Page 15 of Lovewell Lane

Her hand raised to give me a quick wave. Instead of looking embarrassed, her expression showed nothing but satisfaction.

I was in trouble.

All I did was raise my glass and down it before forcing myself to get back to my chores.

-

“Can I come with you to see Uncle Andy?”

I looked at Tessa through the rearview mirror. “You know you have to go to school.”

She shrugged.Worth a shot, her posture screamed. Every now and then I got a painful reminder that my baby girl was just like me. That was something I was both fearful and proud of. We sat in comfortable silence as the drop-off line got shorter and shorter, small kids with colorful backpacks ran down the sidewalk, ditching their parents without a second glance.

“Can you tell him I made him a picture?”

I reached into the backseat to pat her leg. “I’ll pass along the message. Anything else he needs to know, honey?”

“Margo. You have to tell him about Margo.”

I sighed. Margo, along with her adoration for giving us cookies, seemed to have invaded every facet of my life in just three days. Andy had definitely already heard about Margo, and that was precisely why I’d been avoiding him the past few days. Hard to do in a town this small for long, though.

Tessa leaned up from the back seat to rest her hand on my arm. “And her cookies! He will like her a lot too, I think, Daddy.”

“I’ll let him know. Maybe we can invite him for dinner, so you can tell him yourself?”

Her eyes lit up. I suddenly felt guilty that I was less social. While she was shy, my daughter still loved spending time with her people, and I needed to do a better job of making that happen more often.

Not needing a verbal answer, I affirmed, “I’ll see when he’s free. Have a great day at school.”

Her hand on my arm formed a fist as she held it out to me. Something Sam taught her. “Nucks,” she giggled.

I returned her fist bump and held her backpack out to her as she climbed out of the car. “I love you,” I said. “Stay safe.”

She nodded and quietly poked her head back in the car. “Love you,” she whispered before closing the door. Only six, and she was already embarrassed in the car line? We had a ways to go.

-

Walking up to Andy’s shop, my eye was caught by a familiar packaging sitting on one of his work benches. I snatched it up and walked over to him with pace. “Who brought you this?”

“Good morning to you too, Sunshine,” Andy said with a heavy amount of sarcasm. He pushed out from under the car he was working on to greet me and see what I was holding. “Oh, Margo brought it by. She’s sweet.”

I couldn’t help the way my spine stiffened. So it wasn’t just my family that she was obsessed with fattening up with her baked goods. This was a town-wide issue.

“Heard she’s living with you,” he added.

I shrugged. “Not my decision,” I retorted.

I put down the wrapping paper carefully and leaned against the car shop’s wall. It was my decision. I just didn’t want to own up to it. Everyone would make such a big deal of it.

“You have a second to look at my car later? It’s making that noise again. I’m thinking it must be the alternator,” I said.

“Yeah, just leave it here. I’ll text you.”

I nodded but still lingered. Sam was opening the store today, and the only real project I had to do was–

“Margo,” Andy said loudly. “You like her?”

My eyes rolled, despite my lack of audience. Andy was already back under the car.

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