In Love with a Single Farmer-Daddy novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: Breathing

I sat down on the edge of her bed with the paper in my hands.

"Where did she say it?"

Posy took the crayon back and wrote one more word under the others.

BATHROOM

"At school? She came in the girls' bathroom?"

A nod.

"Did she touch you?"

A head shake.

"She just said it, and left."

A nod, and then her face crumpled, and she turned it into the pillow.

I went downstairs.

Roscoe was at the kitchen table with a mug of tea and honey, coughing into his elbow.

I put the paper in front of him.

"Bathroom at school," I said. "She didn't touch her. She didn't have to."

He got up and took his coat off the hook.

"Roscoe."

"I'm going up the road."

"And yell at her porch in the dark so she can call the sheriff on you?"

I took the coat out of his hands.

"That's what she wants. We're going to beat her where it counts."

"Where's that?"

"Upstairs," I said. "In Posy's head."

I kept Posy home from school Tuesday.

At breakfast I sat down across from her with my coffee.

"We're going to play a game," I said. "It's called Lie. I say something, and you tell me if it's true."

She watched me warily over her bear face.

"The sky is purple," I said.

She frowned at me.

She shook her head.

"Good. That was a lie. I'm a grown-up, and I lied to you on purpose."

I pointed at Roscoe.

"Your turn. Tell her a lie."

Roscoe thought about it.

"I hate pie," he said.

Posy's mouth fell open.

She shook her head so hard her braid flew.

"Another lie," I said. "So here's the thing, Bug. Grown-ups can say things that aren't true. Even nice ones. Even ones with church voices."

Posy looked at the window, north, toward the brick house.

"Aunt Bonnie said your words hurt your daddy," I said. "That's the biggest lie anybody ever told. And we can test it. Right now."

She looked at Roscoe.

Roscoe coughed, right on cue, and winced.

"Bad timing," he said. "Sorry."

I laughed in spite of myself.

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