Free Stealing Second: Sam's Story: Book 4 in the Clarksonville Series by Barbara L. Clanton

look after the kids. Lisa’s father, her step-father to be more accurate, was a roofer by trade, and a general handyman during the winter months when roofing was out of season.
    The Brown Family house was small, so small that Lisa shared one of the three bedrooms with Bridget, and Lynnie shared a room with her six-year-old brother Lawrence Jr.
    “What’s up Bridget?” Sam sat down in one of the salon chairs. “Are you going to give me a haircut?” Sam kicked herself for even suggesting it, because Bridget’s eyes grew wide.
    “Wet’s do your hair wike mine. We can be twins.”
    Sam raised her eyebrows. Bridget’s hair was a mop of dark brown curls, but her mother, or more likely Lisa, had managed to pull the hair into two tiny pigtails. Sam knew there was no refusing the threeyear-old.
    “Go for it, Sweetpea.” Sam took the hair band out of her hair. “Go get a clean brush from the drawer.” Bridget ran to the drawer, and Sam got the step stool Bridget used to reach her “customers.” Sam’s hair had often been used as amusement for the kids, but she didn’t mind since it had so far only involved washing or styling it in weird ways.
    Several minutes later, Sam and Bridget emerged from the back salon. Lisa, Lynnie, and Lawrence Jr. cracked up when they saw the new style.
    “What?” Sam put a hand to her hair. “What’s wrong with four pigtails?”
    Lisa grimaced. “I especially like the one sticking straight up on top of your head.”
    “Bridget’s special touch. Right, Sweetpea?”
    Bridget giggled as Sam grabbed the three-year-old and twirled her around a few times. She plopped her into her booster seat at the kitchen table where chicken and stars soup and peanut butter sandwiches were laid out for lunch.
    “I think you should keep those in when we go to William and Evelyn’s later,” Lisa said.
    “I think that would be no.”
    After lunch they cleaned up the dishes, and then settled in the living room to watch “Spy Kids 3,” a movie that Sam had brought over. Sam let Lisa think she’d already had the movie and was letting them borrow it, but truth be told, she’d bought it on the way over.
    Sam’s heart swelled as Bridget climbed into her lap when the movie started. Lisa flashed Sam one of her melting smiles, and all was right with the world. Sam snuggled into the cushions and let her head fall back against the high-backed couch. She hadn’t felt this relaxed in weeks. She fought to keep her eyes open but knew it was futile. The filling lunch, the rainy day, Bridget in her lap, and Lisa nearby sent her to a warm and happy place. A place she hadn’t been in a while. She drifted off to sleep, not caring if she got teased about it later.
    “I’m home,” a voice announced loudly. The front screen door banged shut.
    Sam woke up and struggled to open her eyes. She looked toward the television screen only to find that it had been turned off. Bridget was nowhere to be seen, either. She sat up to see a grinning Lisa on the other side of the couch.
    Sam stretched her arms up. “Mmm, did I fall asleep?”
    Lisa nodded. “For three hours.”
    Sam’s eyes grew wide. “Three?” She brushed several Lego blocks off her lap that had somehow ended up there, probably from Bridget. She shook her head to loosen up the cobwebs of her fuzzy mind. Something felt weird, but as she reached up to feel her head, she remembered Bridget’s hair makeover and the unglamorous pigtails sticking out all over her head.
    “Samantha Rose,” Lisa’s mother said, “that is such a special look.” She chuckled and put her bag down by the front door. “The hair is a Bridget creation, I presume?”
    Sam nodded and then yawned.
    “Oh, my. Are we keeping you up?”
    “Apparently.” Sam felt her cheeks get warm. She was a little embarrassed about letting her guard down so completely.
    “And we have the pictures to prove it.” Lisa laughed and held up her father’s digital camera.
    “Oh, no,” Sam cried and felt