“Can I have another chocolate cupcake? Please?” She stretched out the last word and added an irresistible smile.
Jasper reached down and gently tugged on one of her pigtails. “One is enough, Wren. We’re going to eat dinner soon.”
“But I’m hungry now.” Her mouth twisted into a frown, and her hands went to her hips. “So not fair.”
The girl was sassy. And adorable. But seeing Jasper with his daughter planted a disappointing ache in Savannah’s abdomen. If he had a child, did he also have a wife? Juicy news like that surely would’ve reached her in Colorado.
The door opened behind them, and Savannah instinctively stepped aside to allow the customers to enter.
“Levi Carter, are you ever going to answer my texts?”
Savannah froze. Even after all this time, that voice still made her want to climb right out of her skin. Please, no. It’s way too soon.
“I need you to hand out these flyers advertising the parade.” Candace Finch stopped and gave Savannah a head-to-toe inspection. Disdain pinched her flawlessly made-up features. She flipped her long platinum blond hair over her shoulder. “Savvy, is that you? Still stuck in the ’90s, I see. Next time add some lipstick. Or maybe a necklace. Accessories really pull a look together.”
Wyatt cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably beside Savannah. Heat flamed her skin. She wanted to melt into the floor. She hadn’t been home for twenty minutes, and she’d already encountered the one human who’d made her miserable for most of her childhood. Worse, she’d obviously made an embarrassing faux pas, mistaking Levi for his identical twin. But maybe that told her something—she was way over Jasper if she didn’t even recognize this wasn’t him.
And why had words failed her again? She’d anticipated running into Candace but imagined producing the perfect response. Not snarky. Not rude or thoughtless. But laced with ample confidence to let Candace know she wasn’t a doormat anymore.
Was she always going to be the dorky redhead who loved art, couldn’t say the right thing at the proper time and longed for the guy who longed for someone else?
How was it possible that mean girls never outgrew their need to put other people down? Levi forced his mouth into a tight-lipped smile. As much as he wanted to tell Candace she could shred her flyers and use the remnants to line her son’s gerbil cage, he couldn’t set a poor example for Wren. She was possibly the most observant four-year-old he’d ever met. Anything he said or did would be repeated later.
“Candace, if you can find the room, post your flyer on the bulletin board, right there with all the other local news.” Levi gestured to a corkboard mounted on the wall behind Savannah. “Wyatt, I’m holding that part you need up at the counter. Speak to my father, and he’ll get you all squared away.”
“Thanks, Levi.” Wyatt gently squeezed his sister’s arm, then strode toward the counter, leaving him to help Savannah fend off any more of Candace’s attacks.
“But you’ll take a stack to keep beside the register, right?” Candace’s bronzed forehead wrinkled. “And how about another fifty to stuff inside customers’ shopping bags?”
“No,” Levi said firmly. “You may post one flyer on the bulletin board. That’s it.”
She huffed out an exasperated breath. “I’ll have to talk to Jasper about this. Stuffing the shopping bags was his idea.”
Right. Levi gritted his teeth. Jasper had a habit of making quick decisions and leaving everyone else to handle the follow-through.
Levi refused to argue with Candace. She might be one of the most troublesome people he’d ever had to deal with, but he’d learned the hard way not to back down when she tested boundaries. Even though he really wanted her to leave. Especially when the woman Candace had tormented for years stood a mere few inches away.
“Welcome back, Savannah. It’s great to see you.”
“Thanks,” Savannah said softly, her gaze skittering away.
“Lee-by.” Wren pulled impatiently on his arm. “I need you.”
Oh, those three little words tugged on his heartstrings. She’d only been in his life for three weeks and had somehow managed to twine him around her little finger. But he couldn’t keep dragging her with him to work all summer long.
“Are you still teaching art?” Levi asked, trying to ignore Candace, who still hadn’t stepped away from the conversation.
“Um-hmm.” Savannah nodded, but something indecipherable flashed in her beautiful blue eyes.
“She was a teacher.” Candace smacked her gum, that irritating all-knowing smirk back in place. “Heard you were looking for a new job, Savvy. Isn’t that why you’re here?”
Oh brother. What he wouldn’t give to get Candace out of his store. Permanently.
“Savannah, may I ask your advice about something?” Levi angled his head toward the back of the store. “If you have a few minutes, we can chat in the break room.”
She glanced toward Wyatt, who was still deep in conversation with Levi’s dad at the counter. “Sure, let’s go.”
“Wren, this is my friend, Miss Morgan.” Levi took Wren’s sticky hand in his and led the way down the aisle with the lanterns, flashlights, headlamps and other camping accessories.
“Levi, she doesn’t have to call me—”
Levi glanced over his shoulder and gave Savannah a work with me on this look. He didn’t know much about being a foster parent. But since Wren had arrived at his house as an emergency placement, he’d learned quickly that consistency was key. Kind of like dealing with Candace.
“Is she going to stay in our house?” Wren looked up at him with those sweet pale blue eyes that had likely seen more than any four-year-old should.
“No, she has her own house.”
“Your own house?” Wren twisted around to look back at Savannah. “Are you a grown-up?”
Savannah chuckled. “Sure am. Do you go to school, Wren?”
“Nope. It’s summer baycation.”
Levi smiled at her adorable mispronunciation. Clearly, she struggled with the v and b sounds. Was he supposed to correct her every time? Add that to his long list of questions for the social worker.
Wren tugged free from Levi and skipped into the break room like she owned the place. Which wasn’t surprising, given she’d spent several hours here almost every day. Guilt pinched his insides. He had to find more reliable and consistent childcare. Soon.
Evidence of her barely supervised activities was scattered across the card table he’d set up for her. She’d abandoned a coloring page he’d printed off before they left the house that morning. There were caps off the markers and chocolate-cupcake crumbs on a paper plate. Her pink-and-purple water bottle had fallen on the floor and rolled under the cabinet by the sink.
