Some Girls Do (Outback Heat Book 1) by Amy Andrews Page B

twinged.
    “Hey Connie,” Lacey frowned as Ethan boosted Connie up onto a stool. “What’s up?”
    “Looks like whatever it is calls for one of these,” JJ said, plonking a red lemonade down on the bar.
    Connie gave JJ a small smile as she ran her fingers up and down the frosty glass. “Mum was supposed to come to the Octopus’s Garden parade at school on Wednesday. She was bringing me a mermaid costume all the way from Sydney, but she can’t come now.”
    JJ’s mouth tightened as Connie smiled stoically at them like it didn’t really matter. Ethan looked pretty damn grim too as he patted his daughter’s shoulder reassuringly. “She really did want to come, sweetie. But you know how Mum’s job can be.”
    He smiled at his daughter, but Coop could tell the bullshit excuse he’d fed Connie had cost his friend dearly. Ethan hadn’t said much about his ex, Delia, over the years but it was clear that he’d do anything to protect his daughter from being hurt. Even from her own mother.
    “She missed the fete last month, too.”
    “I know,” Ethan said. “It was a shame she got caught up like that, but you know what? I bet Lacey could whip you up a mermaid costume on her sewing machine that would make a real mermaid jealous.”
    “Mermaids aren’t real,” Connie said with an I’m-not-a-child-anymore eye roll.
    Lacey laughed and her eyes went from shining to luminescent and something in Coop’s chest went thunk. “Real, fake, legend? Who cares? The most important thing is that your Dad’s right and you know how much I hate admitting that, right?”
    Connie nodded. “Right.”
    “I can make you a totally awesome, completely kickass mermaid costume. Oops, sorry,” she said putting a hand over her mouth. “Kick bottom.”
    Connie giggled and JJ pressed her lips together as Ethan rolled his eyes. “Right,” JJ said, that’s settled. “Take your drink and find a booth. Here—” she reached under the bar and pulled out a spiral notebook, ripping a few pages out of it and handing it to Lacey, along with a pen, “show Connie what you’ve got.”
    Connie slipped off the seat looking more like her old self now. “C’mon Dad,” she tugged his hand.
    “I take it that happens a lot?” Coop asked JJ as Lacey made her way around the bar and Connie and Ethan headed towards the booths.
    “Delia?”
    “Yes.”
    Her mouth tightened again. “You could say that.”
    “You joining us, Coop?”
    Coop looked over his shoulder to find Lacey sitting at the booth, patting the empty space beside her. He glanced opposite to Ethan who looked like he’d rather eat nails than share a booth with Coop. Frankly, so would Coop. Sitting so close to Lacey was something he’d avoided for a long time. But he was supposed to be playing a role here.
    He was supposed to be her lover.
    “Duty calls,” JJ murmured.
    Coop looked back at her. He got the distinct impression that she wasn’t buying their story at all, but that wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have.
    He raised his beer to her then headed across the room.
    *     *     *
    Half-an-hour and three pieces of paper later Lacey was satisfied with the mermaid costume sketch. Connie was thrilled. They’d also talked about fabrics and colours and Lacey had jotted down some notes beside the final sketch. There was only tomorrow to get the costume done so there was no time for experimentation, which was the way Lacey usually rolled. Thank goodness Hoff’s Haberdashery had survived the test of time and was still doing business in the age of the internet.
    She supposed this wasn’t quite the designing her mother had in mind when she’d been saving up for Lacey’s college fund. Nor had it been Lacey’s plan. But she felt more connected to this piece of work for Connie than anything she’d conjured up thus far at design school. She felt more fulfilled in this half hour seeing the excitement in her niece’s face than she had in three-and-a-half-years.
    Lacey