“Bacon, scrambly eggs with cheese, and blueberry pancakes it is,” Cook confirmed. Then he turned to us. “If you want to wash up a little, there’s some clothes that might fit Mona in the bottom drawer of the utility room closet thingy.”
“Okay, we’ll go check that out,” I said, holding my hand out to her again. “Let’s see if we can clean you up a bit. Cook likes if everyone is clean when they come to eat his food.”
She nodded solemnly, then came with me easily. Bucky followed us, which seemed to relax her even more. I was so grateful for him right then.
“Okay, let’s see…” I went to the large cabinet in the corner and pulled open the bottom drawer. “Can you see if any of these look good?”
She came to rummage around with me, and we found her a clean shirt and pants, and some socks.
“Can I shower and wash my hair?” she asked hopefully.
“Of course. You can do that upstairs in my old bathroom. Should give us just enough time before breakfast is ready.”
I took her up the stairs, Bucky still tagging along, and I left them in the bathroom while I went to text everyone else so they’d know we had a visitor. I knew Rey wouldn’t wake up to the message, but Theo might. Lake and Ben were kind of fifty-fifty when it came to messages.
The shower turned on and then off maybe five minutes later. I smiled. I hated that we didn’t have clean underwear for her, but she’d told me she didn’t need it for now.
“I’m done!” she announced, pushing the door open.
“Need any help with your hair?” I knew I had left a hairbrush there somewhere.
She toweled her blonde hair that was at least a shade lighter than it had been before. “Uh, sure. Can you do braids?”
I gasped dramatically. “Can I do braids?” I found the brush and figured Cook might have some hair ties, so I texted him. He told me to go get some from his bathroom.
Mona giggled a little.
“Go sit on the edge of my bed and brush your hair while I go get hair ties.”
She did as I asked, brushing with surprising determination while Bucky leaned against her legs.
We had her hair in two braids in no time, and I picked up her dirty clothes to throw into the washer downstairs.
“I’ll take care of these. Do you mind staying in the kitchen?” I asked her when we walked down the stairs.
“No, he seems cool. And Bucky is there.”
“Okay, good. I’ll be right back.”
I took her clothes—I noticed they looked familiar and were likely the same ones we’d given her at the clinic—and went to toss them into the washing machine. Her pockets had nothing in them except a smooth rock.
When I went back into the kitchen, Mona sat on the counter, swinging her legs as she watched Cook plate something.
I held out the rock. “Here, this was in your pocket.”
“Oh, my worry rock!” She took it and immediately stashed it in her pants pocket.
The corner of Cook’s mouth curled a little. “Aren’t they called worry stones?”
Mona snorted. “Of course the real ones are. This is just a rock I found on the ground in the park.”
“Good point,” Cook murmured, then turned to show her the plate. “How does this look?”
“A bit more whipped cream, please,” she said primly.
I expected him to pull out one of those cans, but instead, he spooned some of it from a bowl. Which he had whisked by hand, because he would never use loud appliances while someone slept in the house. Jesus, this man. No wonder Rey was so head over heels for him.
“Okay, now it’s perfect.” Mona slid off the counter. “You can bring it to the table.” She skipped around the island and went to sit.
