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Only one way I would ever find out. I’d have to ask him.
28
sierra
“Do you know anyone just like me?” Annabella asked, holding my hand in her smaller one and staring up at me through huge hazel eyes. She pushed her tongue between her missing front tooth.
“What do you mean?” I asked, guiding her toward the playroom with the other kids during work the next day.
“Someone who doesn’t have a mommy and daddy?”
Tears welled up in my eyes, but I held them back. “I don’t have a mommy and daddy.” I crouched down in front of her and shook away my thoughts of them. That was not what she had asked. I took her hands. “But one of my really great friends grew up without a mommy and daddy. He is just like you.”
“Really?” she asked, lips turned into a frown.
“Really,” I said.
“Does he have a lot of friends?”
“I—” I paused. “Why?”
“Toni at school says I won’t ever have a lot of friends because I don’t have a family.”
“Don’t listen to Toni,” I said, intertwining my fingers with her small ones. “You will have tons of friends, just like my friend does.”
“What’s his name?” she asked.
“Steven.”
“Do you like him?”
My lips curled into a small smile. “Of course I like him! He’s my friend.”
She wiggled her eyebrows at me. “But do you liiiiike him?”
“Miss Annabella,” I hummed.
She pinched my rounded cheeks between her fingers and giggled. “You do!”
I stood back up and took her hand. “All right, time to go play.”
Once I ushered Annabella into the playroom, I blew out a low breath and pushed away a tear from my cheek. I loved working here with these kids to show them the love that my parents had always given me, but working with children in foster care was difficult.
Kids said the saddest things sometimes.
After grabbing my things from the back room, I shrugged on my coat and walked out the doors to head back to my apartment, a short walk away. I pulled out my phone and noticed a message from Steven.
Steven: Be ready at six.
My eyes widened slightly, and I walked down the sidewalk past a couple of football players.
Me: Why?
Steven: I’m taking you to Market Square for the holiday market.
My lips curled into a soft smile as I checked myself into the building and headed for the elevator. Steven wants to take me to Market Square?! In the middle of the week? On a … date? I shook my head. Surely not.
Me: What if I already have plans tonight, Mr. Patton?
