Page 5

“Okay, how about I grab that for you? Just so you don’t fall,” I tell her as I pull her down gently and set her on her feet.
“Areyoutall enough to reach?” she says looking up at me referring to my short height, and I resist the urge to glare at her. I grab the box—okay, while straining on my tip toes—before handing it to her and looking at all the boxes that lay at her feet.
“Did you do this?” I point to the mess.
“Mmmm nuh-uh.” She shakes her head while holding the box against her chest.
“You sure?”
“Mmmm maybe,” she relents with a guilty smile before pushing her hair out of her face. She has bangs that seem like she’s due for a trim but her long chocolate hair is pulled into a ponytail on top of her head. She’s dressed in all pink with a little purse on her shoulder and while she is adorable as hell, I just know she has to be a handful.
“Do you want me to help you clean it up?”
She nods and we start putting the boxes back on the shelf. Just as we put away the last box, a voice comes over the loudspeaker.“Isla Kincaid, please report to the front of the store, thank you.”
I look down at the cute little girl who is currently avoiding my eyes. “Is that you?”
She purses her lips. “Nope,” she says popping the p.
“I don’t think I believe that,” I tell her. “How about we just go check, just in case?”
She huffs. “Okay.”
“Are you here with your mommy?”
“No, she died.” She looks up at me, and though I can’t see her eyes through the pink lenses, I can see the sadness all over her.
My heart squeezes in my chest thinking about this young girl going through something I’m still going through a decade later and I kneel down so we’re at eye level. “I’m really sorry to hear that. My mommy died too.”
She pushes her sunglasses to the top of her head and then I do see her eyes. Light brown and wide and lined with long lashes I’m instantly jealous of. “Really?”
I nod. “When I was older than you.”
She frowns and I watch the tears form as her bottom lip wobbles a little. “It sucks.” Not wanting to watch her cry, I rub her back gently. Then she wraps her arms around my neck, and though I am great with kids and they all seem to gravitate toward me, I wonder why no one has taught this particular one aboutstranger danger. She pulls away after a second and wipes her eyes before lowering her sunglasses again, like a defense mechanism I imagine she’ll use for the rest of her life.
“It does suck but are you allowed to say that word?” She purses her lips again and shakes her head. I smile at her before I stand up and we move down the aisle. “I’m Elianna, but people call me Ellie. What’s your name?”
“Isla,” she says and I gasp in faux surprise.
“You are! So, you fibbed?” I raise an eyebrow at her and I’m surprised she looks guilty. “Are you here with your dad?”
“No, my—”
“Jesus, Isles,” I hear from the front of the aisle as a man makes his way toward us. He’s dressed down in a long-sleeved t-shirt with the wordsBulldogs Footballon the front, a pair of shorts, and a backward hat. He has sunglasses tucked into his collar and I’ll admit he’s easy on the eyes. He’s obviously a coach or something, and while guys in sports don’t typically do much for meor my vagina, he definitely has that look that tells me he cleans upverynicely. “I turned my head for five seconds.”
“I needed cookies!” she says as she holds up the box over her head like it’s a trophy.
“Tell me next time! If I go home without you, your dad is going to fucking kill me.”
So, not her dad.And assumedly the person who taught her the word “sucks.”
His eyes turn to me and widen before a smile pulls at his lips despite the look I’m giving him for using the wordfuckin front of an impressionable child. “Hi, I’m sorry.”
“You know you can’t turn your back on a child for a second.” I nod at her. My words are only meant to be a little bit scolding but I hope he senses the teasing lilt in my voice.
“She knows better.” He looks at Isla before turning back to me. “I’m River, her uncle.” He holds his hand out for me.
“I’m Elianna.” I shake his hand before looking down at Isla. “Well, River and Isla, it was nice to meet you both.”