Page 66 of Maid in Heaven

“She’s okay. She’s in her room.” The teen’shair shot out of the sides of a messy braid, braces gleamingbeneath paper-thin lips.“She vomited after dinner. She seems to be doing fine right now, but her numbers are high on her meter. I don’t know what’sgoing on.”

“It’s alright,Amy. I’ll get it figured out.We can take it from here.”He pulled out his wallet and peeled out some crisp twenties for her.

“Thanks,Mr. Jessup. I hope she feels better.”

“I appreciate that. Take care,Amy.Drive safe. They say it’s gonna get down to zero tonight. Stay alert for black ice on the road, okay?”

“Sure thing, Mr. Jessup.”

“Shoot me a text when you make it home, too, just so I know you didn’t end up in a ditch or something, alright?”

Amy nodded and looked at Ava. Ava could swear she saw a flicker of jealousy in the girl’seyes. Amy nodded and made her way out the front door with a wave.

The second the door clicked shut, Will ran down the hallway and tapped his knuckles on Starla’s door before opening it. The pink room was lit up by a rotating night light plastering garish ballerina silhouettes on nearly every inch of her wall.

“Hey, SweetPea. How you feelin’?”

Starla laid on her side, clutching Gremlin to her chest. The pup’s tailwhappedthe beddingat the sight of Will.

“I don’t feel so good.”Starla’s voice was small and meek.

“What happened? You were fine when I left.”

Starla shrugged pitifully.

Will sat downbeside Gremlin. The dog lovingly licked at his hand as he reached over to feel her head. “You feel a little warm. Lemmecheck your pump and see where your levels areat, okay?”

“Okay.” She grumbledand handed the monitoring device over.

Will looked down at the device, clicking buttons on the interface, and then glanced back at the doorway where Ava timidly lurked in the shadows of the hall. “Starla, this is my friend.Ava.”

Will waved Ava inside the room.

Cautiously,she entered.“Hi, Starla. I’m sorry you aren’t feeling well.”

“You look like a real-life princess.”

Ava looked down at her prom gown and chuckled. “I suppose I do. But, alas, I am not a princess.”

Gremlin wriggled free of the girl’s grasp and came to the edge of the bed to greet Ava, tongue hanging halfway down to her furry knees. Starla reached over slowly and grabbed a stuffed bunny with felt horns sewn onto its head.

Ava smiled. “Whoa, cool. You have a jackalope stuffy?”

“Yeah.” Starla grinned. “One day,I’m gonna have a real one. I’m gonna get him a big cage and feed him carrots.”

Will looked at Ava over his shoulder and rolled his eyes in a way that his daughter couldn’t see. “I told her if she could find one in the wild, she could keep it.”

Ava twisted her face to keep from laughing. “Oh. That’s a good plan.”

“I told her they’re really tough to find.” Will stared at Ava like,‘play along, please.’

“I already have a name picked out for it,”Starla volunteered.

“Your numbers are verylow, little lady. Did you not eat dinner?”

“It was gross.”

A disapproving look crawled onto Will’s face. “Itwasfish sticks and broccoli. It’s good for you.”

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