Page 46 of Carry Me Home
“Look, kid, I told you. I have leopard tadpoles and I have blue dart frogs.”
“I want a dart tadpole.”
“Then I can order it for you. Two weeks.”
“It has to be today. It has to be today. It has to be today,” she chanted.
Shit, she was in a loop. Janie had warned me about this. Getting stuck in a loop could lead to a meltdown. Janie had given me a few tips on how to interrupt the cycle, and I’d watched her put those into action once last week.I’ve got this.
“Dave,” I said, and it took him a beat to respond. Yeah, that definitely wasn’t his name. “Give us a minute.”
Looking relieved, Not-Dave disappeared toward the saltwater fish.
I spun to face Maya and dropped down to her level. “Maya.” I squeezed her shoulders gently to pull her focus to me. I’d left her fidget toy in the car—a mistake I wouldn’t make again. “Seven deep breaths. A color for each breath.”
She breathed. “Red.” Another breath. “Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue.” Her gaze shifted to the frogs and I quickly squeezed her shoulders again. “Indigo.” One more. “Violet.”
“Okay. Now, we have two options. You can have a leopard tadpole today, or a dart tadpole in two weeks. If you don’t decide in the next twenty seconds, we go home. Maybe your mom can help you decide.”
She stilled. Her gaze went sideways. “Leopard tadpole today.”
Well, that was easy. Too easy? Nah, I was overthinking it. I straightened. “Great. Let’s get your amphibian.”
The tadpole aquariumwas set up and I had dinner ready to plate up by the time Janie got home from work.
She paused in the doorway of the kitchen like she didn’t want to intrude. “You don’t have to do that,” she said.
“I had time, so I figured I might as well. You want something to drink? Wine? A beer?” I asked over my shoulder as I scooped enchiladas onto plates.
“Water.” She made a face. “Something about working at a bar makes alcohol less appealing. I still like to drink every now and then, but it’s not how I unwind at the end of the day.”
I handed a plate to Maya to take to the table. “Yeah? How do you unwind?”
“Mostly it’s a mug of chamomile tea. Sometimes I’ll read in bed for a while. If I’m really keyed up, I like to sketch.” She took the next plate from me and set it down across from Maya. “So how was your first full day?”
I grinned at Maya as I took the seat next to her. “It was really good, right, Maya? This summer is going to be awesome. We’re going to learn so much about frogs.”
Maya’s eyes went wide. “Tomorrow we’re going to the library to get books,” she said quickly. “That’s how we’re going to learn about frogs.”
The way Janie’s head whipped toward Maya, I knew something was amiss. “Sure, but we’re also going to witness metamorphosis firsthand, right? Tadpoles to frogs.”
Eyes closed, Janie pinched the bridge of her nose and pulled in a deep breath through her mouth. I had the feeling she was counting to ten. “How, exactly, do you plan to do that?”
My gaze darted from Janie to Maya and back again. What the hell was going on here? “Maya’s summer project. We drove out to Denver to pick up the aquarium and tadpoles. It’s all set up in her bedroom.”
Janie’s eyelids flew open and she stared daggers at her child. “Maya. I said no.”
My mouth dropped open as I turned to Maya. “You tricked me?” I sounded shocked because I was. This sweet little girl with the mismatched eyes and the big heart had fuckingtrickedme? Assets trained in espionage couldn’t trick me, but Maya had slipped right past my all my defenses.
Maya blinked rapidly. “You didn’t say no, Mother. You said you couldn’t keep another thing alive because you had your hands full with me and you. But Jack is here?—”
“I said no,” Janie interrupted sharply. “That should have been enough.”
“I thought it would be okay!” Maya’s eyes were big and suspiciously shiny.
“You tricked me, Maya,” I said. “That is not okay. Now I can’t trust you, and your mom can’t trust me. She might even think I’m not responsible enough to take care of a seven year old.”
Maya’s lower lip trembled as she spun to her mother. “It’s not his fault.”
