Last First Kiss by Kimberly Killion, Lori H. Leger

ballerina costume. There were shots of him in dance positions with his two girls, and shots of him tending to the gas grill set up in the back yard. Giselle must have set the timer, because she was in the last shot with her family, smiling and happy. Would she ever be that happy again?
    Lexie ran to up him. “Jackson, can you buckle my shoes?”
    “ Sure, put your foot up here.” She did, and he buckled her sandals for her. Then he took the hairbrush and brushed her hair for her. When he’d finished, Mackenzie walked up and turned her back to him, expecting the same. He brushed her hair until it resembled black, glossy, layers of silk.
    <>
    Carrie watched the interaction between the three, in amazement. It looked as though they had been around each other for years instead of a few months. She stepped up and cleared her throat. “It looks like you’re ready to go. You girls be good. Don’t fill them with too much candy, Jack.”
    He got them both buckled into the back seat and climbed back in to the driver’s side. “We’re going to the two o’clock feature at the mall.” He leaned over to Carrie. “You sure she’s alright with this?”
    “ She’ll be fine.” Carrie leaned in and gave him a hug through the door of his truck. She started to release him then hugged him tighter. “You’re a God send, Jackson Jamison Broussard,” she whispered, before kissing his cheek.
    She watched them drive off then went to Giselle’s room.
    “ Okay, Giselle, I hope you’re hungry. There’s plenty of pizza left.”
    Giselle rolled away from her. “I’m not hungry.”
    “ That’s too damn bad, because I outweigh you by a good sixty pounds, and I say you’re going to eat anyway.”
    “ Leave me alone, Carrie. I just...I just want to die.”
    “ Do you really?” she asked, not bothering to hide her anger. “Think about what you’re saying, Giselle. I understand your grief, but those girls are part of Toby. Do you really think he would want you to lie here and waste away while you force his daughters to watch?” She pulled Giselle’s shoulder so that she partially faced her. “Do you really want them to be left alone in this world?”
    “ They wouldn’t be alone, they’d have each other,” Giselle told her, without meeting her gaze.
    Carrie let go of Giselle’s shoulder and sat up straight. “I cannot believe you just said that! That falls a hell of a lot short of also having a mother who loves you, don’t you think?”
    Giselle met Carrie’s gaze. “They’d have you and Sam.”
    “ Sam and I have raised our children and we babysit enough for our grandchildren as it is. As much as we love your girls, we don’t want to start over.” She reached out, grasped Giselle’s shoulders, and pulled her to her feet.
    They walked to the patio door, where Giselle hesitated until she established they were alone. She flinched as she stepped into the sunshine for the first time in three months. It took a few minutes before her eyes adjusted to the blinding whiteness of the scrubbed concrete patio, and the sunlight reflecting off the spotless glass topped table. She finally made her way to the table and sat gingerly in one of the chairs.
    Carrie brought her a plate with a slice of pizza and a glass of tea. Giselle began to nibble slowly while Carrie sat across from her with a cup of hot tea.
    “ Where are my girls?”
    “ They went to the two o’clock feature at the mall.”
    “ Who’d they go with...One of the twins?”
    Carrie braced herself. “Jackson took them.”
    Giselle met her friend’s gaze head on. “ He’s got no business taking my girls anywhere without my permission.”
    “ I asked him to.”
    “ You had no right!”
    Carrie shrugged and leisurely picked a piece of lint from her capris. “It was either that or wake Sam to come babysit your selfish ass, but my husband worked hard this week, and he deserves a rest. Besides...,” She looked straight into Giselle’s angry eyes, “Jackson was