Page 25 of Mouse
I looked at her like she was fucking nuts.
“Um, no.” I shook my head at her and now she was the one looking at me like I was crazy. “Ingram, we’re family. This is what we do.”
There was something that passed over her face. Relief? Maybe, I wasn’t sure. But she seemed to relax a little as she took in my words.
“I guess I really need to find a daycare. I didn’t think they’d have me start this soon.” She lowered herself down to sit on the edge of my bed.
The fire was back, bringing the sweat that had drenched me this morning. I rolled my shoulders trying to shake off the weird feelings zapping me all over.
Chry wriggled in her arms and she let him free. He climbed across the bed and started playing with the book we’d been reading.
“Fu-forget daycare,” I said, my eyes on the little guy. “I think between all of us we can work something out. I don’t have a set schedule or anything, so I can watch him most of the time.”
Why was I doing this? Something told me I needed to put distance between Ingram and myself, but here I was, inserting myself more into her life.
But it also felt right. I didn’t like the idea of Chry in daycare. If he was here then I could keep an eye on him. That meant that I knew what was going on and what wasn’t. Maybe I needed more trust and faith in the outside world.
“Mouse, I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You didn’t,” I stated simply. “I offered.”
She opened her mouth to argue and I shook my head.
“What did you do when you worked up there at Glow Woods?” I asked with a raised brow because I already knew the answer.
“There were people there that watched him.”
“But you knew these people, right? And you felt comfortable with them before you let them watch Chry.”
“Yes,” she whispered and her head lowered like she knew I was right and there was nothing more she could say.
“Hey,” I said and moved to sit on the bed beside her. With a crooked finger, I lifted her chin until her hazel eyes met mine. “I just want what’s best for both of you. Besides, I had fun with him today.”
It wasn’t a lie.
“You will let me know if it gets to be too much?” she asked, her voice soft.
“I will.” I gave her a firm nod.
“Thank you,” she said and threw her arms around my neck. I couldn’t be sure, but I thought I saw tears begin to shine in her beautiful eyes.
My lids drifted closed as I allowed myself to return her embrace. And though it was wrong, I inhaled her light, sweet scent for a beat too long.
Clearing my throat, I released her and got to my feet. The room suddenly felt too small and was closing in on me by the second.
“Well, we will leave you to enjoy your afternoon. I can’t thank you enough for this.”
She scooped up Chry and I got his things packed back up in the bag that Ky had brought. Without thinking about it, I took Chry then walked out of the room knowing she’d follow behind me. With careful steps, I walked down the stairs then got him settled in his car seat.
“When’s your next shift?” I asked her.
“Tomorrow at four. It’s only three hours, but they said it was a good time to train me.” She sounded a little nervous and her words came out a bit rushed.
“Bring him here. I’ll be in the lounge waiting.”
“Thank you, again.” She flashed me a sweet smile then slid into the driver’s seat.
“Oh,” I said, my hand on her door holding it open. “How was your first day?”
