Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91635 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91635 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“All yours?” she asked plaintively.
“All mine,” he said, straightening. “Go get washed up, Peanut. You’re a mess. I’ll take you to school.”
She nodded and turned to drag the patio door open, just in time for Julie to come tearing around the side of the house, slipping in the dewy grass and nearly falling. “Vic? Siorse?! I heard screaming—” She stopped as her gaze landed on her daughter’s retreating back, and she pressed a hand to her chest, leaning over, heaving for breath. “Oh, thank God.”
“Up in a tree like a monkey,” he said, and held out his hand. “She’ll be all right. Kids at school are picking on her. I’d have hid in a tree, too.”
Julie straightened and stepped closer, reaching out to squeeze his hand, offering a watery, grateful smile. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Then she collapsed into one of the patio chairs with an exhausted sigh, rubbing her hand to her eyes. “I didn’t know what to do. I woke up to get some water and her bed was empty, and I freaked out. Police won’t count it as missing persons for twenty-four hours and she wasn’t with the neighbors, so the only person I could think of to call was you.”
“It’s really okay.” He pulled out the chair opposite hers and sank down. “That’s a myth, though. The twenty-four hour thing with missing children. Next time, don’t hesitate to call the police in case there’s something really wrong. I’d rather have them looking sooner than later.”
She stilled, averting her eyes. “…oh. I…” A wince, fingers rubbing over the hollows beneath her eyes. “I hate that I didn’t know that. I’m really that sheltered, huh?”
“If you are, we both know the reasons are complicated. It’s not your fault.”
“Maybe,” she said dispiritedly.
“Are you okay?”
“Just shaken. Siorse’s everything to me and if I lost her…”
“But you didn’t,” he countered—but Julie’s shoulders were shaking, her mouth drawing up, a soft sound in the back of her throat, and he was on his feet in an instant, reaching for her. “Hey. Hey, come here.”
Julie spilled out of the chair and against him, huddling in his arms until she spent herself in quiet tears. He rested his chin to the top of her head, just letting her take shelter. He wished he could just…do something about this entire fucked up situation, but it was what it was and had been that way for all of Siorse’s life.
All he could do was be here, even if he couldn’t fix anything.
Julie sniffled, rubbing at her nose as her quiet sobs began to calm. She laid her cheek against his chest, her slight curving weight warm against him. “Sometimes I wish you really could be her father,” she whispered.
“Ah,” he sighed. “Life’s funny that way.”
She smiled slightly. “Are you late for work?”
“I own the company in nearly every sense of the word. What are they going to do, fire me?” He shrugged. “There’ll be a few aneurysms. It’s all right.”
“Are you, though?” She looked up at him, gaze flicking over his face. “All right, I mean. You look different.”
He blinked, face warming. “I do?”
“Vic.” She stared. “Are you blushing?”
“No!” he growled, then pulled away, rubbing the back of his neck. “…might be. Er. Met someone. Maybe?”
“Really now.” She brightened, and suddenly instead of a tired mother she was every inch a vibrant girl barely older than Vic, plunking back down in the patio chair and propping her chin on her laced fingers. “Dish.”
How the hell did he explain Amani? The way Vic’s chest tightened every time he thought of him, the way that quiet self-possession and effortlessly Bohemian femme beauty caught him and held him not just with the grace and sculpture of Amani’s features, but with the way he radiated that charismatic, compelling presence that could bring anyone to their knees. That had brought him to his knees, bewitched and willing, ready to become a sacrificial offering if that was what his pretty fey thing demanded.
He cleared his throat, ducking his head. “I don’t know what to say. I don’t think he even likes me. He just…sort of lets me cling to his ankles.”
“…his?” Julie arched both brows, then grinned. “Well I’m just learning all kinds of new things about you today.”
“It’s news to me, too.”
“Is it good news?”
“I think it is.” He let his gaze drift away, skimming across the tree line and the low scattered with their underbellies turned to sunrise mother of pearl. “Just…you know, sometimes it feels like every person is a puzzle, but instead of being a box full of all the pieces we need, we spend our whole lives looking for the scattered bits of ourselves and fitting them into place. Some of those bits are scattered inside us, some out there in the world, and we may never find them all…” He smiled slightly. That tight feeling was back in his chest again, and he didn’t mind it one bit. “But I feel like I dug out one of my pieces, and fit it where it belongs.”