Free Sugar Springs by Kim Law Page A

of his jacket. He then set the dog up with a drink and wrapped his leash around the top of the wrought-iron fencing surrounding the sidewalk grate—as if that would stop the animal if he decided he wanted to go.
    Cody entered the salon, and Joanie started to move away, but Lee Ann pointed to her toes. “Finish.”
    As Joanie sunk back to the stool, Cody stopped behind her. “Hello, Joanie. Good to see you.”
    Joanie mumbled a hello and ducked her head as if wishing she were anywhere but there, while Lee Ann shot the man a scowl. “Have trouble reading the ‘Closed’ sign on the door? We’re trying to have a few moments of peace here. Uninterrupted.”
    A muscle jerked in his jaw. “Then maybe you shouldn’t have avoided me again,” he replied.
    She crossed her arms over her chest. “Something came up.”
    “Right.” He sat in the chair beside her and stretched out his long legs. “Yet you seem to have plenty of time now.”
    He’d stepped around her to choose the seat that wasn’t visible to the front door as if hoping to keep the fact he was there a secret. The dog currently guarding the doorway, however, was a dead giveaway.
    “I’m in the middle of something,” she stated.
    “I’ll wait.”
    God, he was irritating. She gritted her teeth together. He reminded her of Candy when she got something stuck in her mind.
    “Fine.” She looked everywhere but at him. “Then talk.”
    While Joanie worked as quickly as humanly possible to get the bright orange applied to Lee Ann’s toes, Cody watched the movements in fascination. “It’s good to see another part of the old you still around,” he mumbled.
    Joanie paused with the polish brush hovering in the air. She peeked up when neither of them said anything. “Were you talking to me?”
    A smile cracked the corners of Cody’s mouth. “No, but it’s good to see you haven’t changed, either, Joanie. I like your hair.” He motioned to Lee Ann. “I was referring to the color you’re applying to Mommy of the Year, here. She always had a bit of flair to her, but these days she seems to keep it more under wraps.”
    He shifted his attention back to Lee Ann and lifted a hand, catching a short piece of her hair between his thumb and forefinger. “Of course, this hair screams flair, too. It’s the rest that’s different.”
    Lee Ann swatted his hand away and shot him a look that should have burned the skin off the tips of his fingers. “I’m no different than the last time you saw me, just a little older.”
    That was actually true. She had always been the good girl, the one taking care of everybody else. The one everyone relied on. Only, she’d wanted to be different. At least for a while. She’d yearned for college and a bit of living before she settled into her final role as wife and mother. He and Joanie had been the only ones who truly understood this about her.
    Eyebrows arched over his dark eyes as he continued to study her. “And the twins?” His tone was harder than she expected. “Did you have them hidden away somewhere fourteen years ago, too?”
    He always had gotten right to the point. It used to be one of the things she liked about him. “I thought you wanted to apologize.”
    “I wanted to do that alone.” He nodded at Joanie. “You seem to have a problem being alone with me. I figured we’d get the other issue out of the way.”
    Indignation flared, heating her from the chest up. “Candy and Kendra are
not
issues.”
    “Whoa.” He held his hands out in front of him. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to hit on a sore spot. And I didn’t mean to imply they are
issues
per se. I was merely wondering about them. They’ve got to be, what? Twelve at least? You must have gotten pregnant soon after I left.”
    Both she and Joanie turned their heads to gape at the man. Literally, jaws hanging open, eyes bulging. He really did not know they were his kids. How could that be possible?
    “What?” he asked.
    Instead of answering, she and Joanie