The Lemon Sisters Read online

  Garrett shrugged. “Hedge your bets and buy one of each.”

  Linc sighed.

  “You figure out what to do about the smoothie shop yet? You keeping it or selling it?”

  Linc slid him a look. “You really think I should sell? You don’t think she’s going to change her mind once she calms down? What if I sell and then she can’t work there anymore?”

  Maddox barked louder.

  “Almost done here, buddy,” Linc said, and turned to Garrett expectantly.

  “Okay,” Garrett said. “Let’s put it this way. What I think is . . . you’re screwed either way. The Lemon sisters don’t really do calm.”

  Linc nodded grimly, then sighed. “Slip ’N Slide upgrade later?”

  “Yeah, I drew up a new set of plans. The kids are gonna love the new course. It’s Olympic quality.”

  They bumped fists and were about to go their separate ways when suddenly Maddox stopped barking. He’d shoved his pants to his ankles and was peeing into the bin of dog toys on the bottom shelf.

  “Nice choice, kid,” Garrett said, and went to move past Linc as if he’d never met the guy.

  “Seriously?” Linc called after him.

  Garrett ran one more errand and then he was on the road again. The sun was setting, but he had no trouble seeing that his dad’s truck was still in the parking lot of the campground.

  Yeah. He was definitely living there.

  This time when he pulled into the parking lot, no one else was in sight. He got out of his truck and popped the hood on his dad’s. He replaced the old spark plugs with the ones he’d bought at the auto parts store. Interestingly enough, though the truck was a piece of junk, it was clean. There was a single suitcase in the truck bed. In the back seat were a dog bed, a bag of dog food, a bag of tennis balls, and two dog bowls.

  Snoop was living better than his owner.

  There was a phone on the dash. A burner. With only a twinge of conscience, he violated his dad’s privacy and opened the phone.

  Garrett was the only contact in it.

  With his gut in knots, he followed the scent of a campfire and found a small, raggedy-looking group of people seated on logs around it. In the background was a cluster of equally raggedy lean-tos and tents.

  His dad looked up and paused. He rose with some difficulty, as if he was stiff and sore, prompting Garrett to start to reach out to steady him, but the stubborn old man shook his head. “I’ve got it. Everyone, this is my son, Garrett.”

  Some muttered a reply, but the most enthusiastic welcome came from Snoop, who bounded up and bumped his big head against Garrett’s thigh in greeting.

  “Let me get you some coffee,” his dad said, leading Garrett over to the leans-tos and tents, whose better days had been decades ago. His dad stopped in front of one, where there was a very small stack of firewood, a bag of dog food, and a beat-up old box. The contents were clean and very carefully organized: A loaf of bread. Some ketchup packets from a local drive-through. A box of no-brand dog biscuits. And a plate. Only one, along with a single fork, a knife, and a mug, which his dad reached for.

  Garrett wanted to be hardened to this. His dad had left him, choosing alcohol over his own kid, when that kid had had nothing else in the world, no family, nothing. And yet he was having a hard time maintaining his anger and resentment. Still, he was going to give it the ol’ college try. “You’re living here, which means you lied to me. And why do you give away your money when you don’t even have a pot to piss in?”

  “I’ve got all I need.”

  “But—”

  “I know what it looks like, Garrett, but I promise you, I’m good.” Their eyes met. “I don’t need more. I also don’t deserve more.”

  Garrett rubbed the spot between his eyes, where a helluva headache was forming. “Everyone deserves more.”

  His dad was quiet a moment, looking off into the distance. “In prison, I met a social worker. He told me it’s never too late to right your wrongs, and I need that to be true. I want to do right by you.”

  Dammit. Garrett really needed his dad to be that same selfish dick he remembered, so he could continue to soak in his own bad memories. But the only dick here was himself, because he wanted to walk away without looking back and not feel a thing. Unfortunately, he couldn’t. “Dad, you can’t stay out here. The nights are still too cold.”

  “The weather’s about to change.”

  Garrett scrubbed a hand over his head, then stopped when he realized his dad had once again removed his baseball cap and was doing the exact same thing. He sighed. “Come home with me.”

  His dad looked as stunned as Garrett felt. “Oh. No. No, that’s not necessary.”

  “Dad—”

  “I’m happy here.”

  Garrett didn’t have the brainpower to argue the point. He was so tired he felt his muscles quivering very slightly, and his eyes were practically crossed with the need to be closed for eight hours. With all he still had to do, he’d be lucky to get five.

  “You look done in, son. Go home. I’m staying here.”

  “Suit yourself,” he said, and for the first time since he was eight years old, he did something his dad asked. He walked away.

  Chapter 14

  “A Band-Aid will do it.”

  Mindy stood in front of her bathroom sink, staring at herself in the mirror. She’d been doing YouTube yoga and daily sit-ups, which, for the record, she hated. She’d also given up wine and cookies.

  A huge loss.

  But she was now down three whole pounds. She’d been so proud of that, until she’d pulled on her favorite sexy lingerie. She’d wanted to remind Linc—who, by the way, didn’t have any extra pounds on him, not a single damn one—what he was missing out on. He could give up carbs for one day and lose ten pounds. It was enough to make her hate him.

  Except she loved him.

  Ridiculously.

  But she was also still furious with him. Not that any of it mattered, since he was sleeping on the couch.

  She wanted that to change.

  He startled her by poking his head into the bathroom, his gaze on the phone in his hand. She watched him via the mirror, holding her breath for his reaction, but he didn’t look up. “Problem,” he said. “Millie ran a little experiment on us. Apparently, she lost a tooth, put it under her pillow, and told no one for three days.”

  She gasped and whipped around. “Oh my God.”

  “Yeah, and obviously no money appeared under her pillow, so—” He finally looked up and caught sight of her and, with a husky groan, reached for her.

  Seduction forgotten, she put a hand to his chest. “What did you tell her?”

  “Who?”

  “Your daughter!”

  He fingered the spaghetti strap on her nightie, eyes hot. “What daughter?”

  “Momma!” Millie said tearfully, appearing behind Linc. “Is the tooth fairy not real?”

  “Oh, honey.” Mindy dropped to her knees before her baby, her little girl, the one who was too young to not believe in the tooth fairy. “Listen, it’s a busy time of year. Maybe she just got busy—”

  “Tami at camp said that mommies and daddies are the tooth fairy. Is that true?”

  Mindy looked at Linc. He dropped to his knees, too, and turned Millie to face him. “Do you know why mommies and daddies pretend to be the tooth fairy?”

  Millie, blinking her huge slay-me eyes, shook her head.

  Linc kissed the tip of her nose. “Because they love their kids so much that they want them to have the joy of waking up the morning after they lose a tooth to find their prize. It’s a tradition, and it makes parents as happy as it makes their kids.”

  Millie thought about that for a moment. “So giving me money makes you happy?”

  Linc grinned. “Anyone ever tell you that you’re too smart for your own good?”

  “You, Daddy. All the time.”

  He gently tugged one of her pigtails. He was the only one allowed to touch her hair l