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She pouted but took my hand as I led her to the front of the school.

“Can you show me your classroom?” I asked kneeling beside her as I tried to turn her frown upside-down.

She nodded and pulled me by the hand toward another door where I followed her inside. As soon as we got to a classroom filled with other kids that looked to be about Emma’s age, she stopped short.

”What's wrong?” I asked her, bending down.

”I want Mommy,” she said, shaking her head as she started to cry.

A woman that I assumed was Emma's teacher came over. She wasn’t much older than me. She bent down and brushed Emma's hair out of her eyes like she did it every day of her life.

”Oh Emma,” she said softly.

Then she looked to me.

”I'm so sorry for your loss,” she said, and I could tell she genuinely meant it. She was one of those people that you could tell was truly meant to be an elementary school teacher. She still had that amazing innocent quality about her despite her age. She extended her hand to me.

“I’m Ms. Abbott.”

“Lauren Lindsay.” I held out the hand that Emma wasn’t clutching.

“Yes, Jed emailed me early this morning,” she explained, worry still covering her face. “Is Emma up for school today?”

She looked down at the little girl who had her thumb in her mouth.

Emma shook her head and turned to me as she tucked herself under my arm and clutched my hand like it might fall off at any time.

When I kneeled down and picked her up, I was struck by how natural it felt.

“Emma, do you want to go to school today?”

Her frown deepened and she shook her head.

Ms. Abbott looked at me sympathetically.

“Emma, how about I just see you tomorrow? Maybe a day with your sister will make you feel better.”

I didn’t bother to correct her that she was barely my stepsister. Emma didn’t need that right now.

“Does that sound like a good idea?” I asked Emma.

She nodded but stayed silent, so I adjusted her in my arms and she put her head on my shoulder. Ms. Abbott helped me take her backpack off and sling it over my other arm.

“Thank you so much,” I told Ms. Abbott. “We’ll see you tomorrow. Hopefully in a better mood, right Emma?”

She made some kind of incoherent sound, and her teacher gave me a weak smile.

“Feel better sweetie,” she said to Emma, patting her back gently. “You too,” she told me with a look of understanding as she backed away into the classroom with the other kids. “It was very nice to meet you.”

“You as well,” I said, grateful that Emma wouldn’t be in trouble for missing school today. I wasn’t sure what to do with her instead, but it was clear she wasn’t ready to go back to her everyday routine just yet. She might be little, but she still understood that her mom wasn’t there like usual.

“Alright,” I said, more for myself than her, as I carried her back to the car. “Let’s have a fun girls day.”

When I asked Emma what she wanted to do, she wouldn’t talk to me. She sat in the back seat looking sad, until I told her that I would go and buy her some ice cream. The GPS in my phone couldn’t find any ice cream places that were open early, so I took her to the nearest grocery store that I could find so we could make our own sundaes at home.

After putting her in the cart, I drove her around the store and let her have a free cookie from the bakery, which seemed to put her in a better mood. Clearly, sweets were the way to her heart, although I would probably need to start watching her sugar or she would end up an addict like me.

The store was a labyrinth, and I literally had to stop and check the directory to find the frozen foods aisle.

“What kind of ice cream do you think you want, Emma?”

Before she answered, the shrill sound of a southerner shouting my name cut her off.

“Oh my god, I’ll be, Lauren Lindsay back here in the Springs,” The familiar voice caught me off guard. I whirled around to see my best friend standing behind me.

“Kenzie!” I nearly jumped on her in excitement while Emma sat in the cart with her hands over her ears, still pouting.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, looking sideways at Emma.

I shrugged and took a deep breath.

“Long story,” I told her. “How’s school here?”

“It’s so awesome! I’m so glad I decided to transfer.”

She moved to Colorado when we were little, but that accent still came out every once and a while when she was excited or angry. She had gone to school with me in Boulder up until last year when she decided to transfer to the Colorado Springs campus to be closer to her family. Life hadn’t been the same since, even with her only two hours away. I opened my mouth to explain why I had a child in my cart when I was interrupted by goose bumps breaking out on my skin.

“Emma girl!” I heard a low voice say behind me, and Emma started giggling.

I turned around only to see Dean Powell standing with Emma in his arms, who was now sporting a megawatt smile. I hadn’t been able to make her smile all morning, and then the second he showed up, she was a different little girl all together. I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes at him.

“Dean!” She reached up to hug his neck, and he beamed back at Kenzie and me.

“Um,” she started as she looked back from me to Dean, then to Emma, and back to me. “Wait,” she said. “Is that?” I didn’t quite follow where she was going with it at first. “You did
not
tell me everything.” She trailed off as she openly stared at Dean.

“Hey Kenzie,” he said smoothly. “How are you?”

She tossed her long blond hair and smiled back at him without losing a beat.

“I’m great, how are you?” she said politely. She glared at me as if there was something else going on that I failed to tell her about.

“Never better,” he said instantly as he looked to me.

“Oh my god,” Kenzie said as she looked back and forth between us. “Is she…” She trailed off before she could finish her thought, but she was staring straight at Emma.

It took me a moment to realize what she was thinking and I wanted to die of shame that my best friend was trying to embarrass me in front of Dean even though she knew full well that Emma wasn’t my child, let alone my child with him.

“Oh no,” I said quickly as I went along with her. “No, no, no. Emma’s my stepsister. I’m just watching her right now,” I clarified.

Kenzie put a hand over her heart and breathed a sigh of relief. She was utterly convincing.

“Oh bless your heart,” she said laughing, “That’s a relief. I’m used to what goes on below the Mason-Dixon line, and here I was thinking maybe somewhere along the line you had forgotten to tell me about your long, lost four year-old that you miraculously hid from me all these years.”

“Not the case.” She knew this, but I bit back what I really wanted to say.

Dean just looked at both of us and then burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny, Dean?” Emma asked as she lightly laughed with him, then reached out to touch his nose with her finger.

He managed to subdue himself and looked back down at her.

“Oh nothing,” he told her. “Grown up girls are silly sometimes.”

“Silly?” she said, looking at me.

“Yeah, super silly,” As if I had done it a thousand times before, I put my own finger to her nose and she giggled. This nose thing was kind of magical. Immediately, I felt more of a connection with her, as strange as it was.

Kenzie cleared her throat as silence blanketed the four of us.

“Well, you should come on our little weekend ski trip with us. It’ll help you meet some new people here.”

She didn’t have to ask how long I was staying, but I thought it was clear that I wouldn’t be skipping town just yet. I wanted to make sure Chase, Emma, and Callie had someone to take care of them before I left.

“Yes, come.” Dean said quickly, although it didn’t sound as much like a suggestion as it had when Kenzie said it.

“Come!” Emma said excitedly as she echoed him, looking from Dean to me.

“When is it?” I asked, somewhat confused. I knew I didn’t want to go on a ski trip, but I didn’t want to sound rude.

“This weekend,” Kenzie told me, adjusting her shopping basket. “Don’t worry, we have it all planned out already. One more person won’t change anything, right Dean?”

“The more the merrier,” he said, now looking down at Emma.

I had never seen someone look as peaceful as he did, standing there, watching her smile back. It was one of those things that made a man insanely attractive, even though I wasn’t a kid person. “Definitely come.”

I couldn’t help but feel pressured by his attitude, but I wasn’t sure I could just ditch the kids so early in the game. Especially Emma.

“I’ll think about it and let you know,” I told them both. I decided it was diplomatic enough to get them off my back, but vague enough that I couldn’t be charged with actual commitment.

Dean leaned down and put Emma back in the cart.

“Emma, let’s go get some ice cream,” he told her as he winked at me as if he knew that’s why we were here. As if he had been listening to me talking to Emma before we found Kenzie. I stood there with my mouth hanging open as I watched him roll her away without another word.

I was sort of appalled at myself that I just let some random man take my stepsister away from me like that, but part of me trusted Dean even though I barely knew him. At least I would know on whom to put out an AMBER Alert if they weren’t back in less than three minutes. Plus, Emma was happier with him than she was with me.

It comforted me that Kenzie seemed to trust him with Emma too. Hell, he was probably better for her than I was since he seemed to know her so well.

Kenzie punched me in the arm, breaking my reverie.

“Oh my god,” she gasped. “How come you never told me you knew Dean Powell? Or that you could possibly have a love child with Dean Powell? She looks just like you, minus the hair.”

“Ow,” I told her pointedly as I rubbed my arm. She packed a harder punch than she looked like she was capable considering her tiny frame. “I don’t know Dean Powell. And you
know
I don’t have a child!”

She crossed her arms and I knew I had a whole lot of Southern sass headed my way.

“That sure looked like a whole lot of ‘not knowing’ to me,” she said, gesturing to where Dean had just been standing.

“I just met him last night,” I said defensively. “He’s just… really forward.”

“Well, he is
forward
,” she told me. “But I’ve never seen him like
that
before.”

She raised her eyebrows as if to make her point more solid.

“What do you mean?” I asked, curious to know what he was like when he wasn’t charming the absolute hell out of everyone, namely me.

“He’s−” she started, but stopped short as a cart came rolling back into the aisle.

Emma triumphantly held a carton of ice cream.

“Look what we found!”

I looked at the cart, which was filled with at least three different boxes of ice cream not including the one Emma was holding, as well as some Oreos. Upon further inspection, I realized there was even a movie on top.

“
Grease
?” I looked at Dean skeptically as I picked it up and turned it over in my hands.

He shrugged. “She liked the cover.”

I threw it back in the cart and gave him a look. As I did, I realized the exchange we’d just had felt as though we’d known each other a lot longer than fourteen hours, not that I was counting.

“Alright, Emma girl,” he said as he looked down at her. “I’ll see you soon, okay? Save some ice cream for me.”

She nodded and looked at the now melting ice cream box in her lap dreamily.

He saluted Kenzie in a way that made even her jaw drop, and then turned to me. He stepped forward and brushed my hair out of my face, then leaned down to look at my forehead.

“Looks like You’ll live, Lindsay,” he said softly as he gave me an intricately lazy grin.

I sucked in a breath involuntarily, and his dimples widened even more.

I saw Kenzie’s jaw drop further out of the corner of my eye, but I was frozen to the spot.

“See you around,” he said as he stepped away, leaving me breathless in aisle three.

I waved awkwardly, but couldn’t manage to get oxygen in a way that would allow me to physically form words.

We both just stood there for a few seconds after he walked away.

“Lauren,” Kenzie managed finally as she dramatically fanned herself, and then me. “You did
not
just meet him last night.”

“No really,” I said when I could speak. “He kind of swept me off my feet. Literally.”