Several retorts came to mind, several disrespectful ones laced with a few choice cuss words about Takata minding his own business. Slade dismissed them all and headed for his house. Not directly, as that would have taken him across Takata’s lawn. He’d had his butt chewed out enough times as a kid to know you didn’t cut across Takata’s lawn unless someone had died.
He continued along the sidewalk, listening to the murmur of the twins’ voices drifting out the window. He felt as if he’d made more progress with them today. A few words. Some carefully guarded smiles. Half a hug.
He opened the front door. The living room was empty. The girls stood at the top of the stairs, each holding a short, glittering chain of gold. Their baby bracelets.
“Those are yours.” He kept them on his dresser, draped around the neck of a black Labrador figurine, one that looked like Chief, the dog he’d had as a kid. He wasn’t angry they’d found them. He didn’t lock his bedroom door and there was nothing in his room he had that he didn’t want them to see. It was natural for kids to poke around, and the master bedroom was locked up tight. “I bought them the day you were born so we could tell you apart.” The bright hospital lights. Evy’s happy, exhausted face. The future had seemed uncomplicated and bright. “It didn’t take long for us to be able to tell you apart.”
Faith draped hers across her wrist. It was far too short to circle around and close.
He smiled. “You’ve grown quite a bit since then. I like to look at those bracelets every morning when I wake up.” While he wondered what his daughters were doing. If they ever thought of him. If they missed him. The father they barely knew.
What a dreamer. The answer to that was clearly no, based on their behavior here.
“Why don’t we drive to the jewelry store tomorrow and get some new links put on them, so you can wear them...if you want?”
After a moment, Faith nodded.
And Grace smiled.
CHAPTER NINE
SLADE WAS UP with the summer sun—long before civilized people got out of bed. Coming downstairs, he faced a truth—maybe not the one Takata wanted him to face, but a truth nonetheless. His girls were slobs.
Dirty dishes littered the living room, dirty dishes crowded the center of the kitchen table, dirty dishes formed a pyramid along the kitchen counter, ready to tumble into the sink.
How could two little girls have created so much food-encrusted chaos? It wasn’t as if he had that much food in the house. He should have cleaned up last night instead of dragging his butt to bed after being confronted by Takata and his philosophical words of wisdom. No matter what Takata said, he wasn’t opening the door upstairs. Ever.
But he was taking the girls shopping. And Grace had smiled. It made cleaning up their mess downstairs easier.
Slade picked up dish after dish and set them to soak in the sink. He wiped down the coffee tables and the kitchen table. He scrubbed at some kind of spill on the kitchen floor.
And every time he paused, he checked the time.
Six-fifteen.
Six-thirty.
Six forty-five.
Christine would be heading out toward the town’s river park for her yoga session with Mayor Larry. Was she aware he’d be naked? Was she going to be naked?