over, beaming smiles.
"Oh, let me hold that precious girl. Nothing so soothing as sitting with
a sleeping baby." She'd slipped Aubrey out of Ethan's arms while she
talked, her voice low and quick. "It'll give me a fine excuse to sit in
the shade a while and be quiet. I swear, Nancy Claremont's been talking
both my ears off. You young people should be off enjoying yourself."
"I was going to lay her down," Grace began, but her mother just waved it
away.
"No need, no need. I don't get nearly enough chances to hold her when
she's still. Go on and finish your walk. Ought to get out of the sun,
though. It's brutal."
"It's a good idea," Ethan mused as Carol hurried off, cooing to the
sleeping Aubrey. "A little shade and a little quiet wouldn't hurt."
"Wella all right, but I've only got another hour or so before I have
to leave."
He'd been tugging her gently toward the trees, thinking that he could
find a sheltered spot, a private spot, and kiss her again. He stopped at
the verge and frowned at her. "Leave for what?"
"For work. I'm on at the pub tonight."
"It's your night off."
"It was--that is, it usually is, but I'm putting on some more hours."
"You work too many hours already."
She smiled, distracted--then relieved when the shade she walked into cut
the intense heat in half. "It's just a few more. Shiney was good about
helping me out so I can make up what I had to pay for the car. Oh, this
is nice." She closed her eyes, breathed deep of the moist, cool air.
"Anna said you and your brothers were going to play later. I'll be sorry
to miss that."
"Grace, I told you if money was a problem, I'd help you out."
She opened her eyes again. "I don't need you to help me out, Ethan. I
know how to work."
"Yeah, you know how. It's damn near all you do." He paced away from her,
paced back as if trying to shake off what was biting at his gut. "I hate
you working down there."
Her spine stiffened--she could feel it go hard and straight, vertebra by
vertebra. "I don't want to fight with you about that again. It's a good
job, honest work."
"I'm not fighting with you, I'm saying it." He stalked toward her, the
swirling temper in his eyes surprising enough that she backed up against
a tree.
"I've heard you say it before," she said evenly. "And it doesn't change
the facts. I work there, and I'm going to go on working there."
"You need looking after." It scraped him raw that he couldn't be the one
to do it.
"I don't."
Hell she didn't. There were already tired smudges under those changeable
green eyes, and now she was telling him she'd be carting trays until two
in the morning. "Did you pay Dave for the car yet?"
"Half." It was humiliating. "He was good enough to give me until next
month to pay him the rest."