Sloan relaxed. “Mitch is my best friend. I’m sure he was just looking out for you.”
“I’m tired of you and him thinking I need some big strong man watching out for me.” She laid her head against the back of the couch. “That was the first guy that acted interested in me since Rob left.” She sighed and looked at him under her lashes. “How’s his head?”
“Mitch will be fine. It will take more than a beer bottle to do some serious damage to his hard head.”
She sighed, looking absolutely miserable. “Why can’t I find someone who wants me for me? Not for what I can give them?”
His heart tugged for his little sister. He knelt down in front of her and brushed her blonde hair out of her face. “When the right one comes along, you’ll know.”
She wrinkled up her nose. “Are you kidding me with that bullshit? Do you know how many available men there are in this town? Not a lot, let me tell you.” She pulled a pillow over her face and moaned.
“What about Steve?”
She shoved the pillow up and gave him a horrified look. “From the hardware store? Hardware Steve?”
“What’s wrong with him?”
“He’s a mouth-breather.”
“A what?”
“A mouth-breather. He breathes through his mouth.” She shuddered. “It’s like talking to Darth Vader.”
“What about John over at the fire department?”
She looked at him like he had grown a second head. “Are you serious?”
“What’s wrong with him?”
“He propositioned Mary Wilkins for a blowjob in the frozen food aisle of the grocery store.”
He shuddered. “Eighty-four-year-old Mary Wilkins?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t she make a police report?” That complaint would have been all over the police department before the sun went down.
“I didn’t say she complained about it.”
His stomach pitched. His dinner with Grace was threatening to make a reappearance.
“Look, Sloan.” She sat up and picked up his hands. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you with Grace. I think she’s beautiful and wonderful and strong. She’s so different than Felicia. She’s good for you. She’s has helped you find your way back to happiness.”
He grinned. He knew that he’d never been as happy as when he was with Grace.
“Well, I don’t want just anyone. I want The One.”
“I know, Allie, I know.” He smiled. “I can tell you this for sure, if I can find Grace, then you will find the guy of your dreams too.”
She smiled. “Really? Will he have abs of steel?”
His smiled faded, not liking the direction of the conversation. “I don’t really know.”
She arched her eyebrow. “Do you think he’ll be big and strong and can pick me up against the wall when he kisses me?”
Sloan stood and made his way to the door. “Allie . . .”
“Do you think he’ll be . . . you know . . . well endowed?”
“I really have to leave.” He sprinted out the door and down to the safety of his car.
***
Allison went to her window and watched as Sloan drove away. Damn if Mitch’s Mustang wasn’t parked along the street, headlights off, like a guard dog. Now that Sloan confirmed Mitch was okay, she let herself get mad at him for interfering with her date and running off to tattle to her older brother. It was bad enough that she had to deal with Sloan; she didn’t need Mitch butting in her life as well. They both needed to start seeing her as a woman and not some little girl.
The sooner she dealt with Mitch the better.
***
Grace watched from the sidelines as the girls began to arrive for practice. She didn’t get to see Sloan over the weekend. He’d gotten called back into work after a couple of cops called out sick. She put her free time to good use and recovered the two chairs she’d bought at the yard sale. They turned out better than she hoped.
She glanced at the time on her cell phone. It was time to start practice, but Melanie still wasn’t here. That was weird. Melanie was always on time, if not early.
A car roared into the parking lot and she turned. Chris’s red Camaro stopped. Melanie got out and Chris squealed tires out of the parking lot.
Melanie was dressed in a long sleeve shirt and yoga pants instead of the standard pink T-shirt and shorts uniform they practiced in. It had been in the eighties for weeks and it was clearly too hot for long sleeves.
Melanie walked toward her with hunched shoulders and eyes cast toward the ground. A chill went up Grace’s spine. It was the walk of trying to be invisible so no one could see your pain, your scars, and your shame.
“Miss Witherspoon, can we get started?” Linda yelled out from the group.
Grace forced a smile and turned her attention back to her dance team.
Maybe she was overreacting. Maybe she was just being paranoid. Maybe it was her old ghosts stirring up trouble in her head because they could.
She knew the only way to put her fears to rest was to ask.
Two grueling hours later, Grace dismissed the team.