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Reggie looked over at me, her face bright with enjoyment. “Can I sleep in Holly’s room on her pull-out bed?” she asked.
“It’ll be like a slumber party,” Holly said with obvious satisfaction. “I haven’t been able to have a slumber party since before that thing happened to Daddy. But that’s over, right? You can tell the police to arrest that guy and put him in jail now, right?”
“That’s the general idea,” Ethan said. “But it’s more complicated than that.”
Holly sighed. “It always is,” she complained. “Well, whatever. I want that guy in jail. But Reggie and I can start making up for lost time already. We’ll have a slumber party every night.”
“Until you start up school again,” Ethan warned.
“Oh, school, schmool,” Holly said airily. She glanced over at Reggie. “School’s pretty boring. For you, too?”
“God, yeah,” Reggie said, with feeling. “Do you sneak books in?”
“Yes, or else I’d totally die. Let’s go get into our pajamas now.”
Reggie looked over at me. “Can I?”
I felt a little bereft, letting go of her already. I could have used a few more days of sleeping with Reggie clutched jealously in my arms like a teddy bear. But this, her bright, happy eyes, the color in her cheeks, was a beautiful thing to behold.
“Of course,” I said heartily. “Let’s go get you ready.”
A chorus of good-nights followed us out the dining room door. I was careful as always not to look at Shane. Reggie chattered in our room about everything that was cool and awesome about Holly as we got her into her pajamas.
“You know, she’s different from other kids,” Reggie said thoughtfully.
“Different how?”
Reggie paused, thinking it over. “It’s hard to explain,” she said. “She’s had bad things happen. She knows how bad things can get. Most kids have no clue. Remember when Mom died, and all the kids at school were afraid to talk to me? They were embarrassed. Scared by it. Holly’s not embarrassed or scared.”
My heart clutched. “Yeah, I understand.”
“She had her dad taken, and then Nicole kidnapped her and Kat. She’s been locked in a room, too. Not for as long as me or Shane. But still. She knows.”
“Babe, I’m so sorry that you have to know,” I said. “It’s not right.”
“Well, it’s too late to fuss about it now,” Reggie said sagely. “Once you know, you can’t ever un-know it. No matter what your age.”
“I get it,” I said.
“I know you do,” Reggie said. “I love being with you, after missing you for so long. But this is the thing. We don’t know how many more chances I’ll have to do stuff like this. Like, a slumber party with a friend. I should grab it while I can, right?”
“You’ll have as many as you want,” I said fiercely. “You’ll have a whole long lifetime of it. We’re beating this thing, Reggie.”
Reggie’s smile was sad. “You’re super tough and badass, but you can’t make me better by being badass. You’re super sweet for wanting to, though.”
Maybe not. But I could hold a knife to that bastard’s throat and demand the cure. Hardly sweet, but whatever. I swallowed that back. “We’ll see,” I said. “You just go on and have your slumber party. The first of many slumber parties yet to come.”
She got into fuzzy flannel jammies, with a pattern of pteranodons flying over a blue sky, and I walked her down the hall to Holly’s room.
I saw Freya as I was going in the door, and realized, too late to retreat, that Shane was sitting on Holly’s bed. Holly was on his lap.
I kept my eyes on the girls. Holly greeted Reggie with a burst of excited chatter, which I only pretended to follow. I couldn’t hear it anyway, not though the roaring and pounding in my head, the nervous thudding of my heart.Breathe, Cass. Breathe.
Of course he was here. It was right, it was obvious, it was inevitable that he be here. In what universe would a loving father separated from his kid for over a year not give her a goodnight kiss the first night they were together? How did I not think this through? There was Cass Clarke for you. Selectively stupid AF, that was me.
I kept a big smile stamped on my face as I watched Holly and Reggie talking and giggling. I spouted some silly, predictable, teasing bullshit about being good, not staying up all night giggling like ninnies. It made them eye each other and snort with laughter. So far, so good. Then I kissed them goodnight, waved at everyone and backed on out of there. Smiling, smiling, smiling. Everything was just great, folks. See yah!
I heard Freya calling as I hustled toward the refuge of my bedroom. Oh,crap.
