Page 33 of Chasing Shelter

“Okay, I’m ready,” Ellie called, jogging over to us.

Keely looked up at her and blurted, “I love your starry sweats and your pigtails and your bracelets. The bracelets are the best because they’re like little rainbows. And you’re really pretty.” Keely snapped her mouth closed, her cheeks turning pink.

Ellie’s expression softened, and she crouched to Keely’s level, too. “That is the nicest thing anyone’s said to me in a long time. And it made my whole day. Thank you.”

Keely beamed at her. “Really?”

“Really.”

I got stuck on the first thing Ellie had said.“That is the nicest thing anyone’s said to me in a long time.”How the hell was that thecase? Ellie was a force to be reckoned with. Funny and fierce. Kind and caring. She should’ve been getting these kinds of compliments every day of the week.

Keely threw her arms around Ellie in a hug. “I’m so glad.”

Ellie chuckled as Keely released her, and her fingers dipped to her wrist. “I think you need one of my bracelets.”

“You don’t have to,” I hurried to say.

“I want to,” Ellie argued. “Besties need matching bracelets.”

“Duh, Daddy.”

Ellie grinned as she slipped the bracelet onto my little girl’s wrist. “Yeah, Chief. Duh.”

My eyes narrowed on her. “It’s Sheriff.”

“Whatever you say.” And with that, Ellie took Keely’s hand, and they skipped off toward our house.

Ellie tuggeda leg up onto her chair, hugging it to her chest. “Thanks again. This was amazing.”

Keely had abandoned us for her dolls, and I was now in the danger zone. Alone with Ellie. At least there was a table between us.

“Anytime.” Apparently, the table didn’t keep me from saying stupid, reckless things.

One corner of Ellie’s mouth pulled up, and I couldn’t help tracing the movement. “Careful. That’s a dangerous offer.”

She had no idea how much.

Ellie leaned back in her chair, studying me. “Where’d you learn to cook?”

It should’ve been an easy question. A simple one. Normally, I dodged it, but in this moment, with the soft strains of Keely’s voice wafting from the living room as she played, the darkening sky outside, and Ellie’s face glowing in the dining room’s low light, I found I didn’t want to.

“My parents weren’t the greatest. Mom would try to cook whenshe wasn’t high. Dad couldn’t be bothered. I figured out early that if I wanted to eat consistently, I needed to cook the meals myself.”

Ellie stared back at me for a long moment. She didn’t look horrified or shocked. She didn’t look away like Leah had when I’d tried to share things about my childhood. She just met me where I was. “That had to be scary.”

It wasn’t what people usually said. They were horrified and offered platitudes. I leaned back in my chair and reached for the one beer I allowed myself. Never more than one. I’d never risk activating the addiction genes running through me. “It made me appreciate the Colsons that much more.”

Ellie’s thumb stroked her calf in a rhythmic motion. “That’s a good way to look at it. Doesn’t change the hard, though.”

“No. No, it doesn’t.” And I left it at that. Because giving Ellie these explosions of truth was playing with fire.

“Do you like it? Cooking, I mean.”

She was cutting me some slack, and I appreciated it. I took a sip of beer, mulling it over. “I like it. I’d probably like it more if I didn’t have to do it every day and account for a tiny human’s taste buds half the time.”

Ellie grinned. “Linc likes to remind me that I thought dipping grapes in ketchup was the height of cuisine.”

I barked out a laugh. “Please, don’t give Keely any ideas.”

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