The club girls answer back quickly, “Yes, ma’am,” then return to chopping and stirring.
Katie turns to me. “I helped too,” she says proudly.
“You’re the best helper I’ve had all week,” Tessa tells her warmly.
That gets Katie’s full attention. “I can help tomorrow?”
Tessa nods. “Anytime, sweetheart.”
Something in my chest tightens. She’s three years old and already attaching herself to strangers. I should stop it, but I can’t bring myself to pull her away from this little pocket of joy.
Rock finishes his coffee and pushes back from the table. “You did good by bringing them here, Slate.”
Slate nods, eyes on me. “Yeah. I know.”
Slate steps closer, his voice low so only I hear. “Do ya want to finish the tour right now or later?”
“I should stay with Katie,” I tell him. “I know it looks like she’s happy here, but I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. She’s been through a lot.”
“There ain’t always gotta be another shoe, you know?”
“I hope there isn’t, but I’m not counting on it because nothing in my life is ever this easy.”
He crams his hands into his front pockets, looking bashful. “Maybe this could be that thing.”
I take a step closer to him and smooth down the front of his cut. “You were pretty easy before.”
His mouth twitches into an almost smile. “You mean in Kabul, when the whole world was going to shit?”
The warm way he looks at me reminds me of how it felt to trust him when everything went sideways. He came through for me back then. Maybe he can this time too.
I nod. “We found our way through it.”
By the time we break apart, the room is totally silent. Everyone’s backs are to us. Tessa and her club girls act like whatever cooking chore they’re working on requires one hundred percent of their attention. A blush creeps up my face when I realize this is their way of giving us a private moment.
I look around and find Queenie has Katie sitting on her lap.
Queenie glances over at me, her face lit up. “We’re setting the table now. You and Katie are sitting at the family table tonight, alright?”
“Of course,” I say. “Want me to take her?”
“No. Let her hang out with me, so you and Slate can spend some time together. I’ll treat her like she was my own grandchild and bring her right back if she asks for you.”
I freeze in place for a brief moment. I don’t know what Slate’s told her about us. I know I’m wearing his cut which means something in his world, and part of me is worried that she thinks it’s real. Being here with Slate and his family I kind of wish it was too.
All I’ve ever wanted was for Katie to have people in her life who cared about her. Standing there looking at them together, I can see the similarities between my daughter, Slate, and hisfather. There’s something about the way Queenie’s fussing over Katie—it might be that she just loves little kids, but I can’t help but wonder if she suspects something.
“Okay, I’ll take Katie back at the dinner table, so you can enjoy your meal,” I say.
A happy smile slips onto Queenie’s face, and they head out to the dining room with Katie waving goodbye to me. Rock follows close behind.
Slate angles his body around mine. Although the move seems protective, I think he just wants to get closer to me. “Want to help me fetch something nice to drink?”
I nod, thinking he means wine. He puts his hand against the small of my back and guides me down to their basement. When he unlocks what appears to be their liquor room, there isn’t a bottle of wine in sight. It’s a huge stock of expensive liquor, mostly whiskey, vodka, gin, and rum. He pulls a dusty bottle of rum from one of the top shelves, grabs a cleaning cloth off a tall stack, and dusts it off.
“So, no wine?” I ask.
“Do we look like the kind of family that drinks wine?” he responds with a tiny smirk.
