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I turned, aware the little boy was now sitting on the bench beside me. “Hello. What’s your name?”
“Whose name?” Agitated confusion filled Lucas’s question.
I ignored him.
The little boy gave me a shy half smile, his wide-eyed stare flicking between me and Groot.
A knot twisted in my stomach. When was the last time he’d had a bath? Dirt and grime clung to him, and his hair looked like it hadn’t seen a brush—or shampoo—in a long, long time.
“Whose name?” Lucas repeated.
The little boy looked at Groot again.
I gently stroked my hand over Groot’s head. He wriggled on my lap, tail thumping my hip. “This is Groot. Would you like to pet him?”
The little boy jerked his stare up from Groot to me.
“Who are you talking to?” Lucas demanded.
“He’s friendly,” I said with a smile.
“Who’s friendly?” Lucas growled in my ear.
The boy inched closer to me, attention once again fixed on Groot.
This close, I could smell he was overdue for some soap. Why was he in such a state? Where were his parents? An adult responsible for him? Surely they had to be nearby? He could barely be seven years of age, too young to be out by himself.
I looked around. Nada. We were completely alone.
“He won’t bite,” I said.
“I might,” Lucas snarled through the phone connection. “If you don’t tell me what’s going on.”
My new friend gave me another shy smile and then a bigger one to Groot.
“Would you like to pet him?”
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“Ronnie,” frustration and concern laced Lucas’s voice, “please tell me who you are talking to?”
“Shhh,” I said gently into my phone, my gaze locked on the little boy. My gut was telling me…something. I wasn’t sure what yet, but something…
“Just tell me you’re okay and I will,” Lucas answered.
“I’m awesome, Lucas.”
The boy inched closer still, dirt-smudged hand hesitantly stretching out toward Groot.
Groot, for his part, was wriggling on my lap and wagging his tail, doggy senses telling him he was on the verge of being petted. Being petted was one of his favorite things.
“It’s okay,” I murmured, keeping my voice calm. “He loves pats and cuddles.”
With another quick glance at me, the boy slid completely against my side, his hip pressed to my thigh, and stroked his fingertips over Groot’s back.
Two things happened.
Groot burst into enthusiastic puppy joy and licked his hand, and the sun came out on the little boy’s face and he burst into giggles.
