Page 28 of Stay Baby Stay

My heart hurts for her. I set my fork down and reach across the table to touch her wrist. “We’re gonna find her.”

“I know.” She doesn’t sound convinced. “I just want her to be safe. She’s been through so much.”

“Sounds like you both have.” I remember how she got quiet when I asked why they’d left their foster home. It’s an infuriating truth that anywhere you find vulnerable kids, you’re apt to find predators looking to take advantage. “Does Kenzie do this sort of thing often?”

“You mean sex work?” she asks. I nod. “Only when the pay is worth it, or she has no other choice. For a while we were doing okay, but when you’re living on the edge of a knife, one small slip-up can bleed you dry.”

“When you’ve got nothing, you learn to work with what you got.”

“Exactly.” She eyes me curiously. “You say that like you know from experience.”

“I grew up pretty poor in West Texas. Mom was a drunk. My older sister, Vicki, looked after me until she...couldn’t.”

I fill my mouth with potatoes. I don’t talk about my sister as a rule, but something about Holly makes me want to open doors that’ve been boarded up since I was younger than she is now. Still, I doubt telling her about my dead sister is gonna make her feel any better about her missing friend. She seems to recognize this and doesn’t push.

“Doreen loves to remind us she’s not running a charity,” she says. “My job keeps our rent low, and anything we make on top of that automatically goes toward food and stuff like soap and shampoo, phone bills. That reminds me, can I get a ride to the motel tomorrow? I have an early shift.”

“About that.” I swallow the grub in my mouth. “I told your boss you’re no longer working there.”

“You what?” Her eyes widen. “Cal, I need that job.”

“Do you actually enjoy working for Doreen?”

“Of course not, but that’s not the point. Kenzie and I can’t afford to live anywhere else.”

I take her hand in mine. “Look, Holly, as far as I’m concerned, this is your new home. You can stay here as long as you want. Forever if you’d like.”

“That’s...” She blinks. “You can’t be serious.”

“I’m dead serious. I paid your rent through next week so you can focus on the situation with McKenzie without worrying about your stuff.”

“What about Kenzie? Where’s she supposed to live?”

“She can live here, too.”

Holly stares at her hand in mine like she’s trying to convince herself that my offer is real, that I’m real.

“What do I have to do?” she asks.

The question is a sucker punch to the gut. She thinks I want something from her. And sure, I want plenty of things from her. But I’m not looking to trade comfort for sex. She could tell me to stay six feet away from her at all times, and I’d do it, no questions asked. My need to protect her isn’t contingent on her giving me access to her body. Knowing she’s happy and safe is its own reward.

“Nothing,” I say. “You don’t have to do a damn thing.”

“But how will I pay you rent?”

“You won’t.”

She shakes her head. “I don’t understand.”

The confusion in her gaze breaks my fucking heart. I bet she can’t remember the last time someone other than McKenzie did something nice for her without expecting something in return—if there ever was a last time.

“Holly, if you want to live somewhere else when all of this is over, I’ll help make it happen. But for now, why don’t we look at this as a test run?”

She bites her thumbnail as she weighs my offer.

“Okay,” she says finally. “I’ll stay until we find McKenzie. After that, we’ll talk.”

“Fair enough.”

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