Lately, Lucy had been fragile.
None of the Camdens knew what to do with her, and every time Martin ran into her in the neighborhood when visiting his father or Eric and Annie, he'd wave and try to be polite, but the truth was, her moods scared him.
Lucy had always been a little scary.
It was a warm October afternoon and he was driving Aaron over to visit the Camdens when he saw Lucy leaving the house.
"Whatcha up to?" she asked in a pleasant voice. A sugary voice laced with arsenic. She smiled at Aaron and came close to make goofy faces at him. "Awww, hello there, little buddy. You're so cute."
"Annie said she'd watch Aaron while I went to class," he said, wanting to leave, while at the same time being transfixed by the way Lucy's eyes locked on his. It was ridiculous. She was six years older than him, and had been married for as long as he'd known her. He'd always had a little bit of a crush on his surrogate parents' middle daughter.
Well, not really a crush. More like a curiosity.
"Why don't you ever ask me to babysit," she asked, in her passive-aggressive way, the smile plastered on her face as if she was only teasing.
"You can babysit him if you want," he said.
"I'd love that," she said. "Aaron and I are BFFs, aren't we, Aaron?" She reached for the baby and held him close as he began to cry. She rocked him gently.
"I'll just be a few hours," he said.
"Go on," she told him. "We'll be fine. Kevin's never home much anymore and Savannah and I could use a little extra company."
He didn't know how to respond to that, so he said, "OK. Great."
"Will you be back around dinner?" she asked him. "I can make you something to eat when you come to pick him up later."
He nodded. "Dinner would be good. Thanks, Luce."
He turned and walked away, wondering what had just happened.
Lucy had seemed a little too eager to take his baby from him. And she seemed so thrilled at the idea of cooking him dinner. Didn't Kevin ever eat at home anymore?
He shook his head as he climbed back into his car. He decided not to think too much about it. It was best not to think too much when it came to Lucy.