Page 13 of Keep Me Safe

When Jared called and told me Kira needed somewhere to stay, I dropped everything. There was no way I’d let her go back to her mom. I don’t know the full story of what happened between them, but I know it was bad. She’s staying with us, and that’s final.

But seeing her like that? It killed me.

Kira is one of the strongest people I know. She handles so much on her own, and I understand how exhausting that can be. So, when she blamed herself for losing the apartment, I couldn’t stand it. There has to be a law against jacking up someone’s rent with that little notice.

This morning, when we showed up to help her move, I expected to find the same shaken girl from last week. But she wasn’t. She had already piled all her boxes by the door, greeted us with a smile—determined, almost stubborn. But underneath that, I still saw it. That flicker of doubt.

Upstairs, her door is open. As I pass, I glance inside. She’s sitting on the floor next to the dresser, unpacking a box of clothes, carefully folding each item before tucking it away.

“How’re you feeling?” I ask.

“Noah, you have to stop sneaking up on me!” she yelps.

I laugh and look down at her, still waiting for a response to my question. After a moment, she seems to realize and answer.

“I’m okay, I think. It’s obviously not easy, but you guys really helped. I appreciate you letting me stay here.”

“Of course, you’re always welcome. You know that,” I tell her. I tried to get her to stay with us when she was first looking for an apartment, but she wanted to be able to find one on her own, and I understood that.

“Well, thank you anyway. I don’t know what I would have done if you had said no.”

I can’t believe that thought even crossed her mind. She looks up at me, her russet eyes speckled with gold from the sun coming from the window. There’s pain there, but something else too. Something more intense. Glancing down at her mouth, I try not to imagine how she would taste. Clearing my throat, I push away the thought.

“How do you feel about steak for dinner?” I ask.

“I would love that.”

“Medium rare?”

“You know me so well,” she says. “Do you have lemons? I could make lemonade!” she adds, smiling up at me.

“We do,” I say with a soft laugh.

Leaving her to finish organizing, I head for the kitchen. My jaw tightens. Ineedto get my head on straight.

I drag a hand through my hair, exhaling slowly as I grab the steaks from the fridge. Focus. Dinner. That’s all.

“Steak? Hell yeah!” Jared exclaims as he walks through the kitchen to the living room.

I add all the seasonings and marinade to the steaks before returning them to the fridge. The lemons on the counter draw my attention, so I grab a cutting board, a knife, and the juicer and set them right next to the fruit. It takes me a few minutes to find our pitcher, but when I do, I put it next to the cutting board right as Kira comes jogging down the stairs.

“Thank you!” she coos with a big smile, noticing the supplies.

“No problem. I thought it’d be easier than you asking me where everything is,” I answer.

She rolls her eyes at me, moving to grab a lemon and place it on the wooden board. I leave her in the kitchen and take the meat out to the patio.

Dropping the steaks on the grill, I glance at the horizon, where the sun is setting. Pinks and oranges paint the sky, and the smell of spring still lingers in the air. When I look back to the house, Kira emerges from the slider with a pitcher full of… is that pink lemonade?

“Oh my god, they look so good! When are they going to be done? I’m so hungry!” Kira whines.

“Soon, princess,” I reassure her. “What happened to the lemonade?” I gesture over to the pitcher on the table.

“You had some strawberries in the fridge, so I added them to it and madestrawberrylemonade,” she says with a grin.

Of course, that’s something she would do.

I remove the steaks from the grill, place them on a platter, and do the same with the potatoes. Then, I set them both on the patio table. Kira puts out three plates and silverware, and we dig in.

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