Page 18 of Fractured
Sage’s favorite song started with,Turn it up.
Just then, as we were both singing Sweet Home Alabama, Talia’s two-door Jeep Wrangler pulled up next to us.
She looked into the open windows, waved at Sage, and then flipped me off inconspicuously by rubbing her right cheek with her middle finger.
I chuckled.
We were still singing along as I pulled into the parking lot.
And like I always do, I waited until the song was finished before I turned my SUV off.
We had just sat down at one of the picnic benches they had outside, when a woman walked over to us, smiled, and said, “Oh, my. You and your daughter are so cute.”
I looked down at Sage, who, just like her daddy, rolled her eyes. I chuckled.
I nodded at the woman and then kept eating my ice cream.
She wasn’t bad-looking.
But her dark hair didn’t have that shine to it.
Her blue eyes didn’t have those little flecks of green in them.
And her body, it wasn’t curvy and perfect.
Then I looked up and watched as Talia drove past.
Her head was banging to a rock song, and she was in her own little world.
“Umm, did you hear what I said?” The woman asked.
I shook my head, but it was Sage who filled me in, “She asked if you were single.”
I nodded at Sage, “Thanks, Shorty.” Then I looked up at the woman, “I am, but I’m not interested.”
My mind went straight to Talia, and I wondered where she had gone, what she had done.
Then I shook it. I need to get her out of my head.
I couldn’t go there for a few reasons.
And I was keeping those reasons to myself.
I didn’t need to go down that rabbit hole.
Not when I was spending time with Sage.
And like the bond the two of us shared, we both ignored the woman and kept eating our ice cream.
The moment we were finished, I asked, “Okay, Shorty. What’s next?”
Her little sable-colored eyes, just like her mother’s, lit up, “That new Jurassic movie is out. Can we go see it?”
I lifted a brow at her, “You going to be able to sit still?”
She giggled, then she nodded.
I stood, held out my hand for her, and then we both walked around the woman who had still been standing there.
