Page 41 of Peach Tree Family

"Don't worry about me. You have her to deal with now," Hannah said and nodded her head in the direction of the little blond girl who jumped out of the SUV and was now running over yelling. "Ace!"

"That's Mitch's daughter, Sammy," Theo said to Seth.

Sammy was about four maybe but not shy around bigger kids. She stopped right in front of Ace and stared up at him like she would burn holes through him.

"What?" Ace asked her.

She jumped a few times in front of him then she yelled. "The kitty!"

"Yeah. I texted about your cat too," Hannah said.

Theo glared at Hannah then at Seth, who raised his hands in surrender. Hannah walked away to text some more and Seth waited with Theo for this Mitch guy.

He was tall, built, and dead serious, and when he heard that Theo didn't know he was coming over, he apologized. "Sorry. I didn't know you weren't consulted. But these locks are free. I took them off a house west of Ashbury. They're perfectly good."

"They're better than a padlock," Seth said and made Theo glare at him again.

"I'll put them in free of charge, one for the front door another for the side door," Mitch said.

"I can't keep taking favors," Theo told him.

"Sure you can," Mitch told him. "When I came to Peach Tree with Sammy, I was in a tight spot. I got a helping hand, so there's no reason you can't. Actually you can return the favor right now and watch Sammy for me while I'm working and make sure she stays off that porch."

"That's not much of a favor," Theo said.

Mitch lowered his head and fixed Theo with a hard stare. "Sammy is my only, precious child," Mitch said with an intensity that was downright scary.

Theo sighed and admitted defeat. "All right. We'll watch her."

Now Mitch smiled in triumph and got to work.

"And I thought you could give a mean look," Seth said to Theo as they walked away to see what the kids were up to.

"You're the one who looks scary," Theo told him.

"Either way, Mitch wins," Seth said and they went over to where the kids were standing with Hannah and looking up at a tree. Butter was sitting on a branch and not showing any sign of coming down.

"She's not stuck, is she?" Theo asked.

"She's an outdoor cat. They know how to climb down," Seth told him.

"So it's everyone crowding her. That's why she won't come down," Theo concluded.

The two of them stood back and Seth looked over at Theo. He didn't look happy, that was for sure. Seth knew Theo didn't like people butting into his business, and here it was happening again and all because he brought Hannah over.

"You mad at me?" Seth asked.

Theo didn't answer, didn't even look at him.

Seth started to apologize. "Damn. I'm..."

Theo cut him off. "Ask me later."

Butter wasn't budging from that branch though Ace was yelling up at her, trying to get her down. "Come on! Come here! Come on so Sammy can see you and pet you."

"Cats don't like yelling," Sammy told him. "You have to be like this." To show him, she stood still while staring up at Butter. And hell if that cat didn't climb down to a branch right above Sammy's head so she could get nose to nose with the little girl. But then Butter pounced and jumped on her shoulders.

Seth went forward but Sammy was laughing as the cat walked from her shoulders to Ace's.

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