them up, look after them and sell beds so I could keep them fed was unknown to me but I’d figure something out.

  “Yes, I know,” I told Mitch.

  “So explain to me when you gotta work how you’ve got it now,” Mitch demanded to know. He looked like he was getting angry.

  “I just do,” I provided no information and then decided to be polite but move this on so I could move onto whatever was next for me, Billy and Billie. “Really, I want to thank you because you’ve been really cool about all this and um…with the kids and everything but I’ll take it from here.”

  “You’ll take it from here,” he repeated and I wished he’d stop repeating after me because it was freaking me out.

  “Yes,” I replied.

  He studied me again. Then he said with what seemed like strained patience, “I don’t think you get it, sweetheart. I told you I’d help out and I’m helping out.”

  Jeez, I wished he wasn’t so damned nice.

  “Yes, I understand that but what I’m telling you is that you don’t have to, um…get involved. I’m good. The kids will be good. I’ve got it now.”

  “You’re a single woman who works full-time selling mattresses, Mara, and suddenly you got two kids on your hands. There is no way you’ve got it now.”

  My freak out was beginning to melt to anger. I crossed my arms on my chest and informed him, “We’ll be perfectly fine.”

  “Not without help you won’t,” he shot back.

  “Mitch, I’ve got this.”

  “Mara, there is no way in hell you’ve got this.”

  That was when I lost it and I threw up my hands, hissing, “Jeez!” I leaned in. “I’m letting you off the hook! You don’t need to wade in Mitch. We’ll be fine. You can go…” I hesitated, looked at his door then back at him and finished, “Do what you do, enjoy your life, whatever.”

  “I didn’t ask to be let off the hook,” he pointed out.

  “Yeah, nice guys don’t but they still want to be,” I replied.

  “Don’t tell me what I want, Mara. I’m seein’ with this shit that, again, you have no clue what I want.”

  “Okay, then I’ll tell you what I want. What I want is not to be standing out in the breezeway arguing with you when I’ve got a million things on my mind. What I want is for you to stop butting into my life by getting out of it!”

  My anger had built up so quickly I didn’t realize his had too and his surpassed mine. But I noticed this when he leaned into me, his face hard, his eyes flashing with a muscle jumping in his cheek.

  “I was right. Your head is right up your ass but the problem now is you got two kids you gotta worry about and you can’t stumble through life with your head up your ass at the same time taking care of two kids.”

  In our anger race, at his words, I pulled ahead and leaned into him too.

  “Stop telling me I have my head up my ass, Detective Mitch Lawson. I’ve got my eyes wide open. I’ve always had my eyes wide open.”

  “You’re totally fuckin’ blind.”

  “You don’t know me enough to say something like that,” I snapped.

  “Mara, I know you a lot more than you think and you’re not only blind, you’re clueless.”

  “I’m not clueless!” I hissed.

  He clenched his jaw and stared at me. Then he leaned back and swept me from top-to-toe with his eyes before they locked on mine.

  “Thought it was worth it,” he muttered like he was talking to himself. “Totally fuckin’ wrong. Not fuckin’ worth it.”

  I knew what he was saying. I knew exactly what he was saying. I should have been ecstatic that he figured it out. Instead it felt like he’d shoved a knife in my heart and twisted.

  Before I could get used to the pain, Mitch concluded, “You got it, baby? Go for it.” Then he turned and sauntered through the breezeway.

  I saw him lift a hand and his chin slightly and my horrified eyes went to Bradon and Brent’s door to see Brent standing there. His head moved back and forth between Mitch jogging down the steps and me standing, breathing heavily outside my door.

  “Hey Brent,” I called, my voice trembling just as the tears that I felt were in my eyes were doing.

  “Hey girl, you okay?” Brent asked.

  “Perfect!” I lied, trying to sound chirpy and totally failing so I decided to escape. “See you!” I said and I turned to my door, opened it and dashed inside.

  Billy and Billie looked at me.

  “Mitch can’t take you to school today but I can. After school you’re going to hang with me at the store,” I informed them. “Won’t that be fun?”

  Billie’s arms went up in the air. I noticed she had grape jelly smeared on her face and I also noticed more than a little of it was smeared on the bar and her hands and she shouted, “Yippee!”

  Mental note: do not leave Billie alone with the jelly.

  I looked to Billy to see his eyes go to the door and he stared at it contemplatively for several seconds before his eyes came back to me. Then his face went hard.

  Then he said, “Okay, Auntie Mara.”

  I closed my eyes. Then I sighed. Then I hustled the kids through the rest of their morning and took them to school.

  Chapter Seven

  People Like Me

  I looked through Mr. Pierson’s office window to the cavernous space that was filled with bed and mattress displays.

  Yesterday, my first day with the kids, I’d finally pulled myself together enough to remember that Roberta had the day off. So I’d called her and told her all that went down (well, most of it, I left out all things Mitch). I asked if she could help out and she’d instantly said yes. So I took my lunch hour to pick up the kids from school, took them to Roberta’s and went to go get them after work.

  Now they were out in the store. Billie, luckily being quiet for once, was standing next to Roberta who was with customers. Billy was sprawled on a bed playing a video game that Roberta brought in to help him fill the time.

  Yesterday I’d also told Mr. Pierson about my change in
life circumstances and asked for some leeway while I got the kids sorted. Not surprisingly, he’d agreed.

  “Can’t make it a habit, Mara, honey, but until you set them up, do what you need to do,” he’d said. He then asked, “Now, how can Mrs. Pierson and I help?”

  That was Mr. Pierson. Totally a nice guy.

  Therefore, today the kids were in the store with me until I could sort out afterschool childcare. First I had to sort out how I was going to pay for afterschool childcare. I’d called a couple of places and what they’d quoted, especially since the hours I needed them ran late, was a resounding strike to my budget for just one kid. Two was crippling.

  I had a nest egg which I had carefully built up so any unforeseen emergencies wouldn’t crush me. Once I had that at five thousand dollars, I let it sit in a savings account and started to build up my “I’m Going to Own My Own House One Day Damn It” account. This was building up too and was relatively healthy. Not to the point I could buy my own house, or even close, but it wasn’t anything to sneeze at.

  Pierson’s Mattress and Bed was a big warehouse store, we had all your mattress and bed needs. Including entire bedroom suites and contracts with contractors who would build built-in wardrobes and units that surrounded beds and stuff like that. Our price range fit everyone’s budget. I didn’t do too badly. We moved a lot of product because everyone knew they could find something at Pierson’s and buy it from friendly, helpful salespeople. Then, after purchase, they had their wares delivered on time, during an unheard of two-hour window, instead of having to wait all day for the guys to show up whenever they showed up. Mr. Pierson guaranteed it on all of his commercials. That two-hour window set him above all his competitors. No one wanted to hang around waiting for their mattresses all day.

  This meant I lived well. I had a nice car. Great furniture. Decent quality clothes. A nest egg. A house account. The money to be able to afford to buy my friends really, freaking great birthday and Christmas presents.

  But I didn’t live large. No way.

  And I didn’t want Billy and Billie to live small. Just taking on afterschool childcare, living small was exactly where life was leading us and I didn’t know how to do anything about that.

  Then again, they’d been living small for awhile, tiny, so anything I could do was better than what they were used to.

  “You need beds,” Mr. Pierson announced behind me and I turned to him.

  He was a couple inches shorter than me when I was in heels; very skinny and had white hair sprinkled not very generously with black cut short around the sides and back of his head. The rest was bald. On the looks scale, he was around a Three. Add his cheery personality, his kindness and his generosity and he was totally an Eight Point Seven Five.

  He was sitting behind his desk, smiling at me.

  “Yes, Child Protective Services are coming around on Friday and I need to get their room sorted before they do.”

  “Right,” Mr. Pierson nodded. “Take two of the Spring Deluxe Singles. I’ll give them to you wholesale, with a twenty percent discount, plus your employee discount added on to that.”

  My mouth dropped open. The Spring Deluxe mattresses were the best of the best. The cream of the crop. I had one and I loved it. It was ultra-comfy.

  But they were expensive. I’d had to save for three months and buy mine during a store-wide sale. I could only afford it because Mr. Pierson let us use our employee discounts even during store-wide sales.

  “I –” I began.

  He waved his hand in front of his face. “Otis over-ordered. For months we’ve been sittin’ on an inventory of Spring Deluxes we can’t move. They’re pricey. People don’t often spring for the Spring Deluxe, not even when you’re sellin’ them.” He grinned at me and continued, “Why he ordered that many, I do not know.”

  I didn’t either but then again, this was Otis. It was my experience that everyone had an annoying cousin and Otis was Mr. Pierson’s. I figured Mr. Pierson kept him working in the warehouse because no one else would keep him working for more than a couple of days due to the fact that Otis wasn’t all that smart. He was a nice enough guy (although I had to admit I thought he was creepy and Roberta agreed) but he wasn’t all that smart. It wasn’t a nice thing to say but it was true.

  “They’re just takin’ up space in the warehouse. Space I need. You’d be doin’ me a favor,” Mr. Pierson finished.

  He was full of it. He was losing money on the deal he offered me. Big time. He was just being nice.

  “Mr. Pierson –” I started but stopped when his eyes caught mine.

  “Kids need good beds,” he said softly.

  He was right. They did.

  God, I loved my boss.

  “I love my boss,” I told him and his face melted into a smile, the whole of it, just like he always smiled. I loved my boss and I also loved his smiles.

  “You’re off tomorrow. I’ll set up delivery,” he told me.

  “Thanks,” I whispered.

  “Mitch!” I heard Billie screech from the showroom floor. I whirled around to look back out the window only to see Billie tearing through the maze of beds in a direct trajectory to Mitch.

  She aimed, she fired, she hit her target, throwing her arms around his hips and giving him a big hug.

  I watched Mitch’s hand settle on her hair. Then I looked at all that was Mitch and I really wished that I wasn’t still kind of in love with him.

  What on earth was he doing there?

  I turned back to Mr. Pierson who was also looking out the window, undoubtedly at Mitch.

  “That’s my, um…neighbor. I think I need to go talk to him,” I said to Mr. Pierson.

  His body visibly jolted and his eyes slid to me. “Neighbor?”

  “Look!” I heard Billie shout and I turned back to the window. “I’m wearin’ one of the outfits you bought me!” She had let him go and was yanking her t-shirt out at the bottom hem to show him.

  I watched Mitch smile at her and he said something I couldn’t hear because unlike Billie he wasn’t shouting.

  Then I felt a whoosh surge through my belly at witnessing his smile.

  I forced myself to turn back to Mr. Pierson who was now standing with his eyes back at the window.

  “Yes, my neighbor. Do you mind…?” I trailed off and he looked at me. Then he looked to the window. Then back at me. Then his eyes quickly darted the length of me.

  Then he grinned a grin I’d never seen him grin before and he advised, “Don’t forget to ask him if he needs a bed.”

  I nodded knowing there was no way in hell I was going to ask Detective Mitch Lawson if he needed a bed and moved quickly from the office.

  The instant I hit the showroom Mitch’s eyes came to me. The instant his eyes came to me, my eyes went to Billy. He was still sprawled on the bed, the video game in his hands but now his gaze was on Mitch and his little face was hard. He didn’t, I noticed, throw himself at Mitch and I wasn’t certain he’d even said hello.

  My head swung the other way and I saw Roberta with her customers. She was trying to pay attention to them while at the same time eye up Mitch. It was a name she knew and now that she had a handsome face, fabulous hair, fantastic body and great clothes to put with that name, she was obviously having trouble listening to her customers.

  I made myself look back at Mitch just as Billie ran to me, grabbed my hand and tugged me toward Mitch, telling me, “Look, Auntie Mara! Mitch is here!”

  “I see that, honey,” I murmured to her as I got closer and closer to Mitch.

  She kept tugging at me. “Isn’t it great that he’s here so he can see my outfit?” she asked.

  “It’s awesome,” I muttered as we stopped in front of Mitch.

  “I know,” she breathed.

  “Mara,” Mitch greeted and his face was closed, no warmth, no smile, nothing.

  Yep he’d figured it out. Ten Point Fives didn’t give Two Point Fives warmth. Disdain, often. Shared breathing space, yes, but only because eve
ryone needed oxygen. Warmth, no.

  That knife that I hadn’t had time to pull out of my heart twisted.

  “Mitch,” I replied.

  “You got a place we can talk privately?” he asked.

  I stared up at him wondering what this was all about. Then I decided my best bet was to find out and get him on his way as fast as I could. So I nodded.

  “Break room,” I answered and bent to Billie. “Do me a favor, baby, and go sit with your brother.” She nodded up at me and I added, “And no jumping on beds or racing through the showroom. Just sit quiet with Billy until I come back. Can you do that for me?”

  “Sure, Auntie Mara,” Billie chirped, grinned at Mitch then skipped toward Billy who was still staring at Mitch with his hard face. Billie climbed up on the bed then landed full body on her brother.

  She was so totally not going to do that favor for me.

  I looked back at Mitch to see his eyes were on Billy. “If you’d like to follow me,” I invited and he tore his gaze from Billy to nod at me.

  I led the way to the door of the back hall, punched in the code, opened it, moved through the back hall with Mitch following me and then I turned us into the break room.

  I flipped on the light and Mitch closed us in.

  I sucked in breath when my eyes hit his no longer soulful, now expressionless, still beautiful ones.

  Fast. I needed to do this fast.

  “Is everything okay?” I asked.

  “We got a problem.”

  Oh boy.

  He kept talking before I even had time to brace.

  “Remember I said that if your cousin was all the kinds of messes you know then he was probably all the kinds of messes I know?”

  This wasn’t starting out so great.

  “Yeah,” I replied hesitantly.

  “Well it’s confirmed. He’s all the kinds of messes I know.”

  I felt my body grow solid, my eyes locked on his and I whispered, “Oh shit.”

  “That about covers it,” Mitch agreed.

  “Tell me.” I was still whispering.

  “Bill’s had a bad coupla days. He’s detoxing and it hasn’t been pretty mostly because he’s hooked on smack and he’s hooked on speed and he’s a drunk and there’s likely other shit he’s hooked on. He’s a user and he’s a dealer. He’s real good at the first, sucks at the last. Not popular with the suppliers in Denver mostly because he’s fucked half of them over and the other half he owes money. He also owes money to a variety of other people, none of them people you wanna owe shit. He’s recently devolved to selling information which makes him even less popular and he was already pretty fuckin’ unpopular. And if that wasn’t enough, when they went through his house they found a shitload of H and E, enough that he’s been charged with intent to distribute. And proving he’s not just an assclown but a serious fuckin’ assclown, they also found stolen property that we reckon he either stole himself, he stole from someone else who stole it or he was gonna fence it for somebody.”