Page 4 of Slice

She wasn’t the kickass woman who saved the world. How many times had she heard,Why don’t you look like your sister?Of course, Hope didn’t allow that kind of talk if she heard it. Her older sister was strong and brave, and with her new haircut, reminded Faith of Jamie Lee Curtis. People always assumed Hope worked out all the time and ate a healthy diet when, in reality, she walked less steps than Faith did and ate the same things.

Hope took after their dad, who had been tall and slender. Faith took after their mom, who had been tall but very full-figured. Multiple times, her mom had been called plus-size, but Faith preferred the book world’s term of big, beautiful women. But most days, Faith didn’t feel beautiful. She loved her thick, wavy hair, and she had boobs for days. But she didn’t like the extra arm fat, her rolls on her tummy, or her thighs always rubbing together. Not that she didn’t like them, but because people judged her because of them.

She poured a cup of coffee and took her first sip. She’d found a caramel creamer that she loved. Even the smell made her smile.

“Is the coffee that good?” Slice asked.

Oh, what that man’s voice did to her.

“It is good. Do you like it black or with creamer? I have flavored sugar free caramel or sugar free French vanilla. I alsohave some half-and-half because the boys want homemade ice cream for New Year’s so you could use that too,” Faith said, then paused because she didn’t want to babble, but Slice’s dark eyes and his arm tattoos made every brain cell in her head fly out the window.

“I’ll have whatever put that smile on your face,” he said.

Faith grabbed a cup, poured some of the caramel creamer in, then added the coffee. She handed it to him. Slice took a sip and smiled at her.

“This is really good. I might need to buy some for the clubhouse.”

“I like my creamer with enough coffee to give me the caffeine but enough creamer to feel like a treat,” Faith said.

A cry from the bedroom had Faith heading down the hall.

“I can get him,” Slice said, following her.

She giggled. “Are we going to fight about it? I think you got your share during the night. I want to snuggle Little Buddy a little.”

“LB,” Slice said.

“LB what?” she asked.

“The boys decided Little Buddy is too big of a name, and Buddy makes them think of theElfmovie. So LB is what they’ve decided,” Slice said, smiling.

Faith giggled as she lifted LB out of the crib and took him to the changing table. As she unsnapped his sleeper, she talked to him.

“Good morning, LB. I’m so glad you’re here with us today. You have people here who love you so much, and the boys have even given you a nickname,” she said, efficiently changing his diaper and getting him back in his sleeper. She’d had a huge amount of practice since becoming a foster parent. And since she also did the seventy-two-hour emergency care, she had a lot of babies and toddlers who had been at her house. Faith leaned over tokiss LB on the nose before lifting him up and turning toward Slice.

“I guess I need to wash my hands. Could you hold him? Or if I hand him to you, will I lose him for the morning?” Faith teased, loving to see the blush appear above Slice’s beard.

Slice grinned and cuddled LB close to his chest. “I’ll share, though it will be hard.”

Faith quickly washed her hands in the hall bathroom, then opened the door to the boys’ room. She walked over to wake them up but then noticed Micah’s covers were shaking. They were pretending to be asleep. Aww, that did her heart good. When they’d arrived, they’d been scared about everything. Knowing they felt comfortable enough to tease meant she was doing her job.

“Who is ready for Christmas?” she said softly.

Both boys popped up out of bed, yelling,Me!

“Okay, go potty, wash your hands, and then come out to see your Santa gifts,” Faith said.

She headed out to the front room and grabbed her phone to take pictures as she listened to their excited voices while they washed their hands. She couldn’t wait to see the boys when they got presents. She barely got situated in the chair next to Slice, feeding LB, before the boys came skidding into the room.

“Micah, look! Santa filled our stockings,” Isaiah said softly. Faith was positive he was stunned that Santa had actually come last night. These little boys needed to believe there was good in the world. They’d had enough negativity to last a lifetime.

“Can we look in them?” Micah asked.

“Of course,” she said. The boys ran to the stockings and each grabbed the one with their name. Instead of sitting down right there, they ran over to where she and Slice were sitting to open them.

As they pulled their presents out of the stockings and tore through the paper, Faith took pictures. She wanted to remember this moment forever. Isaiah and Micah had stolen a piece of her heart. And she was okay with that.

Listening to the boys oh and ah over their presents filled the empty space in her heart. They still had other presents under the tree, which would really surprise them, but for now, they were showing each other their stocking gifts.

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