“Uh, um, Adams? Avery…Adams? Will that work?”
East looks my way, down to the bottle I nudge and frowns but nods.
“That’s fine. Cell phone number?”
“I-I don’t have one? I wasn’t allow…”
She trails off and bites her lip as Ryker growls low in his throat. A lip that’s just started to heal so I go for the distraction.
“Hey, Ry? What’s with all the boxes in the entryway? You starting your own bookstore?”
He grunts. “Not mine. Chloe’s.” And then shovels a forkful of pasta into his mouth.
Chloe looks from him to her mom with big eyes and squeals out, “Mine? I gots mail? For me?”
He grunts and nods, wiping his mouth with a napkin.
“You can open them after dinner.”
Her fork clatters down onto her plate.
“Done! I’m done!”
Ryker spears her with a look and a deep rumbling sigh.
“Salad.”
She sighs dramatically even as she’s bouncing in her chair with excitement and starts scooping up the salad on her plate in tiny fast bites.
“Ryker? What…uh…you didn’t have to, I mean…Ryker?”
He looks up from his plate, adds another heaping scoop of pasta and sauce to it and lifts one eyebrow at her and grumbles, “Kid needs toys.”
I can’t stop the grin that splits my face and I see East's lips twitching too. Looks like Avery and Chloe have hurdled Ryker’s ‘people suck’ wall right into his ‘mine’ yard. I lean back in my chair with a full belly and sip at the last of my beer. It takes a hell of a lot for Ryker to include anyone besides East and me in his circle. The big lug uses his grunts, growls, and formidable size to keep most people away and at a distance. Now here he is giving physical comfort to Avery, buying out a toy department for Chloe, and making her eat her vegetables. When I see him glance at Avery again and give her a slow wink, I revise my opinion. They didn’t hurdle his wall, they smashed right through it.
My grin slides away as I watch Avery from the corner of my eye. Her gorgeous eyes are a little glassy from the tears she’s holding back but it’s the small spark of hope in them that makes my stomach flip and has me adding a quick hard brace to my own walls because hope can hurt even more than losing a fucking leg.
Avery
Ipress a hand to my mouth to keep in the sobs that want to break free. There are boxes, bubble wrap, styrofoam, and cardboard everywhere as squeals of delight and excitement ring out. I just can’t get over the number of toys filling the living room as Chloe, Ryker, and Zack unpack box after box. I can’t take my eyes off my baby and the way she just glows with happiness. This has never happened before. She has never been given gifts like this…ever. Birthdays and Christmas were never more than the one present he would allow, claiming that he wasn’t going to have a spoiled brat in his house. This…this is like all the holidays and special days all rolled into one for her. She hugs each item as it gets unboxed then hugs Ryker’s thick leg, high-fives Zack, and runs to me to show me with gleaming eyes filled with joy. I can’t believe this is happening. It’s like Chloe and I were rescued by three musclebound fairy godfathers.
I choke back a gasp when Chloe goes and grabs Easton’s hand and drags him from the wall he was leaning against into the middle of the disaster. I worry that he’s going to be annoyed by the disruption in his house but he just nods when she points things out and then starts carrying some of the bigger items to one corner of the room and setting them up. He’s snapping plastic doors onto the play kitchen in minutes as Chloe runs plastic dishes, tea cups, and a play shopping basket filled with plastic fruits and vegetables over for him to put in the cupboards.
Zack starts assembling a pink kid-size table and chairs to add to what he now calls Chloe’s corner and Ryker is screwing together a cube organizer for her to store all her new toys in. Kanga picks a path through it all with a stuffed Olaf snowman in his mouth and packing peanuts clinging to his fur with static.
I’m overcome with emotion that these three strangers are doing more ‘dad’ things for my baby than her own father ever did. I tuck my head down so they won’t see and start gathering up armfuls of discarded packaging and carrying it out to the garage where the recycling bin is. On the last load, I just lean my head against the wall beside the bin and let the shakes take over, no longer able to contain them.
I’m so, so tired. I feel like I’m a hundred years old instead of twenty-four. I’ve been wound tight and terrified for so many years now that this new feeling hits me like a Mack truck. We are safe and my baby is happy. Everything has changed in just a few short days. These three men have taken us in, given me a job, and shown so much kindness to us. I didn’t even know there was this much kindness in the world anymore. I let out a ragged breath and push away from the wall, dragging my shirt sleeves across my wet face. I can do this. I can do whatever it takes to keep us here, keep us safe. I’ll do everything in my power to repay these men for what they’ve done for us.
When I get back to the living room, all three men are lounging on the huge sectional and Chloe’s curled up against Ryker’s side with a stack of shrink-wrapped DVDs in his lap. She’s giving them a run down of the major plot points of each movie in between yawns.
There’s a very fine line between cute, sleepy Chloe and overtired, cranky Chloe so I call out, “Bedtime!”
She groans but thankfully doesn’t argue, telling me that she’s more than ready for bed. I reach over the back of the couch to pick her up but she dodges my hands and throws herself on Ryker’s chest, scattering DVD cases everywhere. Her arms look so tiny as she wraps them around his thick neck and gives him a sloppy kiss on his cheek. She pulls back and squishes his cheeks between her little hands.
“Thank you for my toys, growly bear. Night-night!”
She spins around on her knees, crawls over to Zack, plants a kiss on his cheek, and then climbs over to Easton. For him, she just sags onto his chest and burrows in. I start to rush over to grab her when I see his frozen state but his arms close around her and he hefts her up as he climbs to his feet.
