Black Orchid Girls (Detective Amanda Steele)

“How’s everything over there?” Amanda asked, smiling—all it took was the thought of talking to Zoe.

“Going good. She’s just eating some apple fries.”

An apple sliced into thin strips. Presenting them to a kid as fries made them more desirable.

“Mandy?” Zoe’s small voice carried across the phone line from the background.

She had no desire to have Zoe call her anything other than Amanda, or Mandy for short. Even if Amanda wanted the role as Zoe’s mother, she’d never replace the actual woman and had no intention of trying. That would make her not only cruel but a hypocrite. She’d never been able to address her mother-in-law as Mom. Amanda had one mom—Julie (Jules) Steele. But thinking of Maria James, Amanda should reach out. “Can I talk to Zoe for a second?”

“She wouldn’t have it any other—”

“Hey, Mandy.” It was Zoe. She must have snatched the phone from Libby’s hand. “I had fun at school today. There was a toad…” She went on, chuckling as she did, to tell Amanda about a boy in her class who had brought one into the classroom.

“A toad?” Amanda glanced over at Trent, sensing him looking at her.

“It was sooooosooooo ugly.”

She listened to Zoe for a little longer and hated to end the call, but they were getting close to the townhouse. Just a couple more hours at the most, and she’d be home.

“Sounds like someone had a good day,” Trent said as he pulled into the townhouse driveway.

“You heard all that?”

He was smiling. “Most of it.”

Amanda laughed. “Yeah, she can be quite loud when she gets excited.” It was one quality that Amanda loved about the girl. Honestly, it reminded Amanda of her own mother. But the livewire energy that Zoe brought into Amanda’s life was invigorating and restorative. For the first time in years, Amanda could actually see herself clear of the grief that weighed her down. Before Zoe, that was something she hadn’t imagined was even possible.