The Delivery of Decor (Shiloh Ridge Ranch in Three Rivers #7) - Liz Isaacson Page 0,126

gotten out for herself.

“I forgot about Timmy.” June frowned and looked at the pan of lasagna. She wouldn’t have made it if she’d remembered. After all, she had a dinner date tonight too.

Maybe Judge could just come here, she thought, and she reached for her phone as Lucy Mae filled a glass with water.

“And some of them went through the line twice, saying we had to give them a free wash, because the first one didn’t get the mud off.”

“What are you and Timmy doing?”

“I argued with this one guy until Gerome came out and said to just give it to him.” She shook her head and took a big drink. “But honestly, the entire town got the mud rained on them. It’s all over everything, from the garbage cans to the fence posts. I should work on tips.” She grinned, and June smiled back at her.

Lucy Mae had always been a talker, and she could go on and on—and on—about almost anything. When she’d been obsessed with Broadway, June had listened to the plot of every play Lucy Mae could get her hands on. And not a short synopsis either.

“Timmy’s taking me to the senior hot dog roast,” she said. “Tomorrow is the all-nighter.”

“I don’t want you out all night.”

“I know, Mom. We already talked about it.” Lucy Mae rolled her eyes and put her glass in the sink. “Sorry about the lasagna. We’ll eat it, I’m sure.”

“I’m thinking of having Judge come help.” She looked from the Italian dish to her daughter.

Lucy Mae’s eyebrows soared toward the ceiling “Judge Glover? I thought you’d decided to let life play its course, and he wasn’t included.”

“Maybe he still is,” June said. “I saw him today.”

“Where?”

“The ranch. I had a job up there.”

Lucy Mae cocked one hip and put her hand on it. “Did you, Mom? Or did you go seek him out?”

“What if I did?” she asked. “People can alter their course in life, you know.” She put the oven mitts back in the drawer next to the stove. “I’m letting you go to California, and that’s a complete life course deviation.” She gave her daughter a glare, not wanting to admit how much she still liked and thought about Judge Glover.

“I will text you every hour,” Lucy Mae said.

June scoffed, caught her daughter’s grin, and drew her into a hug. “I love you so much, Lucy Mae.”

“I love you too, Mom.”

“I can’t believe you’re graduating and moving out. Moving on. You’re going to have such an amazing life.” She stepped back, used to letting her daughter see her tears. She didn’t let them slip down her face, but they definitely brimmed in her eyes.

“So are you,” Lucy Mae said. “You’ll finally be free to do what you want.”

“You have never been a burden to me,” June said firmly. “Never.”

“I know.” Lucy Mae hugged her again, and June felt something extra in the touch. Her daughter held her tighter, and June did the same in return.

They stepped apart, and Lucy Mae wiped her eyes. “I’m going to go shower. If Timmy gets here before I’m done, please be nice to him.”

“I’m always nice to him,” June said.

“Mom, last time you told him you could find out where he’d been on the Internet. ‘Two clicks, Timmy, and that history is mine.’ That’s what you said.” Lucy Mae rolled her eyes again, but June only smiled.

She knew better than most the dangers out there on the Internet, and she knew about the enticing things that teenage boys could get into.

Her daughter went down the hall to her bathroom, and June muttered, “That was me being nice, baby.” She knew the ins and outs of routers, networks, security systems, and backend servers. She could sit outside Timmy’s house and, within five minutes, be spying on what he was doing on his computer.

She wouldn’t, of course. But she could.

She picked up her phone and called Judge, hoping he wasn’t up to his elbows in manure or something. Now that summer had arrived, Judge would be pulling his Christmas supplies out of the basement, and the more likely scenario would have him wrapped up in old strings of Christmas lights.

“Heya, June,” he said, and it sounded like he was running. “Can I call you back in maybe ten minutes?”

“Sure,” she said quickly, and he said, “Great, thanks,” and the call ended.

June smiled to herself, because it sure felt like Judge would provide a life for her that would never have a dull moment. She looked