Free The Good Provider by Debra Salonen Page B

with glee, even though Daria was quite sure she didn’t know the meaning of the word. “Mom? Will you play with us, too?”
    Daria knew what kind of faux treasures awaited them—the stuff you paid a fortune to “win.” But what the heck. It beat the alternative—sitting in a motel room worrying about the juggernaut she’d unleashed.
    “Sure. I’m pretty good at skee ball, if I do say so myself.”
    She wasn’t really. In fact, she was terrible, and she proved it a few minutes later, but William wasn’t a darn bit better.
    “They must not have this game in England, huh?”
    He fished a handful of tokens from his pocket, handing her half. “That is an excellent excuse and I’m going with it. What’s yours?” he asked after tossing the first of his heavy balls toward the ridiculously challenging arrangement of holes and plastic ledges.
    She selected a ball of her own. She could have resurrected any number of slights Bruce had used to describe her lack of athletic prowess in the past, but she didn’t. “My balls are out of balance.”
    William laughed. “Definitely not an excuse I’m tempted to steal.” He tried another pass, this time scoring the highest number on the machine. Hailey clapped and cheered. She’d lost interest in the game twenty or thirty dollars earlier. Daria had lost track of how many times William had returned to the counter to purchase more tokens.
    Truthfully, she didn’t really care. She was having fun. A woman running away from her ex-husband probably didn’t deserve to have fun, but Daria refused to think about that, either. For once, she gave herself permission to do what felt right—even if she might regret it tomorrow.
    “Well, Hailey, I fear we’ve come to the end of our token supply. Will you and Miranda collect all our tickets? Let’s go see what we can buy for Cal.”
    Daria paused to gather their jackets and tidy up the area where they’d been playing. When she joined them at the redemption counter, she heard Miranda tell William, “He’s our great-grandfather. Our mom’s dad lives in Florida with a young wife Mom hates. Our dad’s dad is dead. Our Grandma Hester lives close by us in Fresno. Mom doesn’t like her much, either, although she says she does.”
    The insights and personal revelations robbed Daria of speech—momentarily. “Miranda Grace, that was entirely uncalled for. You may wait for us at the table while Hailey picks out something for Great-Grandpa Calvin. You, young lady, may use the time to rethink what is appropriate to share and what is not.”
    Miranda blushed and dashed away, diving for the obscurity of the booth. Hailey moved a little closer to Daria, taking her hand for comfort.
    “It’s okay, sweetheart. Miranda is still upset because I won’t give her back her phone.” To William she added, “You’d have thought I untethered her lifeline and set her adrift in the Atlantic.”
    William extended his hand to Hailey. “Miss Hailey and I can browse while you discuss matters with Miranda, if you like.”
    She looked toward the booth where they’d been sitting earlier. Miranda—her stubborn, strong, too-savvy-for-her-own-good child. “Good idea.” She dropped a kiss on Hailey’s cheek and cautioned, “Nothing big. Grandpa doesn’t have a lot of space, remember?”
    William knew that message was for him, too. And he tried to keep the child’s purchases to a ticket-only minimum, but it became imminently clear that even a basketful of tickets wasn’t worth squat. Anything of quality required cold, hard cash.
    Hailey proved to be a serious shopper. After a great deal of deliberation, she finally settled on two very realistic-looking stuffed animals—a sober-faced black bear for Miranda and a velvety plush polar bear with a cub that Hailey and her mother would share. For Cal, she chose a whimsical two-story birdhouse, which, much to William’s amusement, turned out to be from an artist whose name he recognized from Sentinel