Page 26 of Single All the Way

“She’ll be here for a visit in three weeks, remember?”

Skyler’s eyes lit up, and Xavier cheered.

“Nana loves you both so much,” I said now. “She would be so scared if she knew you went outside by yourself. You know that?”

She nodded slowly, her face still hidden. “I don’t want to live with the llamas.”

My gaze popped up to Ben’s again. With Evelyn still glued to his side, he stepped toward us and rubbed Skyler’s back. “Their house is out in the barn, sweetie. They can’t get in here. Even if they could, they don’t want to hurt people.”

“Their teeth are scary,” Skyler said.

“That’s fair,” Ben said. “Llama teeth are sort of ugly, aren’t they?”

Sky nodded into my shoulder.

“It wouldn’t be a good idea to put our fingers in their mouth, but those teeth aren’t nearly as sharp as Nugget’s or Milo’s or Sprocket’s. Are you scared of the dogs’ teeth?”

She nodded again.

“But you’re not scared of the dogs, are you?” he asked.

Nugget wandered into the kitchen as if she’d heard her name. Xavier turned his attention to the dog, hugging her as if she too had been concerned about our girl.

Skyler lifted her head to watch Nugget, interest sparking in her eyes. “No, Nugget loves me.”

“The llamas will love you too as soon as they get to know you,” Ben said.

“I don’t want to,” Sky told him.

“That’s okay too,” he said. “Whatever it takes to make you feel safe here. We’d never let anything happen to you.”

I slammed my brain down on the thought that something so easilycould’vehappened to her this afternoon, pulling her in closer still.

“I’m hungry, Mommy,” Skyler said.

My laughter was semihysterical, the laughter of release. My little girl had flipped from life emergency to status quo in the blink of an eye.

Grandma Berty came in with the other kids in tow. “How about some hot cocoa for everyone?”

Skyler perked up instantly. “Can we have lots and lots of marshmallows?”

“We might be able to have a few extra marshmallows,” Berty said, winking at me.

Skyler wiggled to get down, then jumped up and down as if it was just another day and she hadn’t scared me to within an inch of my life less than an hour ago. Thank God for the resilience of kids. It would take me a little longer to recover.

Berty involved all four kids in cocoa making, with Skyler in charge of the marshmallows.

Ben and I stood out of the way, watching the controlled chaos.

“Hot cocoa makes everything better,” he said, and the kids all heartily agreed.

Though I was relieved the kids seemed to be bouncing back from the situation, I had to force my smile.

Hot cocoa couldn’t begin to make me feel better. Not even if I added a double shot of liquor to it.

ChapterEight

Emerson

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