Lee Ann began rolling the dough up into a spiral as she pretended to contemplate the situation. What they didn’t know was that she could use the time to herself tonight. The thought of Cody coming back to town had thrown her for a loop, and she needed to figure out how best to handle it. Good idea or not, tonight was the perfect time to have the kids out of the house. Life wouldn’t end if she loosened her rules just this once.
“What about helping me with these cinnamon rolls?” she asked Candy. “I still have to make several more batches tonight. The sale is to help your team get to basketball camp next summer, after all.”
She held her breath, waiting to hear the counter to her argument. She actually enjoyed their ingenuity at times. She wasn’t disappointed. Kendra stepped up to answer before Candy could. “We thought about that already, too.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Lee Ann noted her mother look discreetly down at her lap.
“We called Grandma after we talked to Sadie’s mom.”
Candy jumped in to finish. “It was our idea, so don’t get mad at Grandma, but we called her to see if she could maybe help you tonight. Since she said yes, we’ll put out her Christmas lights for her this weekend without complaining.”
“You—”
“We can do it after the fund-raiser,” Kendra interrupted.
Lee Ann once again cast a glance at her mother, only to witness a guilty gleam shining from her eyes. “You were in on this?”
Wearing an innocent expression, Reba mimicked the girls’ tone. “It’s a really big project, and they do need extra time to finish.”
Shaking her head, Lee Ann marveled at her total lack of control with any of them. She motioned to the back door. “Put your stuff away and call Mrs. Evans. She can pick you up as soon as you’ve emptied the dishwasher.”
With a whoop of glee, they grabbed their bags and scrambled from the room.
Lee Ann faced the kitchen table. “Mother...”
Reba pushed her sleeves past her elbows and rose from the chair. “You know I can’t say no to those girls. Besides, it is for a school project.” She slid the rolled-up dough over in front of her. “Hand me the string and cookie sheet and I’ll cut this batch. You can start on the next.”
At the sound of movement in the rooms overhead, Lee Ann returned to their earlier conversation in a whisper. “How did you find out he was coming back?”
Reba concentrated on her task. “I saw Dr. Wright waddling up the steps to that apartment over her clinic. The building’s at the end of the street, so I can see it from my house, you know. Anyway, it seemed the perfect time for a walk.”
“Hmmm...I’m sure it did.” And she could not see the vet’s office from her house, but old Ms. Grayson, who lived across from the office, would have started calling people the minute anything the slightest out of the ordinary happened.
Ignoring the sarcasm, Reba continued. “Anyway, I went for a stroll and walked that direction—just to make sure Keri was okay, mind you. To see if she needed any help. She is due any day, you know.”
“Of course.”
“And there she was. Hauling cleaning supplies up and down that rickety set of stairs.”
He really was coming. Pressure grew behind her rib cage. “And you’re sure he’s only here for six weeks?”
“By the time I got there, Beatrice”—Ms. Grayson—“had already grilled Keri. She filled me in. He’ll be here through the end of the year. Keri wanted to take more time off, but he already had another job lined up starting the first Monday of January. She was lucky to get him last minute after the guy she had coming from Nashville canceled on her last week.” Her mother nodded, proud of her sleuthing skills. “Yep, six weeks. And he should be here any minute now.”
That meant she would actually have to deal with figuring out whether to let him meet the girls or not. Assuming he wasn’t the boy he’d once been.
Her mother seemed to guess where her mind had headed. “No matter what he did in the past, you need to introduce them.”
Lee Ann shoved the mixing bowl into the sink of water simply to have something to do that would give her a moment of not facing her mother. “I need to figure out who he is these days before I even think about anything else.”
“He’s their father,” she said quietly. “He deserves to know them.”
“Then he should have stuck around.”
The quiet, methodical sound of pinwheels being sliced and placed on the baking pan lulled Lee Ann into glancing over her shoulder.
Her mother pinned her with a look. “What did he have to stick around for? Stephanie didn’t know she was pregnant when he left, and he knew he’d destroyed any chance with you. If Steph hadn’t gotten pregnant, would you have wanted him to stay?”