The tears spilled over.
One second she was holding it together and the next they were just there, running down her cheeks, her chin doing that wobble that absolutely destroyed me every single time without fail.
I was off my stool and around the counter before I’d even thought about it, picking her up off her seat, Gerald and all. She wrapped around me like a koala, face buried in my neck, and I stood there in my kitchen at seven in the morning holding my crying five year old and staring at the ceiling.
“Hey,” I said. “Hey, look at me.”
She pulled back just enough. Her face was a mess. I wiped her cheeks with my thumb.
“You listening?”
She nodded, sniffling.
“I drive the same roads every day,” I said. “I know every one of them. And I’m real careful. You know why?”
She shook her head.
“Because I’ve got you to come home to,” I said. “That makes me the most careful driver in Juniper Falls. Nobody’s got more reason to be careful than me.”
She studied my face. Doing her check.
“Promise?” she said.
“Promise.”
She wiped her nose on my shoulder. I let it happen.
“You want to stay home today, bug?” I asked. “It seems like last night was really hard, but you were very brave.”
She shook her head against my shoulder, gripping me tight. “No, I promised Miss Laine I would bring her more dinosaur facts today.”
Of course she had.
Of course the thing that was going to get my daughter out of bed after a rough night and into her shoes and down the street to school was a promise she’d made to Maggie Laine about dinosaur facts.
I set her down, hands on her shoulders.
“Okay,” I said. “Then let’s get you ready.”
She nodded and disappeared down the hall toward her bedroom with Gerald tucked under her arm. I could hear her talking to him, probably briefing him on the day’s agenda.
I stood in the kitchen for a second and looked at the ceiling.
I promised Miss Laine.
Two months. She’d known this woman two months and she was hauling herself out of bed after a nightmare sleepover on the strength of a promise about dinosaur facts.
I couldn’t blame her.
Even if the things I wanted to share with Maggie weren’t even close to dinosaur facts.
FIVE
maggie
I was dressed.Dressedwell. Hopefully not too well, but hopefully well enough.
The kids hadn’t even arrived yet, and I was already overthinking everything about today.
