Page 20 of When to Call a Blitz

But it’s also clear that he has a lot going on in that brain of his, and it’s just simply better for me to forget the crush completely and go on with my life.

Yeah, that’s the best option for me, which is unfortunate.

I’m sitting at the counter daydreaming about that evening on the beach when I realize that Juniper has been outside for quite some time, and the way she disappeared was suspicious.

Immediately getting up, I throw open the door, heading out back. “Juniper!” I yell, trying to figure out where she is.

I walk around the closest side of the house, not seeing anything. Scanning the expansive backyard, my heart starts to race thinking about everything that could have happened.

She could have run away.

She could have gotten kidnapped.

She could have been adopted by a pack of wolves.

She could have been eaten by said wolves.

Jogging to the other end of the house, I’m just about to turn the corner when I hear a small gasp, and when Juniper comes into view, I scream.

I can’t help myself.

Because sitting there, on the ground, with the plate of apples on the ground, is Juniper, a trash panda in her lap.

A fuzzy, cute, big trash panda.

A god damn raccoon, sitting in herlap.

The second I scream, the thing runs. But not just that one, no. Because I start to realize that Juniper is surrounded by trash pandas. While the one in her lap was the biggest, the ones around her are smaller. Babies.

Holy fuck.

Juniper looks at me in horror, her mouth hanging open. “You scared them!” she yells, tears welling in her eyes.

“Juniper those are wild animals! And it’s still light out! How do you know they don’t have rabies?”

The kid starts to cry, and my heart cracks open. “Because this is their home!” she yells at me. “It’s their home and they know me. I come out here all the time!”

“Does your dad know?”

Juni wipes her small arm across her eyes. “No!”

I sigh deeply, looking behind me to make sure that Emmett hasn’t gotten home and come out in the time that we’ve been out here, and it only takes me a couple of strides to reach her, enveloping her in a long hug.

The girl is inconsolable.

Running my hand down her head, I do my best to soothe her. “They’re still there Juni. I’m sorry. We’ll put food out for them, okay? We can come out here every day if you’d like and leave food on a little plate for them.” A small butterfly lands on her head before taking off again. A small, gentle kiss.

She looks up at me, wrapping her arms around my neck. “They’re my friends. I’ve known them since the babies were little. I have to at least say hi.”

I nod. There’s no way in hell I’ll let her touch them again, but she can say hi.

Wiping her tears away with my thumbs, I look her in the eye. “We’ll say hi to them every night. And if I’m here early enough, we can even say good morning to them, does that sound good? Great compromise?” I ask.

She looks at me suspiciously before giving me a slow nod.

“Good. Now let’s get inside and see about making you an early dinner, how about that?”

I must have said something right, because her arms immediately leave my neck as she makes a run for the house, turning back as she reaches the porch to wait for me.

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