“Hey!” she scolds, dumping the rest into the pan and shoving it into the oven with a frown as he licks his finger clean.
“You said I couldn’t have the spoon, so I had to make do.”
His eyes glimmer with mischief before lunging for the batter-coated spoon she holds. She shrieks, snatching it back to hold high in the air while darting around the island as he gives chase. The fun is in being caught, so when he grabs her, she melts, letting him take the spoon to lick before he offers it back to her. She pauses before gathering up the remaining batter with her tongue and an approving hum.
“You’re killing me,” he sighs.
She smiles wide, taking a point in her favor.
“We should look for that dog. Probably out there wreaking havoc on the whole place.”
“We will tonight. He’s fine, I’m sure of it. We’ll find him, Wade.”
“I didn’t even want him. Told you twenty times we shouldn’t keep him.”
It’s a dull protest she doesn’t believe. “Yeah, yeah. Keep telling yourself that.”
“I gotta apologize to that guy, too. Fuck. I busted his nose open.”
“He understood.”
“He shouldn’t have to. And you shouldn’t need to do all the explaining for me, running interference all the time.”
He’s getting lost in his head again, and she isn’t about to let that happen just yet. “You’d run interference for me, so let me do it for you.”
As if on cue, the doorbell rings. They aren’t expecting guests, but when Kara opens it, Juliet is on the other side holding a wiggling puppy.
“I think you lost something.” Juliet hands the dog to Wade, who gathers him up as if they’ve spent years apart. “I found him with some of the kids. They were quite disappointed to lose their playmate.”
The puppy licks at his chin in a frantic display of affection while Wade half-heartedly scolds him with a smile on his face.
“Can you check on the cake? I’ll be right in.” She needs a moment alone with Juliet and is only grateful when Wade leaves with a nod.
“She’s fine,” the other woman offers without needing to be asked. “You can see her if you want. She really loves your dog. He was sleeping in her lap when I found him.”
Does Kara want to see the child whose life she ruined when she made her an orphan by accident? No. Not a fucking chance. But she asks about her every time she comes to this community, needing to make sure that her life from here on out is only filled with as many good things as one can find in an apocalypse.
“No, I don’t wanna see her. She’s good, though? Happy?”
Juliet nods. “Very happy. I know I tell you this every time but you bringing her here was the best thing that could have happened to her. A life with Silas and his group is no place for a child.”
“I know. Logically, I know.” Emotionally, it’s hard not to think that being with her own parents would be the best place for her, even if that was with the enemy. Kara knows all too well how it feels to have her only parent taken from her. Now, she’s done that to someone else in her quest to find Wade, and it continues to haunt her regardless of the facts. “She likes the dog, huh?”
“Oh yeah, keeps saying she wants one. We’ve been keeping an eye out for puppies on runs.”
“I’ll keep an eye out then, too.”
* * *
They don’t talk much that night. The silence is comfortable as they read side by side, propped up against the pillows. The topic of sleeping arrangements is avoided in favor of fooling themselves into thinking they’ll move for safety reasons before drifting off.
Later, when Kara’s curled up against Wade and grows hot, she flips the covers off her underwear-covered ass, and he slips his feet between hers to warm them.
Chapter 18
Wade has a death grip on Kara and isn’t sure how that happened.
Whatever horrors his nightmare trapped him in are long gone, but his face is wet where it’s pushed to the back of her neck and his hold on her crushing.
