Page 53 of Gifts

I walk into my kitchen and stop in my tracks. There’s a tall, beautiful blond woman standing by the counter holding a wiggling baby in her arms. Knox, Saylor, and a dark-haired little boy are next to her. All the kids are sitting at the bar eating bananas smeared with peanut butter.

The woman’s face lights up when she sees me. “You must be Keelie. I’m Maya Cain, Grady’s wife.”

After all that’s happened—living through a drive-by shooting, getting grazed by a bullet, having stitches administered without anesthetic, learning Asa and his children will be staying at my house tonight, a man named Ozzie standing guard outside, and a beautiful blonde with extra kids standing in my kitchen—I have no words. I’m all out of common niceties for the day and give my head a little shake. “Yeah. I just met Grady.”

“He works with Asa.” She offers me a kind smile, no doubt knowing exactly what I’ve lived through this afternoon since she probably dropped everything to look after two kids she doesn’t know.

Hmm, this Grady must be another retired assassin. Interesting. And after this afternoon, seriously fucking scary.

“These are my kids, Cayden and Chloe,” she introduces the two extra miniature bodies in the room. “I hope you don’t mind me bringing them. We’ve just been getting to know Knox and Saylor.”

My brain, which has been spinning for the last hour and a half, has screeched to a weird sort of slow-motion marathon. With the mention of my kids, my eyes move to them, taking them in for the first time since I was the target of what felt like ten million bullets.

“Hey, guys,” I breathe, seeing my kids no worse for the wear, not missing me at all or bothered by the fact a complete stranger is here with them with no explanation from me.

“I told them about your car problems.” Maya raises a brow and tips her head, speaking the silent universal female language we’re all wired to understand—informing me of the lies she fed my kids so I would be able to carry on her untruths like any good mother would after being the victim of a drive-by shooting. She gives me another genuine smile, this time with a shrug. “All I had to say is we’re friends of Levi and Emma’s and we were in like Flynn.”

As grateful as I am, I guess I need to have another conversation with my children about strangers.

“Mommy, that’s a funny shirt,” Saylor mumbles with her mouth full as she licks peanut butter off her fingers

I look down at myself, still willing my brain to catch up. “Oh. Well, I spilled—”

“Mom, did you know bananas are a natural energy booster?” Knox interrupts me.

I frown, doing my best to keep up. “What?”

“Yeah,” he says, his mouth stuffed, yet still regurgitating facts like he always does. “It lasts longer than your disgusting-smelling coffee. It’s good for us after a long day of school.”

“Where…” I’m suddenly feeling achy and lean into the counter. “Where did you learn that?”

“She told us,” Saylor informs me, pointing to Maya. “I got to hold her baby, but she said we couldn’t play outside ‘til you got home. Can I go out with the goats now?”

“Maybe later,” I hear from behind me and see Asa stalking into the house. He’s carrying so many bags, I don’t even want to think about how long he plans to stay. Levi is following him with just as many of his own. Asa looks to my daughter and keeps talking. “We’ll order Brooklyn Brothers for dinner.”

“Yay!” Saylor exclaims and jumps down from the bar.

“Wash your hands, baby,” I mutter, trying to get my bearings.

“What’s in all the bags?” My son isn’t only smart, he’s aware of everything around him. I always say he’ll make the best husband someday because of it.

“Nothing—” I start, but of course, Asa interrupts.

“We’re staying the weekend.” He looks from Knox to me and I feel his hand press in on the small of my back. “Your mom had some car problems and I don’t want to leave her stranded.”

I close my eyes and finally release the tension I’ve been holding since Emma and I had to take cover in my van, because really, I’m exhausted. So what if I have three extra people sleeping in my house tonight? I can handle this just like I handled being shot at.

I’ve handled worse.

I stand up straight and walk over to Saylor who’s climbed up onto the counter to wash her hands. I kiss her forehead and go to Knox to do the same before turning to Maya. “Thanks for dropping everything to get my kids off the bus.”

She shifts her baby girl to her other arm as she studies me. “We should get together soon. I can have Grady get with Asa and Crew. You can meet Addy, too. We’ll have dinner.”

I can’t think of having dinner with anyone right now, so I lie and shrug, feeling it in my shoulder. “Yes. Dinner. Dinner sounds good.”

She gives me a small smile that doesn’t say she’s looking forward to dinner. She’s regarding me like I’m a weird science experiment on the verge of eruption.

Well, she doesn’t know me. I don’t explode.

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