No Place Like Home by Lilly Mirren

Author:Lilly Mirren [Mirren, Lilly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Lab Press

Chapter 13

“Please, come with us,” begged Levi.

His wide brown eyes glimmered with unshed tears. Lisa inhaled a long, deep breath.

“But…”

“You have to,” agreed Toni, with much less enthusiasm. “We hardly know him. It’d be irresponsible to send us to another state with a man we’ve barely spent any time with.”

Lisa’s heart dropped into her gut. Toni was right. She couldn’t let them leave with Jay unaccompanied. But he hadn’t asked her to go with them. He’d suggested the idea of the children returning to Victoria with him, and both had agreed.

Toni was reluctant, but Levi was so excited about the prospect that Toni changed her mind. Lisa was fairly sure it was only because Jay told Levi he could go alone if Toni didn’t want to come. And Toni wasn’t letting Levi out of her sight, she watched him every moment they were together. Lisa noticed it after the first few days living together — Toni would walk into a room, ask where Levi was, then settle down nearby to watch him. She’d pretend that wasn’t what she was doing, but if he went outside to kick a ball against the side of the house, she went too, carrying a book or her phone with her.

Lisa couldn’t blame the girl. She’d spent so much of her life taking care of Levi, watching out for him when their mother was distracted or absent. Only two years older than him, she seemed much more mature. He skipped and jogged through life, hardly paying attention to his surroundings, with a perpetual grin on his face. Toni wore responsibility around her shoulders like a heavy coat.

“Okay, I’ll talk to Jay,” agreed Lisa.

Levi grinned, immediately transferring his attention to an electronic game device that made an incessant and annoying beeping sound.

With a groan, Toni reached into her already packed luggage and retrieved a pair of pink, fluffy earmuffs, which she promptly pulled over her ears.

Lisa hurried into the kitchen where she found Jay reading news articles on his iPad and sipping a cup of steaming, black coffee.

“Ready to go?” she asked, twisting her fingers together.

He looked up at her, smiled. “Yep. We don’t have to leave for another hour yet, but I hate rushing.”

“I agree,” she replied.

She sat across from him, leaned forwards on the table. He studied her, a question in his eyes. She swallowed hard.

“Listen, Jay, I’ve been talking to the kids and they had an interesting idea.”

“Oh?” he replied. He leaned back in his chair, linking his hands together behind his head.

“What if I come with you to Victoria?”

His brows lowered. “Can you do that?”

“I can get some time off. Trina will understand, with everything that’s been going on. And besides, I’d really like to visit Marysville. I’ve never been there before, and it sounds like a beautiful place.”

“You mean you want to keep an eye on the kids,” he replied.

Her cheeks were hot. “Well…”

He chuckled. “I’m only giving you a hard time. Of course, you want to keep an eye on the kids.

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