Page 50 of Ugly Duckling
“I guess the psychopath gene is passed down.” She scoffed. “Like those dimples and that curly hair. Even if your hair is short enough to hide those curls right now.”
My dimples came out to play when I smiled back at her. “She does look a lot like me, huh?”
“Like you copy pasted her,” she agreed. “I imagine that they wouldn’t have been able to hide her lineage from you for very long. She looks a lot like you.”
“The only thing that she has of her mom’s is the fair skin and hair color. The rest is all me,” I agreed.
“Play?”
I looked down at my little girl. “You’re done?”
She nodded enthusiastically.
“You have ten minutes,” I said. “But then I have to get to a few more job sites today, so you’ll need to work with me.”
“Done!” She held out her cone to me.
I took it from her and watched her climb bodily over Sutton before racing back into the playroom.
“She has so much energy.” Sutton sighed. “I wish I had that much.”
“I talked to a few buddies with the club, and they all agreed to come up to Boston with us,” I started in. “They’ll watch Lottie for me while I run. So I guess that means I actually have to train for this one.”
Her eyes turned to study mine. “You can join in with me.”
I looked at my watch. “When do we start?”
“Is tomorrow okay with you?” she asked. “There’s no way I’ll be able to process all this dairy tonight and still be able to make a good run of it.”
“You name the time and place, and I’ll be there.”
Eleven
Today we’re going to stay hydrated and ignore people who give us high blood pressure.
—Sutton’s secret thoughts
SUTTON
I was exhausted, but exhausted in a good way.
“Do you need anything else from me?” the mortician for Downs Funeral Home asked.
“Nope,” I answered as I set out my boxes. “Thank you.”
She touched my shoulder before she headed out of the room.
“All right, Lucina,” I said softly. “Let’s get down to business. What’s your favorite color?”
She thankfully didn’t answer me, but based on her funeral outfit, and the red pendant she was wearing around her neck, I chose to believe that it was red.
I went with the fire engine red that seemed to be the most popular lately and started to do my work.
By the time I was done, her fingers shone.
I snapped a quick picture and sent it to Lucina’s daughter, then started packing my things away again.
My phone beeped with an incoming call, and I answered it absently as I finished closing up my Caboodle.
