“Look at you,” Karla said as she finished braiding Joanna’s hair. Her little girl wore a light blue, long-sleeved cotton dress and pink sneakers. Joanna was a real girly girl who insisted on wearing a dress every day. She hated jeans and shorts. In a way this was good. When she was misbehaving, which wasn’t often, Karla didn’t have to threaten her with physical punishment. The threat of—horror!—having to wear pants was enough to guarantee compliance. “Can I go on the swing?” Joanna said in her squeaky voice. “It’s awful early, and you just had breakfast.” “Please, Mommy, pleeeeease?” She never seemed to tire of that swing, though in all fairness it hadn’t been up that long. Barely two months. Jonathan had assembled it just before he— Don’t go there. “Oh, all right. You put on your vest while I put the kettle on.” She hefted the kettle—at least half full and still warm from her first cup. She set the flame to high and took Joanna’s little hand in hers.
What do You think about Wayward Pines: The Widow Lindley (Kindle Worlds Novella)?
