Page 64 of The Last One You Loved
“Eggplant and Brussel sprouts. One time, Daddy tried to make Brussel sprouts like hash browns, and it made me throw up.”
I laughed.
“Wait here!” Mila said, putting her hand up to me in a stop motion as if I was going to run out the door, and then she took off down the hall.
Rianne rose. “Her homework is done. Uncover the lasagna when the timer goes off, and cook it for another fifteen minutes before letting it rest for another fifteen. I have a book club meeting to get to. You’ll be okay until Maddox gets back, right?” she asked, waving a hand in the direction Mila had gone.
I swallowed hard. I wasn’t sure if I’d be okay. I didn’t know what to say to my sister. I didn’t know how Maddox would feel about us being alone. But I didn’t say any of that. “I’m a licensed physician. I can handle any medical emergency, so I think I’ll be okay,” I said with a small smile.
Rianne laughed. “I don’t think your medical degree can prepare you for Storm Mila, but you’ll still be fine.”
She patted my arm, hollered goodbye to Mila, who hollered it back, and then left.
I wondered again how Maddox would feel about this turn of events. My stomach twisted, but I wanted this, didn’t I? Time to get to know her… A chance to fight for people in my life who had once cared about me so maybe I’d have more than one person in my corner.
“So, how was school?” I asked when Mila came back into the living room, pulling a little red wagon.
“Amazing!! Did you know turkeys were almost our national bird?” she asked.
My lips twitched. “I might have heard it at some time or other, but I forgot until you said it.” I tilted my head toward the wagon. “What do you have in there?”
“My favorite things. If we’re going to be best friends like you used to be with Daddy, you have some catching up to do. And?”
A ringing interrupted her, “Hey, Soul Sister” breaking out just like Maddox’s ringtone. I looked around, but Mila didn’t even question it. She ran to her backpack and grabbed a cell phone out of it.
“You have a phone?” I asked, shocked at a five-year-old carrying a phone around.
She nodded. “I have exactly seven numbers that I can call: Daddy, Nana, Papa, Rianne, Uncle Ryder, Auntie Gemma, and Auntie Sadie.” She ticked them off on her fingers as she said them. “I cannotget on the internet or buy anything.” She said the last part as if it was the worst thing in the world. “I can’t even play games like Missy can on hers. Daddy says it’s only for mergencies.”
“Emergencies,” I clarified.
“That’s what I said, mergencies.” She answered the phone. “Dadddddy! Guess what? I’m showing McKenna all my favorite things, and Rianne madelasagna,which is almost as good as bacon, apple pie, craps, and cinnamon rolls but not quite.”
She was quiet for a moment. “Okay, Daddy.” Then, she stuck the phone in my direction. “Daddy wants to talk to you.”
I took the phone, swallowed, and said, “Hey.”
“I’m sorry that Rianne left already.” He let out a huge sigh. “I thought I’d be home by now, but we pulled over the second truck full of stolen merchandise in almost as many days, so I’ll be a few hours yet. I can call Mama or Dad to come and get her, and they’ll keep her overnight.”
That knife twisting in my sore heart made new marks. “You don’t want me to stay with her?”
“No, it’s not that…” He was quiet. “I just didn’t want you to not have a choice.”
A lump formed in my throat I had to clear before I could speak. “I’m absolutely, one-hundred-percent happy to be here with her.”
And I meant it, from the bottom of my soul.
“One hundred percent, huh?” he said with a slight tease to his voice, and it eased my heart, remembering how Maddox had always loved his percentages. “Okay. She’ll try to get you to let her stay up, but there’s one more day of school left, so she needs to be in bed by eight.”
“In bed by eight, got it.”
“Two cookies at most.”
“Two cookies. Check.”
“Don’t let her force you to wear tights, put on lipstick, or watchScooby-Dooif you don’t want to.”
I let out a laugh at the thought of Maddox in tights with pink lipstick on. “I take it you’re talking from experience?”
