Page 108 of The Fall
“Getting the cast is like leveling up,” I tell her. “You will be a Nerf master after your training.”
“Will it hurt?” Lily asks, her wary eyes on the nurse.
“Nah,” I say. “It’s cool, like you’re growing a super-armor shell.”
She turns to me with stars in her eyes. “Like a dinosaur?”
“Exactlylike a dinosaur.”
“You’re going down!” Lily’s shout means serious business.
I’m crouched behind the kitchen island, my casted arm propped against the open cupboard door. My free hand fumbles for the next Nerf dart. She’s three feet tall and fast, and this is life or death for me. A foam dart whips past my shoulder and bounces off the fridge.
Hayes doesn’t even glance up from the pan he’s stirring at the stove. “She won’t hesitate to finish the job.”
“I think she’s serious this time.” Lily’s reloading, her head barely clearing the back of the couch. She’s a four-year-old sniper dead-eyed with glee.
“Yup.” He shakes his head, but he’s smiling. He hasn’t stopped smiling since we left the hospital.
I’m toast.
Lily—loaded for bear and giggling—patters around the island and fires a blast of Nerf darts into me. I clutch my chest, stagger backward, and put way too much drama into my fall. “She got me!” I cry. I wave my pink-casted arm and collapse on the kitchen tile with a groan. “I’m defeated.” I crack open one eye. “But… what if I had backup?”
Her eyes widen. “No.”
I lift my head. “Maybe…”
Hayes picks up what I’ve thrown down. He spins from the stove and grabs Lily around the waist, heaving her upside down and pretending to take huge bites out of her belly. “It’s T-rex Daddy!”
“Daddy!”
I take the opportunity to crawl away, escaping across the kitchen to where Erin is sitting at the table. I collapse on thefloor beside her, back to the wall, while Hayes pretends to devour his daughter belly-button first.
When we got back to their house from the ER, Hayes had parked Erin in a chair and taken over everything. He got Lily settled, sorted out her baby painkillers, switched out a load of laundry, and started dinner. He also dug out a couple of Nerf guns from the garage, clearly his own. I took his and gave Lily the new one.
“She’s something else.” I’m only partially pretending to catch my breath.
Erin laughs. “She is a mini-me of Hayes. His mom thinks she is the most hilarious thing that’s ever happened to him.”
“I’m sure he’s getting exactly what he gave.”
She props her chin in her hand. “He talks a lot about you, you know.”
My expression freezes. “Don’t believe any of it.”
“I believe all of it because it’s all great.”
I flush. It definitely can’t all be great, but I don’t know what to say.
“You’re a Godsend, Torey.”
I’m exhausted is what I am. My head falls back against the wall and I smile up at her. “It’s the least I could do.”
I’m comfortable here, and part of me says this is how it’s supposed to be: Hayes in the kitchen, Erin resting contentedly, and Lily treating me like her personal jungle gym and Nerf target. The kitchen smells like garlic and butter and home. But why?
From the kitchen, Hayes sounds the warning: “Incoming!”
Lily dashes around the counter, reloaded and ready to finish the job. I hold up both hands. “I fully surrender.”
