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“Oh, baby. I’m sorry.”

Fuck. Why was she telling him this? He couldn’t possibly want to know and it wasn’t exactly painting her in a good light. “It’s okay.”

He gave her an incredulous look. She shrugged. “All right, so it’s not okay.”

“What happened?”

“I made Max some dinner. We had a bit of food in the cupboards but not much. We went to bed. When I woke up the next morning, she still wasn’t home. We went to school as usual but when we got home...well, she’d never been gone that long before. I wasn’t sure what to do. I knew I wasn’t supposed to tell people about anything that went on at home but we were running low on food. Max was hungry, so I went to our next-door neighbor. She was nice. She had a boy Max’s age and she often gave us cookies and milk after school. She called the cops. Child Protective Services took us into custody. The next day Nana came and got us.”

“And none of you ever heard from your mom again? What did the cops say?” He was frowning.

“The police think she took off with her latest boyfriend.”

“Oh, baby.” He pulled her onto his lap. She tensed up. Umm, what was happening? Why was she sitting in his lap? What was she supposed to do? Where did she put her hands? What if she was too heavy for him?

But he didn’t seem to notice her freaking out. Or if he did, he ignored her reaction, pulling her in against him and tucking her head in under his chin. He rubbed his hand up and down her back. Wow, okay, that felt nice. Gradually, she relaxed into him.

She yawned. He was so warm. And he smelled so good.

“Here, eat some more pizza, sweetheart.” He leaned forward and picked up a piece of pizza, holding it to her lips. She reached up to take it and he pulled it back. “Uh-uh, I’m going to feed you. You just sit there snuggled into me so sweetly and let me take care of you.”

God, those words. They were like a balm soothing the ragged edges of her soul.

She finished off the slice of pizza then shook her head as he held up another piece. “Full.”

“You sure? You didn’t eat much. I’ve eaten four times as much.”

“You’re bigger than me.”

“I am. Here.” He held the milk up and she sighed, grimacing.

“I really don’t like drinking milk.”

There was a beat of silence then to her surprise he set the milk down without argument. Instead, he picked up his glass of water and held it to her lips. “I promise I don’t have germs.”

She took a few sips, realized how thirsty she was and gulped down the whole lot. She tried to move off his lap, thinking to get him another glass but he held onto her. “Didn’t say you could move.”

“I thought I’d get you some more water,” she explained, feeling special that he didn’t want her to move.

“I’ll get it in a minute. And I’ll bring in some wood for your fire. It’s starting to get chilly. Where do you keep it?”

She bit down on her thumbnail. He gently extracted her thumb free. “Gotta do something about that.”

“About what?”

“What’s going on that you don’t want to tell me, Abby?” he asked instead.

“Well, okay, I don’t have any wood.” Being poor is nothing to be ashamed of. Being poor is nothing to be ashamed of.

Yeah, she wished she actually believed that. Considering how much shit she’d taken over the years about being poor, it was hard to believe.

“You used it all during winter? It was a cold one this year. You need to order some more though, sweetheart because this house is so old it’s probably drafty and needs its insulation upgraded.”

She nodded. It wasn’t really worth telling him that she didn’t have money for wood. That she hadn’t had any all winter and instead relied on blankets and hot water bottles to keep her warm.

Although, he was better than any hot water bottle.

“Just relax, baby,” he told her, rubbing her back up and down.