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Guys were

CHAPTER ELEVEN

JEM COULDN’T BELIEVE his eyes when he pulled into Uncle Bob’s on Saturday, glanced toward the beach and saw Lacey Hamilton in double In both forms his fantasies had taken One was drably overdressed, and the other rather undressed He skipped over the version with long, tanned legs exposed, and stared at the one with loose black cotton shorts that hung to her knees

He e, not have it arrive out of the wrapping He’d always been weird that way

But her hair It was the first time he’d seen those blond locks down in real life It fell almost to her waist and he

“Come on, Dad!” Levi’s little feet kicked the back of his seat and he heard his son unfasten the belt in his car seat “We haveta eat”

They were a little late for lunch He’d taken Levi to ith hi and had been occupied h the list of proble Nothing he couldn’t handle, though A straight driveway that was now going to be curved So that had blohen a drywall screw had missed a stud Windows that didn’t fit And roof tiles that had been delivered in black rather than the rust brown the customer had ordered

Keys in hand he got out of the truck, opened the backseat door to help Levi down and watched as the to lot that was adjacent to Uncle Bob’s

He wasn’t going to call out to her He didn’t ever want to see her again

“It’s her and her twin, Dad! See?” Levi said, loudly enough for anyone in the parking lot to hear Uncle Bob’s parking lot, not the adjacent one

So htmares

“Yeah, I see” Je on Levi’s hand, turned toward the restaurant “And her name is Lacey”

“Lacey!” Levi called out immediately Not at all what he’d intended Should have kept his mouth shut

He thought about telling his son they absolutely did not want to see the other wo him that for their own safety they had to stay away froure out how to do so when Levi had been told she was a friend He’d let her take Levi alone to a playroom He’d let her in their home, to see Levi’s room and most prized possessions

The women were almost at the first row of cars He didn’t see the one that had been parked outside his hohts of his life