Page 52 of Carry Me Home
“You’re welcome, scamp.”
She grinned at that, showing me a little too much of her food, but I let it slide. Normally her table manners were impeccable—her grandmother was a stickler about it, according to Janie—and anyway, I didn’t want to spend every moment correcting her. That would exhaust us both. Better to pick our battles. No one wanted to fight a war on a Sunday morning.
“Scamp,” she repeated with a mischievous giggle that reminded me of her mom. Maya loved her nickname—maybe a little too much. I hoped she didn’t feel the need to earn it every day.
I watched her saw clumsily at her pancakes while I tucked into mine. Her fingers and hands were so small that using a fork and knife together was unwieldy for her, but she was getting it. The first few times I had tried to jump in and help, but Janie hadput a stop to it. Now I knew that I should give Maya a chance to do it herself. If she needed help, she’d ask.
“What are we doing today, Jack?” Maya asked around a bite of bacon.
I swallowed my own food before replying, then took a sip of orange juice. “Well, it’s Sunday, so that means your mom doesn’t have to work. She’s going to take you with her to the library for her embroidery club, and I’m going to go for a ride at Lodestar with Brax.”
“You’re going to Lodestar?” Maya’s eyes went wide. “Will Essie be there?”
I wasn’t surprised she asked. Kids loved my sister. Essie was colorful and loud, and that tended to make her a favorite. “No, she’s part of the embroidery club, remember? So you’ll see her at the library.”
Maya nodded. This time she waited to swallow her food before speaking. “Right. Okay. And then you’ll come back home? Here?”
The anxious note in her voice made me squint. “Of course. I live here, remember? All my stuff is here.”
“Okay.” She stuffed another bite into her mouth and chewed, those unusual eyes of hers darting this way and that. “Even though I tricked you about the tadpoles?”
That was what she was worried about? The tadpoles had been in my room all week since we moved them there Monday night. Maya had been great about changing the water and feeding them to prove she was responsible. She’d been scrupulously truthful. Too truthful, even. I didn’t need to know that my shirt was ugly and my singing along to the car radio made her want to rip her ears off.
But then I remembered what Janie had said. None of Maya’s babysitters had lasted very long. She was a smart kid.Observant. She had to have known why they left. I could only imagine how that made her feel.
I leaned back and rubbed a hand over my mouth. “Are you kidding? I’m having a great summer with you. I’m not happy you tricked me, but you’re not going to do that again. Right?” I added pointedly, and she nodded vehemently. “Good. So I’m staying. You’re stuck with me until September, scamp.”
“I don’t mind,” she said. She finished another bite and hopped to her feet. “Can I go look at the tadpoles now?”
“Sure, go ahead.” I didn’t mind her in my room. I’d left my firearms at my mom’s place, and there wasn’t anything else for her to get into.
She darted from the kitchen just as Janie entered. “Pancakes, Mom!” she shouted as she made for the tadpoles.
Janie blinked her dazed doe eyes at me. Her copper hair was piled on top of her head with a silvery blue scrunchie that matched her miniscule silky pajama shorts. Bare feet. No bra.
No bra.
I knew she wasn’t wearing a bra because her perky tits had that soft, floaty look to them and her goddamn nipple piercings were outlined clear as day against the white cotton T-shirt that was sliding off her shoulder with not a bra strap to be seen.
I blinked back at her, feeling as dazed as she looked.
“Pancakes?” she echoed. She looked around like she expected them to appear out of thin air.
I jolted to my feet. “Right! I put a plate in the oven for you to keep them warm. I wasn’t sure when you’d be up.”
“What time is it?” She shuffled over to the coffee maker with a yawn.
“A quarter to nine.”
“Nine?” she yelped, spinning around on her toes. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”
I arched a brow at her. “It’s not my job to wake you up. Anyway, you looked wiped when you came home last night. I figured you could use the rest.”
“Maya usually wakes me up around seven to make her breakfast. I’m so sorry. I know it’s your day off from kid duty.” She looked genuinely distressed.
“Hey, don’t worry about it. I’m an early riser anyway. Can’t shake military hours no matter how hard I try. It was fun.” Making pancakes with Maya hadn’t felt like work. It had felt like a great way to start a day that I was really looking forward to.
She kept staring at me with that baffled, sleepy look, her body blocking me from my second cup of coffee. Instinctively, I squeezed her hip to encourage her to move. That was a mistake. I’d spent a lot of time since I moved in struggling to keep my hands off her, and now that I was actually touching her, I didn’t know how to stop.
