Page 8 of Healing Hope

They continued the meal quietly. Jess was impressed with the marinated chicken breasts and the grilled vegetables. It was a pretty kick ass meal, considering she’d been eating airport and road food for the past few days. The tiredness was really beginning to drag at her, though. She had a feeling it wouldn’t matter what that bed felt like.

As soon as they finished eating, Jess stood and began gathering dirty dishes. She looked at Hope. “Grab your dirty dishes and bring them into the kitchen,” she told the girl.

Hope looked startled, as if she’d never been asked to clean up after herself before. Then, a mulish expression on her pretty face, she followed along behind Jess, setting her plate on the counter beside the sink. She turned to leave and Jess told her, “Go get your dad’s plate too.”

The little girl stomped out onto the deck, the funny little dog following along behind. Jess laughed softly to herself. Though she was quiet, the girl had an attitude which she could appreciate.

Paul came in next, carrying the platter of leftover food. He showed her where his storage products were and helped familiarize her with the rest of the kitchen.

“Once we eat dinner, I usually run Hope’s bath. If you want to, why don’t you go ahead and go to bed? Tomorrow is Sunday and we can get everything planned then.”

Jess gave him a salute. “I will absolutely take you up on that,” she said with a yawn. “Night guys.”

With a last smile at the girl, Jess turned and headed down the hallway. She took the time to wash up a little, slipped on a fresh T-shirt and panties, and crashed. Hard.

4

Paul absolutely adored his little girl. Though she’d been a little reserved with Jess, he hoped that the two of them would warm up. He didn’t want Hope to have any more tension in her life that didn’t need to be there. They had to get something worked out. As much is the hospital staff loved her, Hope didn’t belong in a hospital setting because he couldn’t find adequate childcare.

Jess seemed like a nice enough girl, but she definitely wouldn’t be appropriate long term. Paul winced to himself, hating to sound like the old guy set in his ways, critical of a younger generation. Maybe he was hypersensitive because Jess seemed to be the type to grab life by the horns. He, on the other hand, was transitioning into family life. The bachelor days had officially faded into the sunset.

Paul always considered himself a family man. Even when he was a kid, he knew he wanted a family at some point. Maybe that was why he’d gotten with Tara so easily. Yes, there had been red flags, but not enough to shut down the night they’d slept together. When she was on good behavior, Tara had seemed to be an amazing woman, kind and beautiful. Looking back, though, he had to wonder if even those good impressions had just been well acted. He had no way of knowing now. All he could do was move forward and hope that Hope hadn’t had to deal with her mother’s eccentricities as well.

As soon as he’d taken custody of Hope, he’d enlisted the aid of a counselor who specialized in childhood grief. His own counselor had given him the recommendation, and so far, Ms. Waters had done an excellent job with Hope. The first month he’d taken her three times a week, now they were down to once a week. Ms. Waters still couldn’t get Hope to talk very much, but she said she had a feeling it would come in time. There was something weighing on Hope’s heart, and eventually she would let them know what it was.

Paul hoped the child could open up to someone, even if it was to the new little dog.

He moved to the coffeemaker and snapped a K cup into the Keurig, watching the Dark French Roast dribble into the cup. Why did the first cup always take so long? It hissed out the last drop and he splashed in some caramel macchiato creamer, then carried it to the row of chairs at the end of the counter. Slurping to cool the coffee, he tried not to wince at the heat.

Jess, looking bedraggled and beautiful, walked in, her narrow feet barely making a sound on the hardwood floors. This morning she was dressed in a long, dark-blue t-shirt with some band name on the front, he thought. It wasn’t anyone he recognized. Her brownish blond hair was longer than he’d expected, brushing just past her breasts. Then he blinked, awareness sharpening his vision. Did she have shorts on? He couldn’t see anything beneath the hem of the shirt. He cleared his throat. “There are several different kinds of coffee in the box in the cupboard, as well as some teas. French Roast is in the carousel.”

“Thank you,” she murmured, voice husky. She braced her arms on the counter as she stared at the streaming coffee.

“There’s creamer in the fridge.”

She gave him a nod, but didn’t go for the creamer. As soon as the coffee stopped dripping, she cradled the mug between her hands and turned to face him, leaning her hip against the counter. “Is Hope an early riser?”

Paul shook his head. “Quite the opposite, I’m afraid. Hunger will force her out of bed by about seven-thirty or eight. She has to go to the bathroom as soon as she gets up.”

“Does she wear Pull-ups at night, or anything?”

“I don’t wear baby diapers,” the little girl snapped, looking incensed. Sophie stood shivering beside her, one leg drawn up.

Jess turned to face her, not giving a reaction that she was talking. “I didn’t think you did, because you’re smarter than that.”

Looking slightly mollified, Hope moved to the refrigerator. She dug inside for a moment, then pulled out a pale blue cotton candy Go-gurt. Moving to the kitchen silverware drawer, she retrieved a pair of child’s pink-handled scissors and cut the top off. Then she turned and left the kitchen.

“It will take a while to warm up to you,” Paul said eventually. “It was two weeks before she even said anything to me, and then it was only single syllables. Everything in her world has changed and I’m doing my best to make it stabilize.”

“I can appreciate that,” she murmured. “She’s so young. So, you’ve been taking her to work with you during the week. What do you normally do on the weekends?”

Paul straightened on the stool. “We’ve gone to the San Diego zoo twice. She absolutely loves it there.”

“Do you have anything planned for today?”

“Not that I know of,” he said thoughtfully.

The woman nodded once, finishing off her cup of coffee. Turning, she set the cup in the sink and headed for the fridge. Pulling the stainless steel door open, she leaned inside to look around.

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