“It’s always a winner.” I paid the girl, leaving a healthy tip in her jar. “Want to walk down to the park?”

“Yeah! I want to do the monkey bars after I finish my ice cream.”

As we walked, they told me about their days. Lyla had worked on an arts and crafts project that had gotten more than a little messy, and one girl had gotten paint stuck in her hair. Everything about the moment was so normal. Ordinary—and everything I’d been missing for so long.

Once they finished their ice cream, Justin helped Lyla tackle the monkey bars, and then they created some sort of obstacle course race that I couldn’t understand no matter how hard I tried. Justin even let his sister win once or twice.

I checked my watch and then waved them over. “We should head home. Anna should be getting off soon, and we’ll have dinner.” I eyed them both. “You better not say you’re too full for vegetables, or I’m gonna be grounded from picking you up.”

Lyla looked thoughtful. “We should get a dog.”

“Where did that come from?” I asked.

She shrugged. “If we had a dog, I could sneak him my vegetables under the table.”

Justin held out his hand for a high-five. “I like the way you think.”

“Justin, Lyla,” a voice called.

I stiffened as I turned to see Mr. and Mrs. Foley approaching with another younger man. While Anna had custody of Justin and Lyla, there was no restraining order in place that said their grandparents couldn’t approach them in public.

Lyla burrowed into my side, and Justin moved in close, but his shoulders were squared, and he stood straight as if ready for battle. The posture alone was enough to make me want to cause serious harm to Mr. Foley.

Mrs. Foley smiled. “Well, come on, give your gran a hug.”

Neither child moved. I cleared my throat. “We were just leaving. We need to get home for dinner.”

“They should at least be able to say hello to their father. They haven’t seen him in years,” Mr. Foley said. His voice was pleasant but his eyes had a glint that told me he enjoyed inflicting this kind of pain on his grandchildren.

I pulled Lyla in closer, feeling her tremble against me.

The man who looked to be in his forties shuffled his feet. “Hey, Justin. Lyla.”

“Stay away from us,” Justin growled. “All of you. I’m going to tell the judge who I want to go with, just like I told Sadie.”

“You don’t have the first clue what’s best for you and your sister,” Mr. Foley said. He was struggling to keep his anger contained, the façade cracking around the edges.

“Let’s go.” I didn’t wait. I picked up Lyla, who clung to me instantly and kept a hand on Justin’s shoulder, guiding him away.