Dead by Midnight - Beverly Barton [104]
So here he was on Lorie’s front porch, his mood alternating between relief and concern. Relief that his children were accounted for; and concern about why they had lied to Kim Myers and why they were at Lorie’s house.
Before he rang the doorbell, Lorie opened the front door and stepped outside on the porch with him.
“Let’s talk out here,” she said.
“Where are M.J. and Hannah?”
“In the kitchen with Shelley. They’re eating cookies and drinking milk. She’ll keep them occupied while you and I talk.”
“Okay. Talk.”
“M.J. and Hannah told a fib—M.J’s word—to get Kim Myers to drop them off at Mrs. Shelby’s house so that they could walk here and see me. They both got in trouble at school today for defending me against some ugly things their classmates said about me.”
Mike grumbled under his breath.
“I cannot begin to tell you how sorry I am that your children have been affected by what’s happening to me now because of my past. I adore Hannah and M.J. and I’d never do anything to hurt them.”
“I realize that.” Mike frowned. “I guess I didn’t know just how fond of you my kids are.”
“It’s my fault. I should have stayed away from them. If I had, they wouldn’t even know who I am. But no, I couldn’t leave well enough alone.”
“Do they know about you—that you posed naked, that you made a movie—?”
“M.J. has one of the flyers, the photo of me in the nude. He told me that he hadn’t shown it to Hannah.” Lorie paused, took a deep breath and said, “Some kid told M.J. that you have the hots for me and that’s why you’re thinking with your other head.”
“What!”
“Don’t shout. The children might hear you.”
“This is a damn screwed-up mess. I’ve stayed away from you ever since Molly died in order to protect my kids from shit like this.”
“M.J. said he knew what thinking with your other head meant, but that Hannah didn’t. Oh, Mike, he reminds me so much of you. He’s such a wonderful little boy. He’s been so protective of me. He told me that”—she swallowed—“if anybody else said anything bad about me, he’d sock them in the nose, too.”
Mike groaned. “He hit somebody today?”
“I’m afraid so. Some boy named Payton something-or-other.”
Mike made an odd noise, the sound a moan/laugh combination. “If Molly were here, she’d tell me that our son was acting way too much like me. But she’d say it with a smile. And she’d be right. I was always punching somebody in the mouth when I was a kid. I had a short fuse back then.”
“Back then?”
“I manage to keep my temper under control most of the time. But I swear to God, when it comes to my kids…”
“We need to talk to them, you and I together. They deserve to know the truth or at least enough of the truth to understand why people are accusing you of having the hots for me. And I need to explain to them about the nude photo and—”
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you’re right. But we need to keep what we say as G-rated as possible. Kids these days know too much too soon as it is.”
When Lorie opened the door and went inside, Mike followed directly behind her. They found M.J. and Hannah still in the kitchen, both sitting at the table finishing off their glasses of milk. As soon as Mike and Lorie entered the room, Shelley excused herself.
“Daddy!” Hannah set her glass on the table, shoved back her chair, got up, and ran to her father.
Mike swept her off her feet and set her on his hip. She gazed at him with a daughter’s adoration in her dark blue eyes. “Are we in big trouble?”
“It isn’t Hannah’s fault.” M.J. stood up and faced his father. “I’m the one who told Mrs. Myers the fib about Grams being at Mrs. Shelby’s house.”
“We’ll discuss that later,” Mike told him. “But right now, Miss Lorie and I need to talk to you two about the things y’all heard at school today.”
“You mean about your having the hots for Miss Lorie?” Hannah smiled. “I know that means you like her for a girlfriend. And that’s okay, Daddy. We like her, too. We like her a lot more