“Who is ready to paaartttyyyy!”
They both blinked at me like pretty owls. I frowned. realizing something more was going on.
“What’s up?”
“Mom doesn’t want to put Mason’s address as our permanent address.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to, and I’m so grateful he offered. But we might be getting an apartment soon and…”
Michelle trailed off and my heart constricted. She looked so lost. And I knew Mason would never let her leave, anyway.
The man was clearly in love with her.
“Paton honey, why don’t you go in your room for a minute so the grown-ups can talk?”
She nodded, first running to press a kiss to my cheek. We were fast friends after one play date. I pulled out a chair and leaned my elbows on the table.
“What’s wrong, sweetie?”
She gave me a quick look and I saw it all. She was torn up inside over this.
“Don’t you like Mason?”
She nodded.
“You don’t want to be with him?”
“What?”
Now she looked alarmed. Maybe I’d misread the situation on her end. I was trying to think of a way to back out of this slowly.
“We’re sleeping in Cassie’s old room. Paton and I.”
I nodded slowly, not quite understanding.
“The man refuses to touch me! He keeps being nice and doing too much but now he won’t even look at me!”
Realization broke. She did want him. He was the one mucking things up.
Of course, since he was the ultimate seasoned bachelor, I should have known he wouldn’t know how to handle the situation.
“Honey, men are like horses. You got to lead them to water if you want them to take a drink.”
She stared at me for a minute before bursting into laughter. The clear sound of her laugh was contagious. Soon we were both giggling like schoolgirls. We laughed so hard that we cried.
We were still wiping our cheeks off a few minutes later.
“You know, I was thinking the same thing.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“Well, he bought me a miniskirt… I don’t know if he picked it all out or if the salesperson chose some of it. But I thought maybe I should make it a little harder for him to push me away.”
“I like the way your mind works.” I winked. “Mason won’t know what hit him.”
Two hours later and Paton’s shiny blond hair was in ringlets, expertly teased out with my trusty old curling iron. She looked pretty as a peach. I swear the kid was making my ovaries ache for a little angel of my own.
But mama bear was my real masterpiece.
I stood back and stared in awe at Michelle. I leaned in, wanting to see when she finally got a look of herself in a mirror. She looked like a model. A sexy model in a music video.
She looked like a model in a music video.
Her long legs were shown to advantage by the mini, which was just shy of scandalous. Her lithe but shapely figure was cinched into a corset top and she wore high-heeled black booties on her feet.
“Legs for days.”
She gave me a panicked look in the mirror.
“I can’t do this. It’s too much.”
I grinned, imagining Mason’s reaction. The red stain on her pouty lips. The sparkle in her eyes, subtly lined with smokey shadow. The long, auburn waves that slid over her shoulders and framed her lovely face.
She was beyond gorgeous. No man could resist her. Not even Mason.
“Honey, trust me. That is just right.”
“He’s going to be mad.”
I shrugged.
“It’s his own damn fault. He should be handling things better. This is a wake up call.”
She arched a brow at me in the mirror.
“You know, you are awfully young to be giving such worldly advice.”
I waved my hand dramatically.
“I’m an old soul, dahling.”
She shook her head and laughed, sending tousled waves over her bare shoulders. I gave her a stern look.
“You care about Mason, right?”
She nodded.
“And he cares about you?”
“I think so… he took us in. And…”
“And what?”
“Well, he kissed me. Twice.”
I rubbed my hands together. This was getting good.
“Oh he did, did he?”
“Yes but he pushed me away after. You won’t repeat that, will you?”
I shook my head.
“Never.”
“Are you sure about this? Because I think I’m in love with him.”
The heartbroken look on her face nearly did me in. She was such a sweet girl and Mason deserved someone good. Both Cassie and I thought so and worried about him constantly.
We’d just never imagined anyone this good for him.
Angels were a little hard to come by when you spent your time in a honky-tonk bar.
“All you need is a halo.”
“Huh?”
I smiled.
“Nothing. Okay Mich, let’s do this.”
“Mich?” She smiled at me nervously. “I like it.”
Paton wolf whistled when her mom came into the kitchen. Michelle almost bolted but together, Paton and I managed to drag her out to my car.
“Now, it’s my birthday so I will be having an adult beverage or two. You guys are going to need Mason to drive you home. That, or you sleep over with the rest of us.”