Page 33 of Stay With Me
I use the microwave glass to check my reflection and laugh with her. My hair is in its usual French braid, but more hair is framing my face than usual as it fell out. I have flour on my neck and on different parts of my face and what I think is peanut butter on my right cheekbone.
“How did I get this all over me and you barely have any?”
She laughs harder. “I don’t know, but you look silly.”
“Why does she look silly?”
We both jump and let out a scream.
Noah laughs as he sets down the pizzas and starts to take his belt apart so he can lock up his gun and Taser. “Sorry, ladies. I thought you heard me at the door.”
“Oh! The pizza, did we miss them deliver it?”
“No, they pulled into the driveway right after me. I also got a text from the guys, and everyone should be here in aboutfifteenish minutes.” He turns and walks toward us. “Did you guys have a good day so far?”
“Yeah! We baked some cookies and played twenty questions,andI got two packets of homework done, so I’m ahead of my schoolwork for the week!” Jess says excitedly. Then she looks around when she realizes how loud she was and immediately drops her eyes to the ground. “I’m sorry I yelled.”
My heart breaks seeing how quickly she went from being so excited to afraid she might get in trouble.
I go to say something, but Noah crouches down in front of her. “Hey, it’s okay. We’re glad you’re excited. You didn’t yell in a bad way. I’m proud that you got an extra packet for school done. I know it isn’t always fun to do, but you’re doing so well.”
“You think I’m doing well?” she asks him softly.
“I think you’re doing so well that you’ll not only catch up to your classmates but that you’ll be smarter than they are,” he tells her.
She smiles at him, then at me. “I’m kind of smart.”
“You are. You’re probably smarter than me,” I tell her.
“Who’s smarter than who?” Amelia says as she walks through the door. “Sorry, we’re a few minutes early. I was able to leave the farm early, so I figured we would just head over this way.”
“No problem at all. We were just telling Jess that she’s going to be smarter than all of us with how fast she’s learning,” I tell her.
“Oh, I believe it. You’re probably going to take over my farm one day, kiddo. Where can Luke set Penny’s water bowl?” Am asks as she walks into the kitchen.
As she asks, Luke walks in with Penny actually on a leash, which I appreciate. I don’t think Jess has ever seen a dog before.
“Sorry. Penny had to sniff half the yard before she went to the bathroom,” he says.
“Umm, Noah. There’s an animal in your house,” Jess says from behind Noah.
I kneel beside her. “He knows. That isn’t a wild animal. This is Penny. She’s Amelia’s dog.”
“And Penny is friendly?” Her eyes dart from Penny to me as she wrings her hands.
“I promise, Penny is the friendliest. Once you pet her, she’ll be your best friend for life.” I reassure her.
Jess’s shoulders relax a bit. “I’m allowed to pet her?”
“If you would like to, but if you don’t want to, that’s okay too.” Noah reassures her.
As I stand, Am balls her hand into a fist to give Penny her sit command. Then she turns to Jess. “If you want to pet her, all you do is walk up to her with your hand like this.” She holds her hand out, palm down, loosely. “She won’t stand up unless we tell her to, so you just move at your pace. If you don’t want to do it now but decide you want to later, that is okay too.”
Bravely, Jess takes a step forward and looks at Amelia. “I think I would like to pet her now before dinner.”
“Okay.” She kneels next to Penny, whose tail is swishing back and forth on the floor, excited to make a new friend.
As Jess gets closer, Penny lies down and puts her head on her paws, looking away from Jess, like she knows how nervous Jess is.
