Page 49 of When to Call a Blitz

Juniper considers this. “About a week.”

Heidi’s jaw sets.

“Maybe more,” Juni corrects.

There’s a couple beats of silence, and then Heidi smiles.

The look of it… the pure joy on her face, does something to my stomach.

“You know, I love animals too,” she tells Juniper as she readjusts herself, leaning against the back of the couch.

“Yeah?”

Heidi nods. “Yep. I had quite a few growing up. Always wanted them around the house. They always made life better, you know?”

Juniper fixes her scowl on me. “No, I don’t know.”

Heidi winces.

The truth is, I can’t stand the thought of losing something else. The second Juniper gets a cough I feel like my nervous system feels like it’s fighting for its life. The last thing I need is a small creature that I know will destroy me when it passes.

Juniper deserves a pet. She does. I just don’t know if I’m ready to give her one.

Heidi takes Juniper’s small hand in hers. “I think that you have all the time in the world to get a pet. And when you do, it’ll be the best thing. But right now your dad is so busy, and he works so hard for you. You just have to be patient with him, okay?”

Juniper nods slowly, looking down at her lap. “I’m sorry,” she says finally, and when she looks up at me, her eyes are full of tears.

I’m getting up to give her a hug and tell her everything is fine when she throws herself at Heidi, wrapping her in a tight hug, her arms around her neck.

Heidi freezes for a second, her shocked eyes finding me in her peripheral. But it only takes a second for her to snap out of it, wrapping her arms around Juniper and pulling her closer, and my heart twists.

We send Juniper to her room to clean up after that, and Heidi helps me clean up the kitchen.

“Have you thought about getting her a pet?” she asks, taking the plate I just washed from me and drying it.

I shake my head. “I don’t think I can do pets, Heidi.”

“Why not?” I pause, which is enough for her to understand. “Ah.”

“I think I can get one one day. I’m just not ready yet.”

“I get it,” Heidi says on a sigh. “I just wish I could help more.”

For whatever reason, that stirs something in me, and I’m instantly irritated.

Licking my lips, I look around the kitchen. It’s pretty much clean, and my fight or flight is kicking on. “I’m going to hang out in the garage for a bit,” I tell her before heading down the hall without a word.

26

HEIDI

I’m not sure why I hang around.

Most days, I would be long gone by now. Emmett doesn’t have to go anywhere early tomorrow since Tuesdays are the league’s off days and he doesn’t have any early morning meetings.

Juniper is at the table doing her homework, the house is clean—even though that’s not really a job that’s expected of me—we don’t stinkthat muchanymore, and I should have been on my way home an hour ago.

And yet I’ve been sitting on the couch, scrolling on my phone for the last sixty minutes waiting for Emmett to come back in.

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