Page 4 of Where We Found Our Home
The little girl smiles at me and considers her next words carefully. “You’re welcome. My dad’s girlfriend is really pretty too, but my mom doesn’t like her because she said my dad cheated with her.”
A laugh bursts out of me before I can stop it. Kids are always spilling their parents’ tea. “Ohh okay, well, I’m sorry.” That’s all I can manage without laughing again.
Just then a woman who must be her mother runs over to us. She looks heated and embarrassed, so I’m guessing she heard her daughter’s comment. “Candice! What did I tell you about running your mouth to strangers?”
“Sorry, Mommy.”
“Girl, just stand here out of people’s way and wait for me. I just need to pick up our food real quick.” The girl moves over to the bench by the curb and goes back to her tablet while her mom goes back inside the carryout spot.
A minute later, a black Mazda going way too fast comes up the hill racing toward us. The car swerves a few times unnecessarily, and my back stiffens. The thought of an impaired driver gives me chills, and I’m frozen in the past until I realize the car has completely veered to the side and is probably going to jump the curb. Right into Candice.
“Candice!” I scream, but she’s so caught up in her tablet she ignores me. I look over to her mom, but she’s deep in conversation with the cashier.
Shit.
My feet take off before my mind catches up. I have to get her out of the way. She’s just a little girl. She has her whole life ahead of her. I’ve escaped death a few times already, and maybe I’ll be lucky again.
The car’s getting closer, and people are finally starting to register what’s happening, but nobody has noticed Candice right in the car’s path. I reach Candice as the car’s headlights momentarily blind me.
This is gonna hurt.
Then everything goes black.
Lincoln
Shift change was just two hours ago. Usually I would sleep for a good eight hours before rejoining society, but my niece, Nevaeh, called and asked me to visit her at my sister’s coffee shop today, and I can’t ever say no to her.
Sasha is talking to a customer behind the counter, and Nevaeh is coloring in a booth, of course. The tiny monster races over to me when she notices me, and I scoop her up in a big bear hug.
I love both of my nieces and my nephew. They own my heart, but Nevaeh has me completely wrapped around her finger. It’s pathetic, really.
“Linky! You’re here.”
I give her all the side-eye because we both know she’s not surprised I come when she calls.
“I sure did. You better have a good reason for interrupting my slumber, or I’ll have to eat a little girl for my snack.” I make a growling noise at her. Nevaeh always calls me a brown bear because I hibernate after work.
She giggles as I tickle her. “Stop it!!” I continue tickling her until she’s laughing so hard she starts coughing.
“Are you two done acting up in my shop?” Sasha’s face is stern, but her voice is full of amusement.
“Nah, not yet.” I reach for Nevaeh again, but she dodges my grasp and takes off giggling. I’ll give her a head start.
“Hey, little bro,” Sasha says as she hugs me.
“Hey, sis. How’s business today?”
“Good. Did Mom call you?”
“No, should she have?” I hate being blindsided by my family, so if Mom is calling me to drill me about something, I need Sasha to tell me now.
“I think Reggie wanted her and Dad to babysit the kids this weekend so she and Michael could have a date night, but Mom and Dad are going to Dad’s friend’s retirement party this weekend, and Carter and I have a date night of our own, so Mom told her she’d ask you.”
I chuckle. That’s it? “Why wouldn’t Reggie just call me herself?”
“You know if Mom offers to take a task off Reggie’s hands, she just accepts.” My oldest sister, Reggie, is a badass family lawyer and if she isn’t dealing with a case, she’s busy with her two kids and her husband. She used to refuse help all the time because, in her words, she’s goddamn Superwoman, but Mom always insists, worrying about Reggie burning out. So Reggie just started accepting almost anything because it’s easier. Reggie may be a lawyer, but no one wins a fight against our mom.
“I’m back on shift on Saturday morning.”
