Page 10 of Caden

Olivia couldn’t help but be nervous leaving Caden with Dad, though she couldn’t say why. It wasn’t like they were really an item. She’d just met him less than a week ago. Why would she care what he thought of her family and what her family thought of him?

“You made it!” Lainey threw her arms around Olivia and gave her a big hug, as if she hadn’t seen her just a few hours before.

“I told you I would be here.” She glanced at the clock on the wall. “And I’m even before the time you set to be here! You just wanted to drive me nuts.”

“She’s been dying to see your date,” Elizabeth said as she approached, then went to the window of the nice dressing room where they were gathered to finish getting Lainey ready for her big day.

“Which one is he?” Lainey said, pulling the curtain back so she could peek out.

“I’m not sure where he is now, I left him with Dad while I rushed in here to check on you.” Olivia rolled her eyes.

“The redhead with the beard?” Lainey asked, still looking out the window.

“That would be Caden.”

“Caden?” Lainey pulled away from the window and moved back to the middle of the room while Elizabeth took her place looking out.

Olivia looked Lainey up and down. “What can I help you with?”

“Nothing.” She waved one hand. “I just wanted to see your guy.”

Elizabeth came back to join them, a scowl wrinkling her forehead.

“What’s up?” Olivia turned to her oldest sister.

“Not much. He looks familiar that’s all,” Elizabeth said.

“He does live in town. You’ve probably seen him around. He’s been here about a year, I think. He just didn’t grow up around here or anything.”

“You think?” Lainey seemed to jump on those two words.

“Yeah, I think. I know he’s been here a while, but not all that long. He works out at KMM on the swing shift, and he has no family in the area. Whate else do you need to know, Mom? Do you need his social so you can run a background check on him?” Olivia was tired of her sisters acting like this. She knew it wasn’t the best time to jump all over them like this, but she had to do something to show them she was standing her ground on this.

“I would never do something like that,” Mom said stepping into the room behind them. “That would be misuse of department resources.”

“No, you would just have an officer follow us around all night.” Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

“Not all night and I was just making sure you were all right.” Mom wore a pale pink dress that made her skin seem to glow. With her hair pulled up on in a half-up do, with tendrils curling around her face, even Olivia would have done a double take if you put her side by side with her everyday self, with her hair pulled into a severe knot on the back of her head and in uniform. “You’d think I made you date with an officer sitting between you and your date in the car.”

“No, but only because I think it didn’t occur to you.” Elizabeth sounded like she was still put out about having been tailed on dates that had to have happened more than ten years before, as she’d been married at least that long.

“Oh, it occurred to me.”

“Did you set officers on the boys too, when they were dating?”

“No. I didn’t need to worry about someone assaulting them in quite the same way.”

“That’s sexist,” Elizabeth said.

“It is, but it’s also a fact of life. One in four women in the United States will experience rape or attempted rape in their lifetime. I did not want any of the three of you to become one of those.”

“But you were okay with the boys?”

“I taught them better than to be rapists, but if they had done something like that, I wouldn’t have hesitated to prosecute them. Still wouldn’t. But the statistics on men being the victim of rape are way different. It’s a little more than one in ten. Which I’m not saying is worlds better, but less worrisome, at least for me.”

Lainey mugged a face. “Not my preferred topic just before I get married. Can we move onto something more pleasant?”

“Of course, sweetheart.” Mom moved closer to give Lainey a hug. “How are you feeling? You ready to do this?”