sit here and enjoy the moment.” She closed her eyes.
When she awoke the next morning, the sun peeked over the edge of the far horizon, which meant it had to be at least six o’clock. Jody was probably already in the kitchen making coffee. Mitzi’s head was still on Graham’s shoulder. His cheek was nestled in her hair and his arm cuddled her. She eased out away from him and started to stand, but he tightened his grip on her.
“Don’t go,” he muttered.
“Have to. It’s morning.”
His eyes popped wide open and he adjusted his glasses. “Well, how ’bout that? We just spent the night together, and I slept like a baby.”
“Me, too.” She bent and kissed him on the forehead. “But now I’ve got to get home or gossip will have it that we did more than sleep. The girls don’t need that when they’re trying to get a new start.”
He pulled her back onto his lap and kissed her on the lips. “I’ll see you Saturday. Is eight too early to pick you up?”
“I’ll be ready.” She nodded as she straightened up.
“I’m free to text now, right?” he asked as she stepped off the porch.
“Oh, yeah,” she said.
She jogged the whole way back to the house only to find the door locked. She rang the doorbell and no one answered, so she hurried to the back door. It was open, and just as she’d suspected, Jody was in the kitchen making coffee.
As Mitzi made her way inside, Paula came into the kitchen from the foyer. “Well, well! So that’s why the front door was unlocked. I couldn’t sleep, so I came down about two for a cookie. I figured we’d forgotten to lock up after the ice-cream party, but now we know better.”
“Graham’s place?” Jody asked.
Mitzi nodded.
“Great!” Paula and Jody said at the same time.
Jody pointed to a chair. “Sit down and tell us all about it.”
“Not much to tell. We’ve got a date planned for Saturday. I get to spend the day with him while the girls do that wedding with Rita. We made out like teenagers. And now I’m going upstairs to take a shower and get dressed for the day.” She crossed the kitchen in long strides.
“We want more details later,” Paula called out as she left the room.
“You’ll have them,” Mitzi answered. She could give them a play-by-play of what she and Graham had said, but she’d never be able to describe the emotions she’d felt when they finally admitted that there was something between them—or the way his kisses made her go weak in the knees.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Shopping, or doing anything alone for that matter, was not something that Jody enjoyed. She’d had Paula and Mitzi to do stuff with her until they graduated. Then Jody had moved in with Lyle. Maybe in six months or a year, she’d be more comfortable with it, but today, when she pulled out a cart alone, she absolutely did not like it.
She made a beeline toward the greeting-card display to buy a birthday card for her mother. Wanda might be a cantankerous old gal, but a person only got one mother. Jody had always sent her a card and, when she could afford it, had the flower shop take a bouquet to her.
“Well, hello!” Quincy said as he rounded the end of the toy aisle.
“Hi.” Jody glanced at a little dark-haired girl in the cart. “Who’s ridin’ shotgun with you today?”
“My daughter, Hazel. It’s my weekend, and we’re out buying food for the next two days,” he said.
“You never mentioned a daughter,” Jody whispered.
“I was waiting for our first date to tell you the story of my life,” he said.
Jody went over to the cart. “How old are you?”
Hazel held up four fingers.
“Do you like to read?”
She nodded her head so fast that her dark hair fell into her cute little round face. “Nanny readed to me, but not at Daddy’s.”
“That would be at her mother’s—she has a full-time nanny,” Quincy explained.
“Her mother?”
“Remarried,” he said.
“Will you read to me?” Hazel asked.
Jody couldn’t bear to tell the child no, but she couldn’t say yes. She quickly looked at Quincy for an answer.
“Miz Jody has things to do today. Maybe another time,” he said.
Hazel’s lower lip shot out. Her chin quivered, and tears rolled down her cheeks.
“I can’t stand to see her disappointed. It’d be easier if she threw fits, but she doesn’t. That silent weeping tears my heart out,” Quincy said. “I’ll read to you soon as we get