beautiful.â
She raised an eyebrow as she sidled over to him, snatching a carrot stick.
âWhy do you care anyway?â asked Scott. âYouâre only going out with the girls. Or is that just a cover and youâre really going out to pick up?â
âYep, thatâs it, you sprung me,â she quipped, crunching into the carrot.
âJust try it,â he said, stooping to plant a kiss on her neck. âYou smell good.â He straightened again, considering her. âAnd you look good enough to eat, really.â Scottâs biggest compliment.
âNot too casual?â Lexie persisted. âI donât want to look like Iâm going to the beach.â
He frowned. âWhat does it matter? Itâs just the girls, loosen up.â
Lexie shrugged, avoiding his eyes.
Scott shook his head. âItâs Catherine the Great, isnât it? I donât know why you girls put up with her.â
âDonât say that,â said Lexie. âI know she can be a little . . . prickly, but she means well . . . and she has a good heart.â
âWhy do people always say that about someone whoâs a real ââ
âSheâs had a hard life,â Lexie interrupted him. âYou know she started with nothing.â
âYeah, yeah, teenage mum, did it all on her own, Iâve heard it before,â said Scott. âDoesnât give her the right to be a bitch.â
âHoney,â she chided in a low voice, glancing across at the children, but they were absorbed in something on the TV. Scott just didnât like Catherine and nothing Lexie could say was going to change his mind. So she decided to change the subject instead. âI put the fans on up in the kidsâ room. It was so hot up there. I donât know how weâre going to get by without aircon this summer if itâs this hot already.â
He looked at her sideways. âWeâll get by just the same as we always have, Lex.â
âIâm only thinking of the kids.â
âWe got by when we were kids, even you, Miss Richie Rich,â he added. âNo one had airconditioning in their houses back then, and everyone wasnât dying of heat exhaustion.â
âI know,â she agreed begrudgingly.
âWe either believe in global warming or we donât, Lexie. And if we do, then we have to take personal responsibility, even when itâs inconvenient or uncomfortable.â
âI know, I know,â she surrendered, holding up her hands. âYou can stop the lecture.â
They couldnât afford airconditioning anyway. Lexie adoredtheir pretty little house, tucked away in a pretty little street in Clovelly. Sheâd had so much fun decorating it when they first got married. They didnât have much money then either, but Scottâs dad and a couple of his brothers had all the trades covered, so they were able to do a cheap but effective makeover of the kitchen and bathroom. The rest was achieved with lots of spak filler and paint and elbow grease. Her parents had kept wanting to pay for this or that, but Lexie refused. Scott would never have accepted it anyway. Instead she pored over her motherâs interior design magazines and scoured the wholesale outlets and created a home that was chic and comfortable for a fraction of what it could have cost.
When Riley came along the house worked beautifully, at least while he was only crawling. But with the addition of Mia things were getting, well, cramped. The children had to share a smallish bedroom; there was no longer space for the charming rocking chair Lexie had found at a garage sale, or the display unit housing all their baby mementoes and special books. The room had become very utilitarian: Rileyâs bed, Miaâs cot, storage for their clothes. They had even had to resort to one of those padded mats on top of the chest of drawers as a change table. Worse was the impact