Worth the Weight (24 page)

The parade went on for over an hour. Every area high school band came through, along with all local elected officials.
Finn and she
were kept busy gathering up the thrown candy for Annie who squealed with delight as they dumped new contributions into the increasing pile on her lap.

The queen candidates came by, each one in a separate convertible with the candidate’s sponsor’s banner on the side of the car. Finally, Lizzie and Annie found some common ground. They did what women through time did in order to bond - trashed other women.

“Do you think she looked in the mirror at that hair before she left this morning?” Annie
would say.

“No. If this one’s dress is any indication, there were no mirrors to be had in all of Chassell today,” Lizzie would counter and the two would giggle.
Finn
shot the two females a stunned look, but kept his mouth shut.

In a backward turn, which seemed fitting in the U.P., the grand marshal came last and Lizzie laughed when she saw Petey hamming it up in the back seat of a red convertible. He had to have just gotten into town, she hadn’t even seen him yet. He was wearing his Red Wings jersey and holding a hockey stick like a scepter. Last year’s queen was with him and Lizzie, noticing Petey’s gaze on the young beauty, made herself a mental note to remind Petey that the girl was barely over eighteen.

After the parade, the streets were filled with tables and booths offering strawberry shortcake, shakes, pies, anything you c
ould imagine. Having had their fill
of berries, the Robbins contingency decided to head for home to let Annie rest and to get cleaned up before the queen ceremony and dance later that evening.

It wasn’t hard to track Stevie down in the crowd. Lizzie found the girl in the purple tank fairly easily then scanned a twenty-yard radius looking for the boy. Sure enough, there he was, skulking behind a shortcake booth, eyes huge as he watched the purple tank girl enjoying a strawberry ice cream cone. Not wanting to embarrass the kid,
she
told
Finn
she’d round Stevie up then meet him and Annie back at the minivan.

She surreptitiously circled the booth until she came up behind Stevie. In her best secret agent voice, while pretending she didn’t see him, she whispered, “Psst, the eagle takes flight in five minutes. I repeat, the eagle takes flight in five minutes.”

She saw Stevie’s body grow rigid
,
then relax.
“Roger that,” he said under his breath.

She walked toward the minivan certain he’d be close behind. No way would he risk his father
coming
back to get him.

When they pulled up to the farm, Lizzie headed to the back of her
car
which she’d left there earlier, while
Finn
unloaded Annie’s chair,
then Annie.
She grabbed three shopping bags from her car and
followed them
inside.
She didn’t acknowledge
Finn
’s narrow-eyed glare at the bags as she walked past him into the kitchen.

Finn
’s grandmother had seen them pull up and made her way over from the trailer. “I have some fresh lemonade made if you’d like,” she said and went to the refrigerator and got an old-fashioned glass pitcher out while Lizzie automatically began pulling glasses out of the cupboard.

“That would be
grea, Clea, thanks
. We’re all
probably
parched from the sun, but the parade was great.” Annie showed her candy payday to her grandmother, confirming Lizzie’s review of the parade. Lizzie handed the beverages out to everyone as Clea poured. “Stevie, this is a pre-thank you gift for all the help you’ve been to me with planning the fundraiser. Having your friends volunteer for the golf outing will be a big load off. I’m giving it to you now, because I thought you might like to wear it to the dance tonight.” She handed one of the bags to Stevie and set the other two on Annie’s lap. “And this is for you Annie, for all the hard training you’ve been doing on the bike all week, and for agreeing to go up on the stage tonight when we announce the fundraiser.”

That had been a hard fought battle involving shrieks, tears and tantrums
,
not all of which had come from Annie. But Lizzie was adamant that the little girl show her angelic face when the fundraiser plans were announced. “Put a face to the cause,
Finn
, it’s important. When the community sees her as one of their own, they’ll be more likely to contribute,” she’d said.

Finn
had hated the thought, of course. It bordered on exploiting Annie to him, but Lizzie had cajoled, reasoned and even begged and had eventually made him see the light.

The kids tore open the bags and Lizzie nearly swallowed a lemon seed when she saw the look of pure joy that crossed their faces. They held up the new, ultra-cool clothes that Lizzie had agonized over in the store. Annie got not only a new dress, but also matching hair
accessories
and sandals.
She’d even
found some
tweens
lip-gloss and body glitter to go with the ensemble.

Stevie started to try on his new Red Wings jersey and khaki shorts right there in the kitchen but Clea drew the line. “Not while you are so filthy, young man.
Showers
for the both of you before new clothing gets on those bodies.”

It may have been the first time ever that kids raced each other to see who
could claim dibs to the bathroom
first. Annie pushed her wheels fast so she could block Stevie’s entrance to the bathroom.

Lizzie
realized she was just as sticky and filthy as the children, and got up to make her exit. “I need to get going, get cleaned up myself. I’ll meet you at the rec center at seven?” She turned to
Finn
to confirm the time and was stopped cold by his hard stare.

“What the hell was that, Liz?” he asked, his voice bitter and accusing.

She knew what he meant, of course, had steeled herself for it. “Look, I know what you’re going to say, but really
Finn
, Stevie has been helping me a ton getting volunteers lined up. And, frankly, we need Annie to look perfect tonight. It wasn’t a bribe, or out of charity,
Finn
. Just a gift, that’s all.”

His face softened ever so slightly. “Don’t try to buy my kids, Liz, it would be too easy because I can’t give them much.”

“Good God, do you think that’s what I’m doing?” She started to laugh. “I’m not trying to
buy your kids
. Jeez, I don’t even want to
rent
them. Trust me, it was a one time thing, okay?”

He let o
ut
a breath and gave a curt nod,
then got a teasing look in his eye. “Well then, what did you buy me to wear?”

Lizzie chuckled, raising her hands in a fending off manner. “Oh no, I learned my lesson the time I bought you that shirt when we were dating. You wear whatever floats your boat, mister, I’m not getting involved.”

It had been a valuable lesson for her to learn so young. Never buy a prideful man something he couldn’t afford himself. She’d given
Finn
an expensive shirt that she thought would go great with his blue eyes and that she’d spent hours picking out. They were supposed to triple date the next week with Alison and Katie and their boyfriends and she thought that he could wear it then. He proceeded to read her the riot act about if he wasn’t good enough for her as he was she should find someone else, who did she think she was anyway, miss high and mighty deigning to go out with a mere pauper, yada yada yada.

She never bought him another gift.

It was also the reason she hadn’t pushed harder when he’d refused her offer to loan
Finn
money. She knew he would never accept money from her. She knew it was hard enough for him to swallow his pride and accept her help with the fundraiser.

“Well, thanks for the stuff for the kids, you didn’t have to do it, though.”

“I know.”

Clea, who had remained silent throughout the exchange, now threw in her two cents. “I think it was a nice gesture, Elizabeth, and if nothing else, it got the kids to the bathtub without a major fight, so for that alone, thank you.”

Lizzie smiled back at Clea. The older woman stood and placed the empty glasses in the sink. She had her back to Lizzie and
Finn
as she said, “You know, I don’t think I’ll be staying at the dance all that long tonight. I think after awhile I’ll bring the kids home with me. I think I’ll even sleep in here tonight instead of the trailer.”

Finn
and Lizzie looked across the table at each other, knowing full well what Clea was saying.
He
didn’t need to come home tonight. And Lizzie’s parents had left for Florida.

They both leaped up from the table at the same time, Lizzie saying she really needed to get going,
Finn
murmuring something about checking on the
fields before he showered. Both
eager to get the afternoon out of the way and get on with the night.

Liz
was waiting for
them in the parking lot of the rec center
. He pulled the van in next to her SUV and realized she
held
a brush and rubber band in hand
,
presumably waiting to see what kind of havoc
Finn
had done on Annie’s hair.
Good thing, because he knew i
t wasn’t pretty.
Once Finn had Annie in her chair, Liz
sat down on the running board of the minivan and wheeled Annie’s chair in front of her and began from scratch.

“Daddy tries, but he doesn’t know much about doing girls’ hair,” Annie said.

Liz tore down the lopsided mess and brushed out the silky white strands. “Well, I don’t know much about girl’s hair either, but I can do a mean French braid. Actually that’s the only thing I can do.”

While Liz did Annie’s hair, Gran and Stevie pulled up in the Jeep. They’d decided to take two cars so Gran could take the kids home earlier and
Finn
could take the Jeep to Liz’s parent’s place. Gran and Stevie went into the rec center to get a table.

Finn
leaned on Liz’s Navigator, watching
the two females talk about the dress that Annie was wearing. How it brought out the blue in her eyes, how it covered her brace, but still showed her arms which were now lightly tanned due to the tank tops Liz had bought for Annie to wear while outside on the exercise bike.

Finn
was more interested in Liz’s dress than Annie’s. Oh, he thought his daughter looked like an angel in her
new
dress, had actually choked up when Clea had wheeled her out after helping her change because
Annie
’d wanted to surprise
him
. But he’d absorbed Annie’s appearance on the drive to the Hancock rec center. He was still trying to pull himself together from the impact
of
Liz.

It was a black, linen dress - shift,
he
thought they were called - and was simple and elegant, just like Liz herself. Her tan, now deep and dark, was highlighted by the black. The dress came to just above her knees and her long legs were bare. She had on black sandals with just enough heel to put her right at kissing level. She wore her hair up in some kind of
twist
that
Finn
thought would come out easily enough later and allow him to sift his fingers through the glorious mass
.
A brush of mascara and a little lip-gloss was all the makeup she wore. She didn’t need anything else. Tiny pearl earrings, a gold chain with a pearl pendant, and a pearl bracelet that hung down a little onto the back of her hand. Classy as hell, he thought.

Sexy as hell, he had always thought.

He almost wished she’d forgotten about that long ago incident and bought him something to wear tonight after all. He didn’t look too bad, though, he figured. New khakis that he’d bought to meet with the financial people at the hospital and his most presentable shirt, a white cotton button down oxford. Hell, he figured he almost looked like the type of guy she normally dated. Except this outfit was not him at all. It stuck out in his denim and western shirt laden closet like a
sore thumb. Which was
kind of
like
them
. He
probably
stuck out in her array of men like a sore thumb.

Too bad. Tonight she’d be crying out his name, not some Poindexter Howell III’s.

She finished with Annie’s hair and rose, closed the minivan door and turned to
Finn
. “All ready?”

His eyes met hers and he relayed the hunger for her that he felt. “You have no idea how ready I am, E-liz-a-beth.” He took her hand as he pushed the wheelchair with his other and was pleased to feel the shudder of excitement that went through
her
body when they touched.