Page 54 of Savior

“Hey, ladies,” I say and kiss her cheek, then lean down to ruffle Cole’s hair.

Sofie gives me a hug. “What are you doing here?”

“Yeah,” Livvie adds. “We don’t normally see you up this early.”

I tug on her ponytail. “Just picking up breakfast.”

Sofie eyes the containers. “That looks like food for more than one person,” she comments knowingly.

“You should have been a cop,” I tease.

Sofie smiles and as she places her order, Livvie turns to me, her face serious. “I heard about what happened. Is there anything we can do?”

“No, the only thing I need you two to do is stay safe. The cops are doing everything they can.” They both nod, and then Livvie gives me a half hug around my waist.

“Promise me you’ll be careful.”

“I promise.”

“Hey!” Sofie says as she turns and leans her back on the counter. “You should bring your friend over this afternoon. We’re going to carve pumpkins with all the kids at Ben and Livvie’s. It’ll be fun.”

“I think you’ve forgotten that I don’t have kids,” I say dryly.

She smacks my arm, then says, “Don’t be a smartass. I want to meet her.”

The both of them turn and face me with identical looks and I groan. “Look, I’ll bring it up to Sienna, but yesterday was an emotional day, and she may not be up for all of you in her face.”

“If it makes you feel any better,” Livvie says, “we’ll go easy on her. We both know what it’s like to go through horrible ordeals. We just want to help her deal, is all. And part of that is taking her out of her own head for a while.”

I hesitate and then cave. “I’ll see what I can do.”

They both grin and kiss me on opposite cheeks.

I pick up my food and drinks and shake my head as I start for the exit.

“Don’t forget to get a pumpkin for each of you!” Livvie shouts behind me.

Their snickers follow me out the door, but the joke’s on me, because I stop and pick up two pumpkins from a fruit stand on the way back to the lake.

Sienna’s on the porch waiting for me when I pull into the drive. Her curious expression morphs into amusement as I struggle to get out of the cab with two large pumpkins.

“What did you go do?” she asks.

“We’ve been invited to go carve pumpkins with Ben and Jack’s families. I thought we could both use the distraction.” I heft the pumpkins up when they start to slip. “I also got you breakfast. It’s in the front seat if you want to grab it for me.” Leaning down, I kiss her before she can argue and then climb the stairs to put the pumpkins on the table.

With a mystified laugh, Sienna bounds down to the truck to retrieve the food and I know I’ve made the right decision. I’ll keep her so busy today she doesn’t have time to worry about anything else. We both deserve a step back because I know the worst is probably yet to come.

* * *

“Are you sure you don’t mind? They’d understand if you weren’t up to hanging out.”

Sienna’s expression is carefully blank. “I’d never insult your friends like that. Just don’t leave me alone with them.”

“Despite what I may say about them sometimes, they’re still a great group of people.”

Her hands twist in her lap. “Remind me of their names again? I don’t want to get them confused. I never really got the whole list from Chloe.”

As I drive down the road toward Ben’s, I use one hand to steer and the other rests on Sienna’s thigh. I consider it progress. “Well, we’re going to Ben and Livvie’s house. They live on the other side of the lake. Ben is Chloe’s cousin, which you already know.”