He was a big, grumpy giant. I just prayed somewhere inside him there was a soft, gooey middle.
I guess maybe there had to be because two hours later, he rolled into the drive with my car. He got out and pulled a ton of shopping bags from the back.
He came inside and set them on the dining table to the left of the door under the window.
There was clothing and toiletries and everything we could need.
But what stole my breath was there was also every sort of toy.
Nerf guns for Colin, a bag of pink and white large blocks that I thought he must have intended for Eva, and a beading kit for Addy.
The kids came racing down the hall, shrieking and laughing when they saw the haul.
“Whoa, is this all for us?” Colin peeped, his eyes wide.
“Yeah, it’s all for you.”
“No footballs?” I probably shouldn’t have asked it, but I couldn’t help imagining Cash from back in the day.
Only he bowed back when I said it, as if he’d been struck.
“No. No footballs.” Cash said it so low, it was barely heard.
With the pain that suddenly leached out of him, I thought he’d turn and walk away, but he set another bag on the floor and watched as the kids dumped out another bag.
It had three bears. Each the same though different colors. He peeked over at me, almost awkwardly. “For when they sleep.”
My chest squeezed.
“I think you bought the whole store.” Colin looked dazed as he gazed at everything. “I’m really glad we found you, Mr. Cash.”
Addy dug into another bag. One filled with boxes of snacks. She held up the box.
Red Vines.
“Hey, did you know these are my mom’s favorite?”
His throat bobbed as he pinned me with those hazel eyes. “Yeah, I guess I do.”
FIFTEEN
DAISY
SIXTEEN YEARS OLD
“Have you lost your mind?”Daisy hissed it from where she stood at the base of the tree with her face upturned toward Cash’s second-story bedroom window.
He poked his head out the opening, hands gripping onto the bottom portion of the windowsill and his face full of that smile that made her belly tumble into fanciful things.
“In the best way possible,” he whisper-shouted back.
Mischief rained all around him.
“You do remember the way we met?” She tried to keep her voice quiet as she glanced around his side yard that was fully in the shadows under the cover of night.
It was bad enough that he convinced her to sneak out of her own bedroom window. If Ms. Lopez found out, she was going to be grounded for a month. But at least she wouldn’t break her neck if she fell while she climbed out from hers.
But this…
