Page 47 of Traitor
Chapter Eighteen
Ford
“But how comeyou get to go out on a date and I don’t?” Lexie screeches as she follows me from my bedroom to the bathroom. “It’s not fair!”
“Because I’m an adult and you’re a child. You can date when you’re thirty.”
Lexie makes a disgusted face in the mirror, causing me to chuckle. “That’sancient,Uncle Ford. Besides, Cody, the boy whose parents are staying in room 214 will only be here for a couple more days. He’ll be ancient, too, by the time I’m thirty. He’ll probably ask someone else if you say no.”
I study Lexie in the mirror. “If you don’t bug me for the rest of the night, I’ll think about it and ask your mother when I get home.” She begins to squeal and I give her a stern look. “I mean it, the rest of the night.”
She nods her head almost violently. “Yes, I hear you, Uncle Ford. I won’t make a peep. You won’t hear me, you won’t see me. I’ll be like a little mouse.”
“If your mom says no, then that’s that, and I don’t want to hear any whining about it. Got it?”
Lexie’s smile falls a little and she says, “It’s not like she’ll care. She’s off having fun and she left me here. She shouldn’t really even get a say.”
Sometimes I forget the young woman behind me isn’t the two-year-old with the raucous giggle and pigtails who used to chase me around the rare times I was able to come home on leave. She’s grown up on me, in more ways than one, and as she stares down at her hands, for the first time since they showed up on my doorstep, I’m grateful.
“Hey, look here.” She glances up, then tries to look away, but I take her chin between my fingers. “Your mother has her problems, everyone does, even me, but she does love you. When she gets back, she and I will have a serious conversation about leaving you like she did, but I want you to know that I care about you. I haven’t said it near enough, but I’m here for you, even if she isn’t.”
Her eyes water, making me vaguely uncomfortable, then she throws herself bodily into my arms. “I love you, Uncle Ford,” she says against my chest. “I’m glad you’re here.”
Lungs tight, I press a kiss to her hair and inhale the scent of strawberries. “I love you, too, squirt.”
She squeezes me again for emphasis, then bounds backwards a couple steps. “I’m going to go check outside and see if Peyton’s got here yet. Maybe Cody is in the lobby!”
I follow her movement out of the bathroom with a smile tugging at my lips. I may not have been overjoyed to find her and my sister on my doorstep, but maybe the best things in life are sometimes the most unexpected.
Once I’ve finished getting ready, I grab my wallet and keys from the nightstand and find Lexie chattering animatedly with Peyton at the front door.
“Ready to go?” I ask when I reach them.
Peyton’s eyes sparkle when they meet mine. “Sure.” To Lexie, she says, “Next time you see him, make sure to make him work for it. You’re a very special girl and sometimes guys need to work for it a little.”
Lexie nods like Peyton’s imparted the knowledge of the universe. “I will.”
“You go to bed when Nell tells you and no more chasing boys for the night, or I’ll rescind my offer.”
“Yes, sir, I promise.”
Peyton wraps her arm around mine. “I’ll take good care of him, I promise.” Lexie’s delighted giggles follow us out the door. “Boy troubles?” she asks.
“I guess. I’m going to throttle her mother when she gets back.”
Her hand finds its way to my thigh and I realize I could get used to having her around all the time, having her touch me. I take her hand in mine as I begin to drive.
“What happened to her?”
“She ran off with some guy. Who knows? I’m hoping she’ll be back soon because I don’t know dick about taking care of kids.”
“She’s still alive, so you must be doing something right.”
I snort. “That’s setting the bar high. So what about you? Any kids or nieces and nephews?”
“No,” she says with a laugh. “I was in no place to have children. I could barely take care of myself after my parents died, let alone a child. My Uncle Bradley, my mom’s brother, is the only family I have left, actually. He’s staying at my cabin with me for a couple days right now.”
“Checking up on you?” I ask with a sideways glance.
