Page 44 of Made for You
“I think I kind of hate calculus.” She stared at the page in front of her, then slumped down and her foreheadthunkedon the table.
“Ah, I see where we are.” I slumped along with her, resting my head on the table facing her so that when she blinked open those pretty hazel eyes, they found mine instantly.
“Yeah? Where are we? Is hating calculus a thing all super geniuses experience or is it just for us mortals?”
The snark was strong with this one, and apparently, Rosie or Bruce had told her something about me, but that was entirely beside the point. “It’s less calc and more the shocking lack of brain food.”
She made a face. “Is this where you tell me it’s time for some carrots and hummus or a protein shake or something?”
I reared back. “No.”
She laughed despite herself, then lifted her head. “Really? You’re not going to try to stuff me with natural peanut butter and apples for the fiber or offer me cheese sticks and edamame and—”
“I had no idea it was this bad.” My hands on her shoulders now, I gave her as serious a gaze as I could muster. “I’m going for supplies. I’ll be back in five minutes. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to preheat the oven, wash your hands, and get out a large bowl and some measuring cups and spoons.”
Her amused grin bolstered me, but her excited “Okay!” sent me jogging to Rosie’s. I threw a smattering of ingredients into a bag and ran back, all under five minutes.
When I burst through the door, she had prepped the space and was washing her hands. I set the ingredients down and joined her, and we got to work. Thankfully, Rosie had bought the ingredients, planning to make cookies tonight, so the butter and eggs had been sitting out and had already come to room temperature.
“So who is the monster who suggests you eat those horrible things?” I nudged the eggs her way, along with a measuring cup for her to crack them into as I tipped the last half cup of flour into a bowl.
She chuckled. “I think you can guess. It’s Superman himself, obviously.”
“Superman?”
She gave me a look that said something like,as though you hadn’t noticed. “Yeah, you’ve seen him. I know he went and talked to you earlier before he took my very wise suggestion to clean up first.”
Okay, bold. I hadn’t expected her to be so direct, but I certainly appreciated it. “He did.”
“And you kissed him.”
The baby blush I’d been sporting deepened, but I focused on packing brown sugar. “You were spying?”
She shrugged. “I need him to get a life, and you are the first person he’s seemed interested in since I’ve lived with him.”
A small sigh escaped her and drew my attention. Her expression had dimmed.
“Does it bother you? I think, so far, it’s all just friendly and flirty. It’s nothing serious. I don’t want you to think I—”
“That’s the problem, though. He’s bound and determined not to have anything interfere with his ability to take care of me or whatever, like I’m this huge project he has to stay so focused on. And I get that he feels bad for how things were for me, but I feel like he’s missing out. I know for a fact he would never say it out loud, but it’s the truth.”
She crossed her arms, staring at the bowl in front of her as I gathered my thoughts.Wow.I hadn’t seen that level of honesty coming and recognized it for the rarity it was. And I wondered if maybe it was time she knew a bit more about me.
“Did you know I was in foster care for a while?” I asked, watching the fine grains of sugar slither into the large glass mixing bowl.
She jolted. “No. Why? When?”
“Here, unwrap these and put them in here.” I handed her two sticks of butter as I stirred the two sugars to combine them. “My parents died when I was eleven. Rosie was here in Utah and wasn’t in contact with them or really anyone at the time, so they couldn’t find her. Had no way to notify her. So I went into the system until I turned seventeen.”
Her mouth opened slowly, like the words wouldn’t come. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“I didn’t tell you that to make you feel bad or sorry for me. I wanted to share it because it had a big impact on me. I went through some rough years after that, even after I found Rosie and had someone to love me unconditionally. It was still… hard to accept.” She didn’t need all the details that came before foster care, all the mistakes after. At least not yet.
She ducked her head, nodding a bit. “I get that.”
My heart squeezed. “Bruce didn’t tell me much about why he’s your guardian.”
Her eyes found mine and she studied me. “I’ll tell you, if you want. It’s not a great story.”
