Summer Burns Read Free Page B

he breaks them sometimes. "
    Summer arched her eyebrow at the little girl. " Emma, really? "
    " Well, he did one time. " Emma forked a piece of her cut-up pizza. " But you don ' t stink. Well, you do, but you stink like my daddy did when he got off work, so it ' s okay. I like that smell. "
    He glanced at Summer, and for a second, her eyes glistened, but she cleared her throat. " Emma, we don ' t talk about how people smell. "
    " Sorry. " She waved her fork around. " But what if the smell is good? Do we talk about that? "
    " Yes. You can talk about that. "
    " Good. Because I like good smells. " She leaned over to Matthew, and smelled his sleeve. " Yeah. You smell good. "
    " Um ..." He glanced at Summer, and she bit her lip--he imagined he must have a deer-in-headlights expression, because that ' s how he felt--like he ' d wandered into a world he had no preparation for.
    " We can talk about good smells, Emma, but we don ' t smell people at the table. "
    " Fine, " she sighed, and sat up. " Have some pizza Maffew. "
    " Mister Matthew, " Summer said.
    " Mister Maffew. "
    " Sorry, she ' s very sociable. The teacher tells me she ' ll talk to anyone. "
    He smiled. " I can tell. "
    " I don ' t talk to anyone, I only talk to people who smell good, " she said as she shoved another bite of pizza in her mouth. " We talked about strangers, and we ' re not supposed to talk to them. But I can talk to you, Mister Maffew, because you ' re not a stranger. "
    He met Summer ' s gaze, and she rolled her eyes. " Thank you Emma, now eat your dinner. "
    " Okay. "
    Summer took a drink of her tea as the waitress returned with his drink and he pulled a piece of pizza off the pie.
    " So what are you up to tonight, Hennessey? " she asked.
    " This is it. Go home, relax. Get up and do it again tomorrow. "
    She nodded. " But at least tomorrow ' s Friday. "
    He shrugged. " There is that. I have the weekend free to do ..."
    " To do what? " she asked before she took a bite of her pizza.
    " Not sure yet. " He took a drink. " What are you two doing? "
    She swallowed. " This is tradition, right Emma? "
    " Right. "
    " Tradition? "
    " We get pizza on Thursday night, and we ' ll watch a movie tonight. "
    " Frozen ! "
    Summer ' s smile didn ' t quite meet her eyes. " Yes, we can watch Frozen again. "
    " Yeah! " The little girl started quietly singing some song about letting stuff go. From the strained look on Summer ' s face, he figured she ' d sang this song before.
    " Thursday night movie night? " he asked.
    She nodded. " We watch a movie tonight, and tomorrow, after she gets out of summer camp at the YMCA, she ' ll spend the night with Grandma Bettes, and I ' ll pick her up after I get off work Saturday. "
    " I love Grandma Bettes! We have popcorn. And candy for breakfast-- "
    " What? " Summer snapped.
    Emma grinned. " I ' m just kidding Mommy. Though she did let me have a cookie after I ate my sausage one time. "
    " Lovely, " Summer said, not sounding like she thought it was very lovely at all.
    He raised his eyebrow.
    " Grandma Bettes has been known to give her about anything she wants. "
    " Yep! " Emma said. " I ' m her only granddaughter. So I ' m special. "
    " You ' re very special, I bet, " Matthew said.
    " I am, " she said, puffing out her chest, and turning to look around the pizzeria.
    " And she works it, too, " Summer said.
    " I wanna go play video games! "
    " Finish your piece of pizza. "
    " Okay. " She went back to eating.
    Matthew did the same, taking a couple of bites of his slice. He probably could have eaten the whole pie by himself, it was so good.
    Summer jarred him from gorging himself. " So where are you stationed, if you ' re just here training, Matthew? "
    " Fort Hood, in Texas. "
    She nodded. " What is that, eight, nine hours from here? "
    " Something like that. I think the last time I went back down, I did it in just under eight. "
    " And you didn ' t speed at all, did you? " She asked with a wink.
    He grinned. Because, yeah, gotta beat the