Page 77 of The Arrangement

I tilted my head to the side and tried to see through the clear plastic window where the person could see out, but Ben grabbed my attention.

“Today, we have another special book we’re hoping Rome could read,” Ben stated.

Naturally, a loud cheer went up, because who didn’t love another book that apparently included a guy dressed like a dinosaur? Was that Carol in there? There was no way it was Janice. Maybe Megan.

“Everyone, sit down facing me. I’m going to hold the book, and Rome is going to read it aloud for us,” Ben instructed.

I shot him a look over the heads of the kids, but the man grinned at me while all the kids got settled.

As soon as we were ready, Ben pulled out from under his arm an oversized book that appeared to be made from posterboard and sewn together with thick red yarn. There was a Tyrannosaurus Rex on the front holding a magnifying glass. I read the title in a loud voice,

“Daniel the Dinosaur Finds a Friend.”

Okay, kind of cute.

Ben opened to the first page, and I continued to read.

“Daniel the Dinosaur was sad.”

The inflated dinosaur lowered his giant head and reached up his arms as if he were attempting to cover his eyes as he cried.

“This dinosaur had no friends.”

Ben flipped the page.

“One day, Daniel had an idea.”

The dinosaur jumped and put up his hand as though he were about to shout “Eureka!” and made all the children giggle.

“He would go outside and look for friends!

Daniel looked under rocks. And he looked behind trees.

Daniel looked in the sky. He even asked the buzzing bees.”

For each item, the faux dinosaur mimicked the action, even to the point of flapping his hands like they were tiny bee wings. The kids were eating each action up, giggling and laughing. Who in the world was this? They were perfect.

“Daniel could not find any friends. Should he go home?”

“No!” the kids shouted in unison without any prompting.

“No! Daniel wanted a friend. So Daniel the Dinosaur walked down the street to the park.”

The dinosaur mimed a march along the street that had Ben giggling. The motion moved the costume just right, and this time, I spotted red hair. Bright red hair pressed against that see-through plastic.

Liam.

That was Liam in the costume. My heart stopped, and I couldn’t rip my gaze away from the dinosaur. He was here. He’d come to see me. In a fucking T-Rex costume. I wanted to leap over these kids and grab him up.

Not until Ben cleared his throat did I pull myself together and resume reading.

“At the park, kids were sliding down slides and swinging on swings. They ran and jumped and played.

Daniel the Dinosaur thought, ‘Would they want to play with a dinosaur?’”

“Yesssss!” the children roared.

“Daniel walked up to a group of kids and asked, ‘Can I be your friend?’