“That’d be cool.”

I shot her a grin, “Then we’re starting Saturday.”

She grinned back.

I looked back at my wheel. “Doing me a favor. My baby girls like company. They’ll love you.”

“Awesome,” she whispered.

More silence.

Then, “Um…Dusty?”

“Yeah?”

“I, uh, have some jeans to take back. And my grandparents sent some money. I really like that bracelet you bought me and I don’t wanna know what it costs or anything but I’d like to know where you got it. Would you, um…maybe like to, uh…go shoppin’ with me?”

That time, I shot her a smile. “Fan…freaking…tastic. I’d love that. My girl Jerra is down in Texas and I don’t have anyone to shop with me here. We’ll kick some mall butt then we’ll do something girlie like drink seven thousand calorie coffee drinks and people watch. After your horseback riding lesson Saturday. Is that a plan?”

She smiled and it was genuine, no hesitancy, her beautiful brown eyes alight. “Definitely.”

I looked back down at my wheel, muttering, “Something to look forward to.”

“Cool,” she whispered then more silence then, “Uh…I, well, you know, you’re teachin’ me to ride your horses and takin’ me shoppin’ and all and maybe…” she trailed off and I positioned my hands so even though the clay kept moving the shape would not change and my eyes hit her.

Softly, I said, “Clarisse, honey, you’ll learn as you get to know me but there is nothing you can’t talk to me about, nothing you can’t ask. I can’t say yes to everything and you gotta know, no matter what we talk about, I’ll be honest, straight up. And some of my honesty you may not wanna hear. But I’ll be nice about it. Always. So if you have something to say or ask, say it. I have all the time in the world for you, honey, I promise. So take it. It’s yours.”

She stared at me, lips parted then blurted, “I want you to teach me how to do my makeup like you did it for my birthday party. No one ever…” She paused then finished on a rush, “I taught myself and I’m not very good at it. But you are. So I thought, if you don’t mind, you could teach me.”

I felt something hit my throat and it burned at the same time it took everything I had to keep my hands where they were on the vase and not get up, hunt Audrey f**king Haines down and kick her goddamned ass.

In front of me, a fifteen year old who had no idea the force of her beauty had been cast adrift.

It wasn’t about makeup.

It was about everything.

I shuddered to think what happened when Rees started her period. Her friends probably gave her advice and the very thought scared the hell out of me. Mike could not go there. He didn’t want to, for one thing. For another, he knew the workings of the female body but I doubted he could extol the virtues of tampons versus pads or different tampons versus other tampons and vice versa with pads. He could not commiserate with, educate about and thus help alleviate cramps. He could not discuss mood swings, how to feel them coming on and how to attempt to control them.

Fucking Audrey Fucking Haines.

Bitch.

“New plan. You come Saturday morning, I teach you to ride horses. Then we clean up and I give you pointers on how to make beauty even more beautiful. After we wring that miracle, we go to the mall, try on a bunch of stuff, trade out your jeans, drink coffee and people watch. We on?”

She grinned at me and whispered, “Yeah.”

“Excellent,” I murmured then looked back at the vase.

There was more silence. This lasted longer.

It lasted so long I was about to fill it when Rees piped up, “Dusty?”

“Baby,” I whispered, grinning to my vase, “I haven’t moved.”

She giggled.

I liked it. It was soft and beautiful just like her voice.

Then she asked, “You said I can talk to you about anything?”

“Yep.”

“Um…Fin asked me out.”

My hands slid through the clay, ruining the vase and Clarisse jumped.

“Oh no!” she cried, her eyes filled with horror. “I made you ruin it!”

“Finley asked you out?” I asked.

Her eyes shot to me. “I…uh, sorry!” she exclaimed. “He’s your nephew and –”

I threw my muddy hands in the air and yelled, “Right on!” I dropped them and smiled at her. “When are you going? Where are you going? Oh my God! This is so cool!”

She smiled hesitantly at me then her smile wavered. “Well, um…Dad says I can’t date until I’m sixteen.”

Shit. In the thrill of the moment, I totally forgot that.

Shit!

“Dang,” I muttered, “he mentioned that.”

Her head tipped to the side and her perfectly arched dark brows drew together, “He did?”

I looked into her eyes and confirmed, “He did.”

“So, um…when he did, did he seem, uh…firm?”

“Yes,” I told her honestly then grinned. “But, you know, a car date is one thing,” I stated thinking, for Fin, it wasn’t a car date but a truck date, a truck with a bench seat date which no way in hell would Mike approve of, “but, have you done your homework?”

She blinked then her face closed down.

“No, I should be doin’ it now but –”

I cut her off. “Well, seeing as Fin is a couple years older than you, if you brought your books over, you had any questions, he might be able to help you out.”

Her eyes held mine and I watched light dawn.

It was a beautiful thing.

Then a slow smile spread across her beautiful face.

That was gorgeous.

“And,” I went on, “you both have to eat and you live nearly right next door to each other. Rhonda’s a good cook. So am I. So is your Dad. Bet you’d like our cooking and Fin would like your Dad’s.”

I watched her gorgeous smile get more gorgeous.

“And,” I kept going, “you both have televisions and I bet you both watch them. No reason you both couldn’t watch them together.”

“Yeah, I have to eat and I watch TV all the time,” she confirmed.

“There you go,” I replied then immediately stood up and invited, “Let’s go see what Fin’s doing. He may have time to help with homework.”

Her smile got huge. I returned it, bent down, turned off the wheel, plunged my hands in the bucket of water that I kept close then grabbed a towel. Without further delay, I threw Rees another grin, jerked my head at her to follow me and I hightailed it to the house.