A Secret Worth Keeping

Chapter 11

Hope's POV: I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel impatiently as I waited for Lizzie to buckle the kid into her car seat. "Which book do you want to look at, baby", Lizzie asked, holding up two picture books, causing Sophie to squeal as she pointed to the one with colorfully dressed mice on the cover. Lizzie smiled and passed over the book, hoping it would keep Sophie entertained as we drove to the supermarket. 

It took all of my resolve not to peel out of the driveway on their quiet little street, but I refrained. I gritted my teeth, listening to Sophie ramble to herself as she worked her way through her picture book. Glancing over at Lizzie, I glared at her as if to mentally tell her to shut her kid up, but she continued to stare out the broken window, unaware of my stares. I was tempted to turn the radio on to drown out the child's gibberish and Lizzie's bitterness, but figured it would just irritate Lizzie and make her even more disagreeable. 

"Take a left here", Lizzie spoke up as I pulled up at a stop sign. I sighed, flicking on the blinker as I drummed my fingers along the steering wheel again. 

It's weird not seeing any other cars around.

"We should probably get another car", I said, attempting to break the silence. 

"You mean actually pay for one, so you don't have a broken window", Lizzie asked without turning her attention away from the window. 

Glancing at the blonde from the corner of my eye, I silently wondered what I could've done this time to send her into one of her moods. "Well, we don't want to drawl attention to ourselves", I pointed out, grudgingly allowing a car to pass.

"Mommy", the child called, causing Lizzie to twist around so she could smile at her daughter. 

"What is it, sweetie", she asked her gently.

"Where are we going", Sophie asked, holding the book in one hand and scratching at her head with the other, causing Lizzie to smile and tilt her head. 

"We're going into town to pick up a few things, remember? You're job is to remember the eggs and the milk. Do you think you can remind me to get eggs and milk when we go to the store", Lizzie questioned. 

Sophie's eyebrows furrowed slightly as she dropped the book into the seat beside her. "Maybe you should write it down, Mommy. Katie always writes it down so she won't forget", she shrugged, causing me to flinch as I glanced over at Lizzie. I noticed that the blonde had paled at the mention of the dead woman's name and the stormy eyes briefly locked with mine before she looked back to the little girl.

"Bella, do you remember talking in the kitchen this morning", she asked her slowly. The child nodded, fiddling with the straps of her car seat as she kicked her legs happily. "When Hope and I were talking, those stories we were telling, they were for-"

"We're going to play a little game", I cut in quickly with what I hoped was a suggestive tone and not a scary one. I could see the grocery store up ahead, and I didn't really have time for this. The little girl just looked at me with wide eyes. "Do you remember that bad man with a gun", I asked, looking up at the child's reflection in the rearview mirror. I could tell by the darkening of the child's eyes that she did remember. 

"Well you see, we all have to play a special game of hide-and-seek with him...to make sure he will never find us, okay", I explained as I turned into the supermarket's parking lot. "The rules for this game are pretty simple. We have to tell a lot of lies, and we have to tell them well enough that other people think they're true", I said, parking the car far away from the others.

The child's eyebrows came together very slowly. 

"But...lying it wrong. Isn't it wrong, Mommy", she asked, turning her eyes to Lizzie. I ignored Lizzie's glared and turned off the engine before opening the door, making it clear that I wasn't going to sit in the car and wait for her to explain the complexity of undercover work to a four year old.