Page 42

Mindy

A long while later, Maddox walks back. “Are you ready to eat?”

Not really. “Sure.”

“I thought you might enjoy dinner with the snakes since it’s been so long since you’ve seen them.”

“That was so thoughtful of you. I’d love to see them again.” And pretend for a little while longer that everything is going to be normal.

Maddox leads me up to his office, where there’s a table already set up right in the middle. Someone even arranged for there to be flowers in the middle of the table. But even prettier than the table are the beauties surrounding it. “They all look the same.”

“They basically are, except Peaches laid her eggs. We’ve got them boxed up in a special case to keep them warm.”

“You’re going to be a daddy, or is it a grandpa?”

He chuckles. “This is about the only way I want to have kids.”

What? “Huh?”

Maddox walks over and takes Curly out of his cage. “I don’t ever want to have kids.”

“But you’re always surrounded by them.” And if Everett is any sign of how he takes care of them, he’s amazing at it.

“That’s the thing, Willow Street is my life. It’s unending and sometimes overwhelming. Doing what I do would always mean that my child would take second place. If an emergency happened, I can't just say, hold on a minute, I need to go to my son’s ballgame or music recital. The emergencies around here can’t wait. A woman might understand, but a child would never understand why I couldn’t be there.”

“You’d never want them to feel like it’s second best in your heart.” That’s so beautiful.

“Exactly.”

Maddox doesn’t want to hear about your life, yet I can’t stop myself from saying, “I don’t ever want to have kids.”

“A lot of women say that, then change their minds.” He strokes Curly.

“And men don’t?”

“Tòuchè.” He nods.

“I know I won’t change my mind. There’s no way I could risk making a child grow up the way I did.” Yet it’s always a risk. Kids are one bad choice from being lost in the marriage shuffle.

“Your childhood was that bad?” He walks over and pulls out a chair for me to sit down.

His already comfortable chair has an extra cushion on it. “It wasn’t bad. I’m sure there are kids who had it worse. I just always knew I came last. If that makes sense.” It probably doesn’t. “I always had food on the table and a roof over my head, but I never had parents who knew I was alive unless it suited their purpose. Mom wouldn’t think anything of dragging me to a bar or a club and leaving me alone with a ‘friend’ to watch me. She’d disappear for weeks on end when I was ten. That took latchkey kid to a whole new level.”

“But you’re not her.” He lifts the domes off our plates, revealing two perfectly cooked steaks with herb butter melting down them.

“The thing is, I am her. I will always be her.” A woman who craves love and attention like she does her next breath. Which is why I joined the spinsters' club, hoping that they would help curb the desire. “It’s just a risk I couldn’t take.”

“Couldn’t?”

“Not only won’t I have children, but I also can’t have children.” Did he just lose all respect for me? Men always seem to hold women to different standards than themselves.

“That makes sense.”

“Maddox!” Everett bursts through the door.

Uh oh. Though I do see Maddox's point about it being a nonstop job.

“I’m kind of busy.”

The kid looks between the two of us. “Don’t you have dinner with her every night? This is important.”

It would be wrong to laugh, wouldn’t it? I barely hold in a snicker.

“What’s so important?”

Everett pulls over a chair and sits down between us. “I was bored.”

Don’t laugh.

Don’t laugh.

“How is being bored an emergency?” Maddox asks with more patience than I would have had.

“Can I have a roll? I’m kind of hungry.”

I hold out the basket to him. Teenage boys are always hungry.

“The problem?”

“Oh, yeah.” He takes a bite. “These are really good. Ace should make garlic rolls more often.”

“Garlic rolls?” Maddox looks down angrily at the basket.

“Yeah. Try one.” Everett lifts the basket over to him.

Maddox just sits and glares.

Everett holds it out to me.

They sound delicious. I take one, slather some butter on it, and take a bite. “Hmmm.”

“Amazing, right?”

“Everett.” Maddox almost growls.

“Oh. Okay. So, I got really bored. And I tend to do stupid things when I’m bored.”

That’s the same for every teenage boy.

“What did you do?”

I can practically see Maddox trying to decide if he’s going to need an aspirin or a lawyer.

“I went to school,” Everett says it like that explains everything.

“Everett?”

“What? I told you what I did. Now the teacher won’t leave me alone. She’s talking about colleges fighting over me, signing me up for Mensa, and all these terrible ideas.”

The kid’s a genius. That doesn’t surprise me. “Congratulations.”

“No. It’s not good at all. I can’t go to college.”

“You don’t have to worry about paying for it. Willow Street provides a full scholarship for all its kids.”

“Good to know, but not the issue. Any school I applied to would gladly give me a full-ride scholarship and just about anything I wanted. I can’t go to school. And the teacher won’t stop. She’s talking about sending my tests to admission officers. You need to stop her before I’ve got to leave. I like it here. I don’t want to leave.”

What does he mean he’d have to leave?

“No one…and I mean no one, will ever make you leave if you don’t want to. Do you hear me?” Maddox's whole face changed as he said those words. A fiercely protective beast reared its head.

That’s sexy as all get out.

“You don’t understand.”

“Then enlighten me.”

Everett stares at me. “I can’t. It’s not safe.”

“Everett, you need to understand me when I say this. You are safe. There’s no government or entity that’s strong enough to take you away from here if you don’t want to go. We protect our own. And if that means calling in friends for help, I won’t hesitate to do that.”

Everett’s eyes get big. “You mean—”

“Every single one of my friends, if need be.”

They’re talking in code about something scary. Do I really want to know what it’s about?

“But if it’ll make you happy, I’ll ask her to stop.”

“Thank you.” Everett shoves the rest of the roll in his mouth.

“You’re welcome.” Maddox smiles at the kid, then at me with a shake of his head.

But what he doesn’t realize is that I've enjoyed every second of this conversation, minus the fear Everett must be experiencing.

I could watch Maddox taking care of kids for the rest of my life and be perfectly happy.

“Do you think you can find that mentor for me a little faster? I might do something stupid again if I get bored.”

“Your mentor is chosen. He’s just out of the country at the moment. When he gets back, I’ll make the arrangements. Do you think you can keep yourself out of trouble that long?”

The kid shrugs. “I don’t know.”

“What if I were able to get one of my brothers to teach you something?”

“Like how to shoot a gun?” Everett jumps up in his chair.

I almost spit out my roll as I try not to laugh.

“Mrs. Wright offered to teach me how to throw a knife. But she scared me a little.”

That woman scares everyone.

“She’s the best person to teach you how to do it. When she’s done, you’ll be able to do this.” A knife appears in Maddox’s hand, then disappears as fast.

Thunk!

We turn towards the sound.

That knife sunk into the center of a board across the room.

“WOW. I wanna learn how to do that. She won’t kill me, will she?”

Maddox shrugs and winks at me. “Maybe. It’s a chance you have to take. Until then, head to the gym tomorrow morning and ask for Oche. He’ll start training you.”

“Awesome.” Everett jumps up. Then sits down again. “Can Jordan train with me?”

“Jordan has been training since he got here, so probably not until you catch up with him.”

“I don’t think Levi should train when he gets back from rehab.”

Maddox sounds tired as he asks, “Why not?”

“Because his head is going to be messed up for a while, and training needs focus.”

“You’re a really good brother.” I smile at Everett.

“Levi isn’t my brother. He’s Jordan’s brother.”

Oh.

“Do you think I could have dinner with you two? I don’t want to go outside until I know the teacher has gone home.”

Maddox reaches for a garlic roll. “Sure.”

***

“Sorry about that,” Maddox says as we walk back to the apartment.

“Don’t be.” A yawn escapes. “Everett is a good kid.”

“He really is. When you were missing, he helped me look for you.”

“You looked for me?”

“Of course I did. I couldn’t let go of the feeling that something was wrong. Everyone pitched in as we searched for you.”

Oh. It was a group effort. “Thank you. I’m sorry I caused all of you so much worry.” Emila’s right. I need to make a decision. “Tomorrow I’m going to go to work.”

“What? No. You’re not ready for that.”

“Barb said I am. I can pick up a half shift and ease my way back in until I’m up to a full day.”

“But—”

“I need to go back to work. It’s time.”

He nods.

It’s time to go on with my life one way or the other.