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“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
I turned at Freya’s comment and saw her standing in the kitchen with Sofie, both dressed in aprons. Sprinkles of dough covered Sofie from head to toe, and Freya had red sauce on her hair and face.
“Hey. I hope it’s okay I came up here. Gunner said something about lunch.”
Freya looked at Sofie, and they giggled. “Lunch was supposed to be homemade pasta with sauce. But after a few unsuccessful attempts, we’ve given up. You don’t happen to know how to cook, do you?”
“Sorry, no. My food either comes in a box or gets delivered.”
Freya waved me over. “Shame. Sandwiches it is, then. You want a drink?”
“Water would be great, thank you.”
Sofie jumped off her stool and took the glass Freya got down. I watched Sofie fill the glass from a tap on the fridge, her tongue sticking out, her forehead creased in concentration. She handed me the full glass with a big smile, leaving drops all along the way.
After Freya half-heartedly cleaned the kitchen, she looked at Sofie. “Don’t touch anything, little sticky monster. I’ll get changed and grab you new clothes, too. Lucky Carter remembered to bring your bag for once.”
She left me with Sofie, whose achingly familiar eyes studied my every movement. “Did you have fun cooking?”
She nodded, her braid swishing back and forth. She was a beautiful kid, her raven hair shiny, her doll-like features making her seem younger than she was.
Freya came back and helped Sofie change into clean clothes. We made sandwiches together, and I relaxed, finding myself feeling comfortable around a woman I barely knew and a child I didn’t know how to interact with.
But by the time we’d finished our sandwiches, and they’d challenged me to another Uno game, Sofie had warmed up to me. She’d even said a few words and was now leaning into me, helping me beat Freya so I wouldn’t come last again. Sofie had already won, much to her delight.
But Sofie’s joy when she won was a beautiful thing to witness, so I continued to lose on purpose.
“No, don’t play that one.” Sofie pointed to a different card than the one I was going to put down. “This one.”
Freya put down a card. “After we finish this game, it’s time for your homework, bug.”
Sofie let out a long-suffering sigh. “But it’s boring.”
“You want me to help you?” I offered.
Her face lit up, and she leaned even farther into me. “Yes, yes, yes, please.”
I laughed at her exuberant reply. “Well, then, let’s whoop Freya’s butt so we can get your homework done.”
It was after I’d helped Sofie complete her homework and watched a movie with her that Freya came up to me. “Dalton called. He’s your ride back to the safe house whenever you’re ready to leave.”
A yawn escaped, and I slapped a hand over my mouth. “I’m so sorry. How rude. I’ve had such a great time today.”
Truth was I hadn’t slept through the night since Guyana and was running on empty.
“Don’t apologize. You went through something traumatic. If I were you, I’d still be rocking underneath a bed, crying.”
I’d been opening up to Freya while we spent the afternoon together. She was easy to talk to and had a way about her that made me want to tell her all my secrets.
“You think I can go home soon?” I longed for some normality. Even though I hadn’t known Lucius for very long, his absence left a hole in my heart that I found difficult to patch. I hoped being around familiar things and spending time with Thea would help fix it.
“They don’t tell me anything since I’m just a girl.” She shrugged and pumped her arms out like a gorilla, her voice going down an octave. “Because a real man keeps poor helpless women safe.”
I guessed she was doing an imitation of Gunner, and I laughed, nearly falling off the barstool I was perched on.
“Is that how you see me, spitfire?” Gunner’s deep voice rumbled behind her, and she jumped with a shriek, then whirled around.
“Don’t do that.”
