Page 84 of Summer Holiday Lifeline

When she’d been bathed and stood back on the mat, wrapped in a thick towel, cheeks pink from the warm water and hair dripping, she smiled. It was almost as thin as her voice. “I’m sorry I was bad.”

Myles pulled her into a tight hug. “I know, kiddo.” He stood her back firmly on her feet and met her gaze. “Can you tell me why that happened?”

Her little forehead wrinkled, and the bow of her mouth flexed downward. “It was too big.”

“What was too big?”

“The mad and the sad inside of me was too big, and it grew and grew until it essploded.” She made a kaboom sound and mimed a mushroom cloud expanding over her head.

“Do you know what you were mad or sad about?”

“Mommy,” she said simply, and stared at the fluffy mat where she wiggled her toes through the shag.

“Fair enough. Thinking about your mommy makes me mad and sad sometimes, too.”

“You don’t essplode.”

“I used to. I used to explode and do other things that were very bad for me, and for the people I loved, when my feelings got too big.”

“Is that why you used to be so sick? When you first came to live with us?”

“It is.” God, that hurt his heart. He’d tried so hard not to let his shit affect the kids. But even Shelly had picked up on his crap. What must Jet think about him now being the one in charge of all three of them?

“But you’re better now.”

“I learned how to let the feelings out in better ways, and you can too.”

“Promise?”

“I promise. It’ll take some time to find ways that work, but we will.” It was a big promise. He had no idea how to keep it. Some days, he barely managed not to reach for a bottle himself. How was he going to teach a six-year-old how to deal with feelings that had him so close to backsliding?

“You’re a very good stand-in mommy,” she told him.

He almost fell on his ass out of the crouch he was in. “What?”

“You’re not Mommy, but you’re still pretty good at mommy stuff,” she clarified.

“Oh. Okay.”

“I should get dressed.” This she said with the gentle authority of tiny matron aunt, like he needed the reminder of the order of things, and he chuckled.

“Right. Let’s make that happen.” His hip screamed as he eased out of his crouch to stand. Tenderly, he turned her and prodded her towards the door that opened to let them pass into the main room.

“Thank you, House,” Shelly said, like it was completely normal to do so.

He was never going to learn to keep up with her.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

When they made it back downstairs, Jet was nowhere in sight. Not that Myles had expected him to be, but he still had to stifle his annoyance and then the regret that quickly swamped it when he didn’t find his nephew.

He was still choking on that cocktail when Lucky hurried over to him.

“He tidied up your table until Jake took over from him, then went up,” Lucky informed him, digging right into Myles’s brain like he’d always had the knack of doing. “When he came down, he didn’t say a word to anyone. Just stormed out. I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to find out where he was going.”

“No reason you should have. He’s not your responsibility.”

“You’re family, he’s family,” Lucky said simply.