Page 119 of Wicked Minds
Lips pursed, her gaze hardens on mine, not appreciating my snark. “That college sure is changing you... And not for the better.”
Her eyes narrow in scrutiny as she rolls them over me. “Did you sucker some guy into looking after you?” Her botoxed lips twitch in a cruel smile. “I always knew you were more like me than you admitted.”
I blanch, both horrified by her insinuation and disgusted by how on-point she is. “What?! No! I told you, you forced me to have to take this step.”
“Mmm,” is all she says, eyes still astutely scrutinizing me.
With a dismissive wave of her hand. “Whatever. I have somewhere to be. I need you to look after the child for a few hours.”
The child. God, this woman knows how to piss me off.
“My daughter, your grandchild? Why, of course, I can look after her.”
I know I shouldn’t be poking at her. It’s a shock she’s even allowing me to have alone time with Aurora. I imagine it’s purely because I gave her no choice in the matter.
A thin, elegant eyebrow raises on her immaculate face, pumped with so many chemicals that the muscles have probably seized up. A little terrified she might change her mind, I soften my tone and repeat, “Sure, Mom. I’ll look after Aurora. If you’re going to be a while, do you mind if I take her to grab some food?”
“Fine,” she says with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Just don’t fill her full of sugar. I don’t have time to deal with that all night.”
My teeth grind because I’dhappilylook after a hopped-up Aurora every day of the week. Instead of pointing that out, though, I merely nod in agreement.
I don’t watch my mother as she walks away. Instead, I turn my back on her and rush toward Aurora as she reaches the bottom of the slide.
“Mommy! Mommy! Did you see me?”
“I did, baby! You did so well! Do you wanna go again?”
She nods, immediately taking off to climb to the top of the slide. This time, I pull out my phone, snapping pictures of her the entire time before tucking it away so I can bundle her into my arms as soon as she hits the bottom.
“Do you wanna go on anything else, or do you wanna go get food?”
“Ice cream?”
I laugh, mentally giving my mother the middle finger as I grin and say, “Yeah, I’m thinking a large ice cream sundae with all the toppings.”
“Yes!” Aurora fist-pumps the air, making me laugh before I take her hand, and we walk out of the playground. She talks constantly, filling me in on everything I’ve missed.
As we approach Logan’s car, he steps out, appearing both nervous and excited as his eyes dart back and forth between me and Aurora. I can’t help but chuckle as I take in his wide, enthusiastic eyes and twisted, worried lips. He’s cute as all hell.
“Aurora, baby, this is my… friend, Logan.”
Logan crouches down in front of my daughter, eyes glowing with delight that makes my ovaries explode.
“I’ve heard so many good things about you, Aurora. It’s so nice to meet you.”
“Hi,” she says shyly, her hand tight in mine.
“Mom had to run some errands, so I thought we could all go grab some food,” I offer.
Logan’s face lights up, and he nods. “Yeah, sounds perfect. Do you wanna take the car or, uh…”
“I don’t have a car seat for her, but there’s a diner just down the road we can walk to.”
He nods, locking his car and standing to tuck his keys in his pocket.
“Aurora,” he says as we begin walking across the parking lot. “I need your help with something. Your mom and I were trying to name each member of the Paw Patrol gang, and we couldn’t remember them all. Do you think you could help us out?”
He waits until Aurora thinks it over before nodding, and Iswoon, watching Logan make an effort with my baby girl.
