Sadie’s POV
"Mommy?" Lily's voice cut through the moment like a knife.
We parted abruptly – I stumbled backward against the counter, Taylor backing up so quickly that he almost sent the chair in the kitchen tumbling.
The spell was broken; we were simply two people standing in a wet kitchen, not daring to meet one another’s eyes.
“Yes, monkey?” I asked, my voice quivering.
“More cereal?”
“Yes, of course. Your bowl is on the – I’ll get it.”
I moved toward the cupboard, my hands trembling as I pretended to focus on filling the bowl. But I heard Taylor sigh behind me, a deep, controlled sigh, the sort of sound a man makes when he finally conquers some difficult beast.
“The crew will be here at nine,” he told me shortly. “They will fix the fence and remove the tree limb. Don’t go outsid
