CHAPTER SIX
“No,” I yelled, scrolling through my phone. “No. No. No. No.”
My chant went on like that as I looked through my closet, finding all my savings gone. How was that possible? And why hadn’t I deposited my tip money into my bank account instead of in a shoe box?
Where had the money gone? How could it just disappear?
“Banana sucker,” I yelled, running my hands through my hair.What am I going to do?
“What happened?” Sebastian growled from the doorway.
“I’m fucked,” I whispered and tunneled my shaky fingers through my hair.
There was only one person who could have possibly taken my money. And I had no idea how to find him. I couldn’t even wish that I’d never met Jim, because then I wouldn’t have Luca and Lena. And they were my everything.
“Nora,” Sebastian said, reminding me he was still there.
“All my savings are gone,” I said. It took all my strength to keep my voice even. “All this shit for nothing.”
I sank to the floor, my feet unable to hold me up any longer. This really was rock bottom. I’d worked so hard to save up that money. And it was all gone. I didn’t even care that I’d just told Sebastian that I had money saved up.
Didn’t matter now anyway since it was gone.
He crouched down next to me, putting a hand on my knee.
“You don’t—” he started but was cut off by Luca running into the room.
“Mommy, why is you on the floor?”
“Whyareyou on the floor,” I corrected him automatically. “I was looking for an earring that I lost.”
“Need help?” he asked, getting down on his knees next to me.
“It’s okay, I’ll look for it later. We don’t want to be late for preschool,” I said and turned to my little human. “You ready to go?”
He grinned and plonked down on his butt, holding his feet up. “I puts on my own shoes.”
There was so much pride in his voice that I was reluctant to let him know they were on the wrong feet. And if we’d only gone to the playground across the street, I wouldn’t have worried. But I didn’t want the teachers to think I didn’t pay attention.
“Well done, Sötnos. You did a really good job. The thing is just that your shoes are on the wrong feet.”
He creased his brow and looked at his shoes, then at me. “But they’re the only feets I got.”
A smile tugged on my lips, and I was reminded once again why I would do just about anything for my kids. “Good point.” I tapped his shoes. “But I meant your shoes are mixed up. We need to switch them to the other foot.”
“I’ll do it,” he said, and I watched him change his shoes, my fingers twitching every time he struggled. But he was determined to do it himself. His lips puckered in concentration, and I didn’t want to interfere.
Once he set his mind to something he wouldn’t stop until he’d figured it out. He used to have a speech problem and slight stutter, but with speech therapy, you couldn’t even tell anymore.
His eyes were bright and his voice animated when he did it all by himself.
“Finished,” he declared, clapping his hands.
“Where’s Lena?” I asked. Usually she was glued to Luca, hardly ever leaving his side.
“I’ve got her,” Sebastian’s deep baritone sounded from behind me.
I got up and turned, my jaw slipping at the sight in front of me. Sebastian was holding a relaxed Lena on his hip like this was a normal occurrence. She was fully dressed, one of her hands resting on his cheek, her other one holding on to the fabric of his T-shirt.
