Page 10 of Small-Town Secrets
"We're okay," Chris said instead of voicing whatever thought he'd just had. "We need to change. Our daddy is coming to get us."
"Of course." I let them go, but honestly, I didn't have much of a choice in the matter anyway, because now my niece was attacking me again.
"You were great, uncle!" she told me with a grin. "You'll be here again on Thursday, right?"
"Yup." I ruffled her hair. "Is your dad coming to pick you up?"
"No, Mom's coming. I think."
"Alright then. You should go get ready."
"Are you coming too? We could have dinner together!"
"I'd love to have dinner with you and your parents, but I already have plans for tonight. Maybe Thursday, okay?"
Maddie gazed up at me. "Will you bring the dog?"
"Sure, I'll bring Sarge."
"Okay! Then it's a promise!" Maddie nodded and finally made a bee-line for the changing rooms.
Since I really hadn't seen her mother in a while, I decided to wait outside while the kids were getting picked up. Say hi and ask about the new baby because I didn't want to be rude.
My youngest niece stayed strapped into her car seat as my sister in law loaded Maddie into the SUV, but little Susan seemed content where she was, sucking on a pacifier.
"Marvin tells me Susan can roll over on her own now," I mentioned, since I didn't really know what else to say. Babies were cute and all, but I had no experience with them.
"Oh, yeah. She's totally on schedule." My sister in law beamed at me, so maybe I'd said the right thing after all. Well, Good.
"Maddie's kind of invited me to your place for dinner on Thursday."
"Did she? Thanks for telling me! You're welcome to drop by of course. There's always room at our table for you."
"Thanks! Really." I gave my sister in law a smile as she got into her car, and then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the twins walk past me toward their daddy. I couldn't tell you why my gaze followed them, but something about the pair intrigued me—and then I realized what it was.
I knew their daddy.
That fact by itself wasn't super surprising, considering that Oceanport was a small-town.
But I knew their daddy in the biblical sense.
I nearly slapped my own forehead when I saw Tyler and Chris with their father. Ofcoursethey were Laurence's twins. I'd seen them with him at Nathan's wedding about a year ago.
In my defense, small children could grow a lot over the span of twelve months. And besides, I’d been a little busy staring at their dad to pay too much attention to the twins. The same way I was doing now.
As if the omega could feel my gaze on him, he glanced my way, and for a second, our eyes met before he quickly looked away again. He'd recognized me, though. Briefly, I wondered if I should go over and say hi, but he proceeded to usher his kids into his car with a sudden urgency that told me he didnotwant to talk to me. Had the twins already told him that I sucked? I sighed to myself.
"Is something wrong?" Maddie's mother asked.
"No, nothing." I slung my bag over my shoulder, making myself focus on the woman in front of me again instead of the omega I'd known once upon a time.
"You were looking at Laurence," she noted. She threw a glance back at the children waiting in her car, then looked at me again. "It's a tragedy what happened to him, isn't it?"
"It is." Even though I wasn'tentirelysure what had happened to him. I'd only heard a few things here and there. And I saw the scar on his face. Honestly, every time I did, I wanted to put my black belt in karate to the test on the guy who'd caused it. I didn't need to know exactly how Laurence had gotten his scar to feel that way. But I didn't want to talk about that with my sister in law. "I'll see you for dinner Thursday night?" I asked her.
"Yes, looking forward to it!" She got into her car and I walked over to my own, trying to shake all thoughts of Laurence and what might have happened to him.
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