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Really fuckin’ cold.
Tears threatened, but she wouldn’t give in to them.
No. Nope.
She could make it to the bus stop and wait for the bus. Then, she could sit for a while on the bus. Then walk on sore feet to her crummy apartment, where the best thing in the world waited for her.
Her nephew, Brooks.
He wasn’t her blood nephew, but that didn’t matter. He was Joe’s. And Joe had always been hers as much as she’d been his.
So Brooks was hers too.
Sometimes looking at Brooks hurt, because he was the exact image of Joe. But it hurt in a good kind of way, because having Brooks meant she also always had a piece of Joe.
And if she got under enough blankets on her crummy bed, well, she might just be able to warm up.
Shivering, she moved slowly through the parking lot to the street.
“You’re not very obedient, are you?” a deep voice asked.
She gasped, then turned, letting out a pained cry as her back protested. Her legs gave way and she knew she was about to eat gravel.
Muscular arms surrounded her, lifting her against a firm chest.
This time, the tears leaked out of her eyes and down her cheeks.
“Damn it.”
“What is it? Is it your back?”
“My eyes.”
“Your eyes?” he asked. “What happened to your eyes? Jesus, I was only gone twenty minutes.”
“They’re leaking.”
“Leaking?” He stilled and stared down at her. The parking lot was well lit; however, she still couldn’t figure out what he was thinking. “Do you mean that you’re crying?”
“Yes. If that’s what you want to call it.”
“Pretty sure that’s what it’s called, sweetheart.”
She sniffled. “I don’t like it. I want it to stop.”
“It’s all right to cry.”
“Do you cry?” she asked incredulously.
“No. I can’t remember the last time I cried.”
“Well, then, when you cry, come back to me and tell me it’s all right. Because it’s really not. If it gets bad, then I’ll start to sob. And if I start sobbing, then I’ll get all snotty. And my cheeks will go blotchy. My make-up will run. It’s a whole thing, and none of it is . . . is pretty!” she wailed.
“Do you get louder as well?” he asked as he entered Pinkies.
“Yes!” she cried. “Oh God, people are going to see me.”
“Yes, they’re probably wondering how a fox got in here.”
