Could he be any vaguer? Was it about his sons, or was it something else? Or someone else?
“Ugh, don’t go there,” she said out loud as she crossed the street between the Beachcomber and the Surf. “He doesn’t have anyone else.” Do you know that for certain? Why did her inner voice have to sound so much like her father? She would give anything to never think of him again or to have him sowing doubts in her mind about the first man to genuinely interest her in longer than she could remember.
She refused to let Mark Lawry have a say in anything she did or who she liked.
“Why are you looking so stormy, Cin?” Owen asked as he came down the stairs from the hotel to the sidewalk.
“I’m thinking about things—and people—who are best forgotten.”
“Yeah, don’t do that.” Owen hugged her. “Too many better things to think about these days, for all of us.”
“That’s right.”
“Did you bring your scissors? Laura says I’m so shaggy, I’m borderline feral.”
“I did, and you are looking kinda ragged.”
“That’s why I need you. I’m just running across the street for a minute. I’ll be right back. Go on in. Laura is at the desk with the twins.”
“Hey, O?”
Owen turned back to her.
“I just want you to know… I’m so glad I can see you any time I want these days.”
“Likewise,” he said, grinning. “I love that the whole family has followed me back to Gansett. We just gotta get Josh here to make it perfect.”
“Let’s work on that.”
He gave her a thumbs-up as he crossed the street.
Cindy went up the stairs and into the hotel that had been a place of childhood magic for the Lawry kids. The smell of the place always took her back to the most idyllic days of her life, filling her with feelings of love and nostalgia. The memories tied to those summer days would stay with her forever.
Her sister-in-law, Laura, came around the desk to hug Cindy. “Thank goodness you’re here. My whole crew needs you so badly.”
“Auntie Cindy to the rescue.”
“Sorry to do this to you on your day off.”
“No worries. You know I love any excuse to see the kids.”
“They’re very excited for haircuts with Auntie Cindy.”
The next forty-five minutes were sheer chaos as Laura, Owen, Sarah and Cindy corralled three toddlers into submission so Cindy could cut their hair. By the time they were finished, the adults were exhausted, and the kids were seemingly energized, bouncing off the walls of Laura and Owen’s small apartment on the third floor.
“Why is it that we’re wrecked, and they’re shot full of jet fuel?” Laura asked as she flopped on the sofa.
“They’re insane,” Owen said. “We’ve known this for quite some time.”
“Are you ready for your haircut?” Cindy asked him.
“I guess so. Some kinda day off this turned out to be for you.”
“This is the most fun I’ve had in ages.” Not counting the fun she’d had with Jace during the night, she thought, trying not to giggle. “Step into my office.”
Owen sat in the kitchen chair they’d placed in the living room.
Cindy put a towel around his shoulders, and while the kids ran circles around them, she gave him a good trim.