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“Yep.”
That explained why he didn’t know how to hug. Isabelle decided that she was going to look after this boy. She slid her hand in his.
One day, she might even marry him.
* * *
Isa filledher backpack with everything she needed. A change of clothes. Razzie. Toothbrush. Snacks. And her sleeping bag. Then she snuck out her bedroom window and jumped to the ground below.
She wasn’t allowed to climb out her window.
Then again, she wasn’t really allowed to run away, either. But she was doing it.
Walking to the back of the property, she headed through the woods until she got to their spot. Then she climbed the old ladder up into the treehouse they’d created.
Well, Lachie had built most of it. He wouldn’t really let her help. Which had annoyed her.
Boys could be so silly sometimes.
When she got into the tree house, she laid out her sleeping bag. She’d use her hoodie as a pillow. Then she grabbed a packet of chocolate chip cookies out of her backpack. Her stepmom would be mad when she saw them gone, but Isa didn’t care.
She wouldn’t be there.
She’d nearly finished the packet when she heard a noise from the ladder, and then Lachie popped his head into the tree house.
“Tinkerbelle, what have I told you about climbing up here on your own!”
“I’m seven now. I can do it myself.”
“You could hurt yourself. Don’t come in here again without me.” He sat in front of her. “What’s wrong?”
“How’d you know I was here?” she asked.
Lachie shrugged. “Dunno. I always feel something strange in here when you’re upset.” He rubbed his chest.
“Really? Me too! I thought it was ‘cause I eat too fast. That’s what Judy said. That I have to slow down and eat like a lady.”
“Why would you want to do that?” Lachie asked, looking bewildered.
“I know! And she says I’m messy and have no manners. And Daddy says I have to listen to her because she’s my new mom. But I don’t want a new one.” She sniffled and he moved to sit beside her, his arm over her shoulders. “I want my real mom.”
“Is that why you’re out here? Because of Judy?” he asked, snatching up a cookie.
“Sort of. They’re gonna have a baby to replace me.”
“What?” he snapped.
“Daddy said Judy is pregnant and that it’s a boy. Daddy always wanted a boy instead of a silly girl like me.”
“That can’t be true.”
“I heard them talking in their bedroom so they didn’t know I could hear them.”
“Were you under the bed again?” he asked.
“I like it under there. It feels safe. Daddy was saying how glad he was that the baby was a boy as he’d been dis . . . disa . . . not happy when he learned that I was a girl.”
“That jerk.”
