Page 50 (1/2)

“It’s good that he’s here, too, huh?” Kacey asked, co closer In a sundress with ballet slipper flats, she was as dressed down as she got But she needn’t have bothered

Any hope Lacey ht have secretly held that there could possibly be a chance for her and Je between them had just been quashed

“He’s been around all week, Kace” Before she’d ratted him out

Well, technically, she’d ratted out his ex-wife, but Tressa and Jem seemed to be pretty close Closer than any divorced couple she’d ever known And in her course of business, she’d known a lot of them

Lacey had dressed down, too In her newest pair of six-inch navy shorts and a white tank top Kacey had tried to get her to put on one of her sundresses She just hadn’t wanted to do so

It wasn’t her

And if nothing else, she was honest with herself and others about who and what she was

And wasn’t

Kacey was the “ood social worker

He was on his way up the walk, with Levi, in jeans and a white T-shirt just like his father, skipping along beside him

“A whole week and he doesn’t even seeat you”

She wanted to tell Kacey she was drea But she’d noticed, too She’d been afraid that she’d been fooling herself

In a week’s tile day they’d seen each other, Jem still looked at Lacey first And most often He smiled at her, directed his conversation to her Of course, it was her house

But Kacey was paying the bill

“Looks like I get to babysit today” Kacey was s toward the front door “See, it all worked out fine”