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“Lawrence, that’s just mean,” Charlie jumped in.

“Trust me, it’s what she responds to. How about it, girlie? You ready to spread your baby wings and fly?”

God, he made things difficult. She looked over at Charlie. “What is the name of your flagship restaurant?”

Lawrence let out a loud laugh. “Hot damn, she’s going to do this thing!”

5

“Another stowy, pease, Aunt Amy,” Jimmy wheedled.

“I’ve already read you three stories, it’s time for you to lie down and go to sleep,” Amy said in her best stern voice.

“Please, Aunt Amy,” John begged. “You do the best voices. Mom never does the voices like you do.”

Amy thought about it and realized that her cousin Carla probably didn’t. She was too busy working all the time or trying to wrangle these two. It was tough being a single mother. “Okay, one more story, and then do you promise to go to sleep?”

She got ‘yay’s’ and ‘yes’s’, and being a total marshmallow, she relented. This time she picked up a story about a car that was very old but was intent on winning one more big race. When she was done, Jimmy was asleep, and John was yawning.

“Okay, John, go get into your bed, will you?”

“Okay. Are you going to tuck me in?”

“You know it,” she grinned.

She watched as the little boy almost face-planted into his little bed. She pulled up the covers on Jimmy and placed a kiss on his little baby cheek. Then she walked around the end of his bed so that she could get to John.

“Tired,” he mumbled when she tried to move him to get him under his blanket.

“I know, buddy, but I need you to move.”

“Okay.” Amy grinned as she finally got him settled.

She pulled his blanket up, and the sleeve of her blouse drifted up her arm. Little John touched the long scar on her forearm.

“Does that still hurt?” he asked.

“No, Sweetums, it doesn’t hurt at all.”

“Is that bad lady going to come back?”

“No, that bad lady is never coming back,” Amy assured him. She gritted her teeth, thinking how Jimmy and John had to have seen her mother use that knife on her. That hurt so much more than the actual cut.

“Promise?” John asked as his little finger stroked her scar.

Amy picked up his finger and kissed it. “Cross my heart. She’s not coming back.”

“Good,” he yawned.

“Now you get some sleep, okay?”

She watched as his eyes closed, and stayed with him until his breath evened out. Then she kissed his cheek and walked to the bedroom door and turned out the light. She left it open a little bit so that they could see the hall light, and she would be able to hear them if they woke in the middle of the night.

She took a minute to stare at the little hellions. God, she loved them. Her cousin Carla was one lucky woman.

Amy went back out to the tiny living room and grabbed the novel out of her backpack, then settled down to read, but it didn’t work. Being in this apartment she couldn’t help but think back to one of the last conversations she’d had with Ryker. She loved that he had called her when she was babysitting here. It helped to whitewash the memories of her mom’s attack.

“I love the stuffed seal you sent me,” Ryker said as soon as he answered the phone.