Feisty Red (Three Chicks Brewery #2) - Stacey Kennedy

1

“Mama, I don’t want to go.”

Clara Carter didn’t think six words could rip her heart out, but she felt the pain in her chest as she hid behind the curtain of her reddish-brown hair. Every little bit of her soul wanted to reach out and grab her six-year-old son, Mason, and keep him safe in her arms, but today wasn’t about her. Today was about Mason and the fact that his safe, sheltered life wasn’t so safe or sheltered anymore. Sullivan Keene, Mason’s birth father and the man who vanished from Clara’s life nearly seven years ago had come back to town.

Standing in her childhood home, where her grandparents had raised her, she thought nothing could ever touch Mason or her. Not in this house, where so much loved lived. Mason had only asked once about his birth father, and Clara had given the vaguest honest answer she could: Sometimes, people can’t be in our lives. We miss them. We wonder what they’re doing and where they are, but sometimes, it’s better for us if they stay away. Since then, Mason had never asked again. Clara amounted that to the love from her family, who’d filled that void for Mason. Instead of Father’s Day, they had Auntie’s Day. Mason had never missed his father, because Sullivan simply didn’t exist in Mason’s young world. Even now, all around her were reminders of the love in this house. Its hardwood floors creaked, worn from a wonderful life. The distressed furniture, cozy and soft from many nights spent around the fire. But that comfortable bubble Clara had been living in shook with trepidation as she faced Mason again. Her son’s sandy-brown eyebrows furrowed over stormy, light green eyes. She cupped his chubby face. “Don’t be silly. You’re going to stay with Penelope tonight.” Penelope, Clara’s cousin who’d moved to River Rock last Christmas, was now Mason’s favorite person.

He stomped his foot, little hands fisted at his sides. “I don’t wanna sleep over. I never do that.”

Clara restrained her cringe. She didn’t need the reminder that today was different from any other day. She felt unsteady, all the unknowns piling up on her shoulders. Determined to not drag this out, she moved to the staircase and grabbed his red backpack for school, along with another bag filled with his pajamas, toiletries, and clothes for tomorrow. “You’ll have so much fun, and you don’t want to hurt Penelope’s feelings. She’s very excited to have you overnight.”

The crunching of gravel caught Clara’s attention, and before Mason could object further, she opened the front door. He dug his heels in a little as she gently guided him outside.

When the car rolled to a stop next to the porch steps, the passenger-side window slid down. Penelope’s warm green eyes landed on the very grumpy Mason. Her long, chocolate-brown hair was pulled into a side braid today, her light makeup was spot on, and Penelope’s smile instantly brightened their morning. “I hear we’re getting pizza tonight, going for ice cream, and watching a Spiderman movie.” When Mason didn’t move an inch and his frown deepened, Penelope slowly lifted a bag. “Oh, and eating candy too.”

Clara didn’t know her kid could move that fast. Mason beelined for the car.

“Bye, Mama,” he called, fastening his seat belt.

The tightness strangling Clara’s chest eased slightly as Penelope winked. “We’ll be good for tonight.”

Clara folded her arms in a terrible attempt to warm her bones. “Thanks for watching him overnight. I really appreciate it.” Depending on people was hard. Sometimes impossible. Penelope made it easy. “He needs to be dropped off at school for eight o’clock, both today and tomorrow. Pick up today is at three.”

“No problem,” Penelope replied then tickled Mason, sending him into a fit of laughter. “You know I love any time I can get with this cutie.”

They said quick goodbyes before Mason could change his mind, and soon, his sweet laughter faded as Penelope drove down the long driveway. The world felt like it began falling down on Clara’s head. She wanted to run and hide so nothing could fracture the happy life she had created for him. But that was not rational, and she wouldn’t let her emotions run wild today.

“I’ve got exactly what you need,” a voice broke through the silence.

Clara glanced behind her, finding the youngest Carter sister standing in the doorway. Maisie was everything Clara wasn’t. A free spirit. Wild. Adventurous. Her dark blue eyes always held a mischievous glint, her dirty-blond hair was unruly, and most