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It’s not that I don’t like her being here; she just never is until I come home.
“I missed you and wanted to see you as soon as you got home.” Her cheeks pink in embarrassment.
Her admission has my heart pounding. She’s never admitted to any feelings like that. I know it’s because her emotions are high right now in light of discovering she has an uncle, but it still feels really fucking good. It also fucking sucks because she’s leaving tomorrow.
I lean against the bar and give her a smile. “I missed you too,” I admit.
Surprise enters her face. “You did?”
I nod, and my smile turns into a smirk. “I did.”
“Oh.”
I straighten from the bar. “Let’s make something to eat and sit outside for a while.”
Nodding gratefully, she gets up from the stool and follows me into the kitchen. Standing side by side, we make meatball subs then carry them outside. We both smile as we watch Betsy run around the yard chasing bugs. The wind blows, and every few minutes, I get a whiff of Doe’s sweet peach smell. It sends a charge through my system every time. My eyes keep drifting to her, and each time they do, I’m amazed at her beauty. I can’t imagine what made this woman harm herself so much that it left a multitude of scars on her.
I’ve decided to wait on telling her about what Mr. Stewart said. I don’t want anything to dampen our last night together. I want her to remember it as being a good night, not one filled with worry and anxiety and fear. However, I do need to prepare her for tomorrow.
“I’m taking you to your uncle tomorrow,” I tell her and want to curse when the smile fades from her face. She doesn’t smile nearly enough.
She looks at me with fearful eyes, and the look splinters my heart.
“O-okay,” she stutters.
“Doe.” I reach for her hand. “It’s all going to be okay. You’ve got your phone. You can call me any time you want to talk. Just because you won’t be here anymore doesn’t mean we can’t still be friends.”
Her nod is small, and the look stays in her eyes, but resolve moves in beside it. My girl is strong.
We sit for a bit longer. Doe reads some of her book to me then asks me to read to her. It’s bittersweet, us sitting on the porch reading to each other. This action has become our ritual. While we both enjoy the experience, we both know this will be the last time we do it. If it were up to me, we’d never leave this porch. Real life would never interfere, and we’d be stuck in our own safe bubble forever.
Once we’ve both read several chapters apiece, we talk. She asks me about work, if I enjoy it.
“Yes and no.” Her brows scrunch in confusion. “Some days I do; the days I can give a person good news about whatever happened to them or their family member. On the days those cases come in, those are the days that are hard.”
“I can’t imagine how it must feel at times, knowing you can’t do anything, or what you can do isn’t what they wish.”
I stare off into the distance. “Those are the days I wish I would have chosen a different profession.” I stop for a moment. “But then I think about Aislin.” I bring my gaze back to her. “When she was first taken, no one believed me; they all thought she ran away.”
“I’m so sorry, Niko,” she says mournfully.
“I knew in here”— I tap my chest—“that she wouldn’t have left me and was determined to prove them wrong. I just prayed I’d find her before it was too late.”
My chest feels tight, and my eyes itch. I force away the tears wanting to form. It still hurts just as badly as it did the day we found her body.
“Do me a favor, please?” she asks quietly.
“What?”
“Don’t ever stop what you do.” She blinks away her own tears. “You’ve helped me so much. You care, and that means so much.”
We’re quiet after that. When the sun starts to set and the bugs become too much to tolerate, we go inside. I ask Doe if she wants to watch a movie, and she chooses a romantic comedy. I pop us some popcorn, grab two bottles of water, and bring them back to the living room.
Doe, sitting on the center cushion, looks up at me with a question in her eyes.
“What is it?”
I set the popcorn and water down on the end table and sit beside her. She bites her lip as her eyes avoid mine. I lean forward so she’s forced to look at me.
