Big Girls Don’t Cry (Dundee, Idaho #6)(42)
Author: Brenda Novak

“Can we build a snowman when I get home today, Mommy?” Isabella asked.

Reenie glanced back to see her youngest daughter’s nose pressed to the window, her breath fogging the glass. “If the sun doesn’t come out and melt all the snow, babe.”

“What if Daddy wants to help us?” Angela asked, turning away from her own window.

“What if?” Reenie replied, trying to sidestep the challenge in her daughter’s voice.

“Will you go inside so you don’t have to see him?”

Reenie could feel the interest of all three girls. But she wasn’t sure what to tell them. She didn’t really want to be around Keith, but maybe counseling would change that. “We’ll see,” she said.

“You’re not mad at him anymore?” Isabella asked.

“I didn’t say that. It’s more…” Reenie hesitated, picking and choosing her words with care. “I’m trying to get over Daddy’s…mistake.”

“Mommy, what did Daddy do?” Angela asked.

“I’ll explain when you’re older. You’ll understand it better then.”

“If he broke something, can’t he buy you a new one?”

“I wish he could, sweetheart.”

Jennifer piped up. “Whatever he did, you’re trying to forgive him because of us, right?”

Reenie laughed. “How are you old enough to figure that one out?”

“I heard you on the phone with Grandma O’Connell,” she admitted.

“Oh. Well, your daddy and I both love you and are trying to work things out so we can all be together.”

“Grandma called back after you went to the store,” Angela said.

“She did?” Reenie slowed as she came to the line of cars waiting to turn in at the school. “Why didn’t you tell me when I got home?”

“She wasn’t calling to talk to you.”

“She wanted to talk to us,” Jennifer supplied.

“What’d she say?” Reenie asked.

“Not to worry. She’s going to get you and Daddy some help so that Daddy will be able to come back soon.”

Reenie ground her teeth. She knew her mother-in-law meant well, but it was difficult not to resent the interference.

“Is he coming home tonight?” Isabella asked.

“It’s a possibility that he could come in a few weeks,” she admitted. “But even if he doesn’t, you’ll all be fine, you know that? Daddy and I will always love you and take good care of you, even if—”

“Hey, who’s that?” Angela interrupted.

Momentarily distracted, Reenie turned in the direction her daughter was pointing and saw a tall, beautiful blond woman get out of a white Cadillac Esplanade. Two children tumbled out the opposite side—a girl with dark blond hair and thick glasses, whose willowy build reminded Reenie a great deal of Popeye’s Olive Oyl, and an adorable, stocky little boy with golden hair. “I don’t know,” she said. “They must be new.”

“We hardly ever get new people,” Jennifer said excitedly.

Reenie found herself watching the woman and child as avidly as her children were. “That’s true. Do you think they might be the family who moved in across the street from Nanna?”

“Maybe,” Angela said. “Nanna told me they have a girl close to my age.”

“That girl can’t be eight,” Jennifer said.

“Why not?” Angela replied.

“She’s so tall.”

“It’s possible,” Reenie mused. “She’s tall, but so is her mother.”

“Her mom’s pretty,” Isabella breathed.

The woman was pretty—and perfectly assembled, even at this hour and in this weather. “She must be new,” Reenie grumbled. “No one around here bothers with hair and makeup on a morning like this.”

“Hurry so I can catch up with them,” Angela said.

Reenie finally drew abreast of the curb and let her children hop out. They waved before running down the sidewalk to catch the woman and her children.

Reenie pulled away, but while waiting for a break in traffic, she noticed that Isabella had left her backpack in the van.

Rolling down her window, she motioned to the person behind her that she needed to get out of line. It was a man in a Lexus. He gave her room, and she managed to reverse until she could double-park. Then she grabbed the backpack and went after her kids.

“Isabella!” she called, dodging traffic as she crossed the crowded lot.

The new woman glanced up when she heard Reenie’s voice, saw her hurrying toward them and, grabbing both her children, dragged them off toward the office.

“Who was that?” Reenie asked as her daughters came back to meet her.

“They’re new, just like we thought,” Isabella said cheerfully.

Angela was only a step behind her little sister and didn’t look nearly as happy.

“What is it?” Reenie asked.

Her eyebrows knitted as she shielded her face from the falling snow. “She is my age.”

“The tall girl?”

“Yeah.”

“So what’s wrong? I thought you’d be glad.”

“I was glad until I asked her if she could come over and play today.”

“What’d she say?”

“She wanted to. But her mother jerked her hand and said…” Angela hardened her expression as she mimicked what she’d heard, “‘I’m afraid not.’”

“Really?” Reenie stared after the woman, who’d disappeared into the office. “That doesn’t sound too friendly.”

“It wasn’t,” Angela complained.

“Maybe she reacted that way because we’re still strangers. Maybe she wants to get to know us better first. That’s understandable, isn’t it?”

“I told her that,” Jennifer said. “I mean, give them some time. They’re gonna like us. We have the same last name.”

“What?” Reenie said. But the bell rang right then, and the girls rushed off, leaving her standing at the edge of the parking lot, feeling as though she’d just been zapped with a stun gun.

“They wouldn’t have,” she murmured, over and over to herself. But her mind was racing. What were the chances that an unrelated family of O’Connells would move to town at this time? Could that blond woman be Liz? And those children…Keith’s? She remembered Isaac’s final words from last night, which now seemed much more than just a turn of phrase: See you around…