Page 46 of Bobby

It was thanks. It was appreciation. It was safety.

Since gifts for Bobby and his team weren’t something I could do at the moment, I sent text messages instead. First to Mary, thanking her. Then to Marco. I know he was involved, even if I never saw him once the girls were delivered to me.

Let me know if you need anything. Boss and I just got back in, and we’ll be here all night should you need us.

His response had my heart beating even faster than when Bobby had his mouth on me. In that second, I had to see him. It was a need so profound that I couldn’t deny it. All I asked of Marco was that he keep an eye on the girls. Usually, I would be comfortable leaving them for a moment if they were awake, but they were asleep. I didn’t want them to wake up, especially Lily, and worry about me.

As soon as Marco exited the elevator on my floor, I switched places with him and went straight to see Bobby. When I wrapped my arms around him, I didn’t know who was comforting whom in that moment. I meant to just say thank you. Instead, I asked him to make sure it never happened again. And when he said he’d already made sure it wouldn’t, I couldn’t hold back anymore. I needed his comfort—his arms around me, keeping me together as I let it sink in that my girls are going to be okay.

“Mommy, what is it?” Ivy whines as Lily hops from foot to foot.

“Donuts.” Yeah, I’m still totally trying to bribe them with special foods to keep their focus on anything other than what Lily went through.

Their shouts of glee escalate as the elevator door opens, and a man from the lobby carries out a giant box of donuts. But both girls quickly ignore their sweet morning breakfast to look at the other people in the elevator.

“Payton!” they shout in unison.

“Lily? Ivy? What?” She steps out of the elevator, and my girls wrap their arms around their favorite former neighbor and babysitter. “Willow? What are you doing here?”

I grab the donuts from the lobby assistant and lean in for a side hug from her.

She’s a little taller than me but petite, like the ballerina she was trained to be. She looks amazing. No longer skin and bones like when I saw her last, but with some true muscles on her. And her face isn’t black and blue anymore either.

“Same question. I never heard from you after you asked to stay with us a while back. I was worried about you when you didn’t return my calls.”

I eye the other man in the elevator, the one I recognize as the man Payton was with when she gave us her extra ramen not so long ago. I pull her closer, turning just a little to get her behind me.

He notices—of course he does, as his eyes are glued to Payton—but he just smiles, not at all bothered that I’m attempting to shield her from him. The man I suspect she was talking about the last time we spoke when she claimed she needed a place to stay until she decided not to and hung up.

“Who’s that, Payton?” my sweet Lily asks, not at all worried about danger. Which I suppose I should be happy about after yesterday’s events. But I also think I should start warning her about other things. The man might seem to only have eyes for Payton, but who knows why he’s here. I know it’s not to see me, and to my knowledge, only those who know Bobby come to this building. After finding things out about him last night, I can only imagine what this man does. He also has so many similar features to Bobby that I have half a mind to think they’re related in some way.

“That’s my boyfriend, Tommy,” Payton replies.

“Boyfriend?” I look at Payton, a bit shocked, then look at Tommy, as he’d parroted what I said.

“I think I’m a little more than that, babe.” He winks at her as he finally steps out of the elevator. The door shuts, and the lobby attendant leaves just as Tommy squats down in front of my girls.

“I remember you,” Ivy says with a stern nod.

Tommy only smiles, and I let some of the pressure ease off my chest. If Payton trusts him around my girls, so do I. She’s always been protective of them since we met in our old apartment and looked after them whenever she could.

“And I remember you.”

“It’s so weird that we ran into each other. I didn’t know you moved.” Payton chuckles with a smile as she brushes her hand over the girls’ heads.

“Well, after the fire, we didn’t have much of a choice.”

“Fire?” She looks at me, then her boyfriend. “What fire?”

I look them over as he stands slowly. They hold a silent conversation with their eyes, but I answer for them. “It was last weekend. Arson, I think. They’re still investigating.”

“Oh God, are you guys okay?”

“We were at the park.” Lily smiles up at her, bouncing on her toes. “I got a new coloring book, and we had a picnic.”

Payton looks slightly overwhelmed but still smiles. “Oh, that’s nice. But how did you end up here?”

“Um….” How do I say this without it sounding like I’m sleeping with my boss?