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“Good.”

“Are you still mad?”

I sighed, my eyes darting to her. “Can I really be mad at you, Katy?”

She nodded, smiling sadly. “I thought that, umm… we could stick this.” She waved a sheet of stickers she held in her other hand. “They are glow-in-the-dark stars, red color. I used to have them on my ceiling as a child, so I thought it would be a nice touch. We don’t have to do it if you think it’s lame and stupid.”

I walked up to her and took it from her hand. “Where do you want it?”

She blinked before she gestured with her pointer finger. “The bed would go there, so it would be nice to put it above them.”

I nodded, dragging the ladder to the position. I could feel the weight of her gaze on me as I secured the star stickers to the ceiling. “Is this good?”

“Yes.”

“We should let the paint dry for a day or so to get rid of the smell,” I said, softly closing the door behind me as Katy matched my steps.

“Okay, can we stick more stickers on the walls?” she asked, sliding her eyes to me as she walked. “I ordered a jungle mural. Luka said he wanted to see animals and of course, I’ll be taking him. But till then, he could have animals in his room. Also, do you know what kind of toys—”

“Careful,” I growled as I slammed my hand on the edge of the wall and caught her with my other hand. In the next second, her head followed the path and landed on my palm instead of almost splitting her head open on the wall corner.

A sharp blast of pain spread through my knuckles and I bit back a curse.

“Lan, oh my God. Are you alright?” Katy’s worried eyes met mine as she took my hand in hers.

My knuckles were bright red, the skin broken as the stinging blood seeped through them.

“Oh no,” Katy whispered in a distraught voice. “We need to get it cleaned up.”

“It’s fine,” I muttered but followed as she frantically walked to the kitchen. She rummaged through the gleaming gray cabinets, her face pinched in a frown.

“Katy, I’m fine, it’s fine.”

But she didn’t listen till she pulled out a first-aid kit.

“Sit,” she ordered, gesturing to the breakfast chair and I did without complaining.

She avoided my eyes and with the utmost care, she cleaned my barely there scratch and put a Band-Aid over it.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, tracing a feather touch over it. “It’s my fault.”

“It’s okay, K. I’m not going to sue you for it,” I mustered a joke but that only made a tear gather in the edge of her lashes like a diamond.

“But it’s your piano playing hand and now it’s hurt because of me. I feel that whatever I do, I keep ruining it. I feel like a complete failure of a mess. I swear I’m trying but it’s so fucking hard.”

“It’s okay, angel. Sometimes all we got to do is try, and that is enough,” I whispered, wrapping my arms around her as I tugged her to my chest.

And she cried softly, holding on to me for dear life.

Maybe all she needed was someone to hold and tell her everything was going to be all right.

That it was going to be okay.

We all needed that sometimes.

CHAPTER 24

KATY