Page 36 of The Naughty List

Not true but I’m not being literal at the moment.

“Thank you for inviting me here tonight,” she breathes softly when the prolonged eye contact in silence becomes too much for either of us to bear. “I had a really good time.”

“Thank you for being here.” I realize then that, despite how difficult it was to let her see this part of my life, I’m thankful that she’s here, that she’s a natural at everything I throw at her. That she’s become a fixture in my life.

I don’t know how I got so lucky.

Oh yeah.

I lied.

10

HOLLIS

NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING

“Do you do this every year?” I ask Jonah.

It’s cold and we need to go our separate ways, but I’m struggling to leave him after he’s shared so much with me.

Tonight we bonded, and I’m not ready to sever this connection between us just yet. It’s dangerous and addicting at the same time.

Like a junkie needing a fix, I want one more taste. Just a little more to hold me over until next time.

“I do. If I’m out of town Eli does it, but I try to schedule around it so I can always make it.”

“Some of them know it’s you,” I confess. “I heard a few older boys talking.”

“Your suitors,” Jonah teases. “I know. I give a few of them sparring lessons on Saturday mornings. They recognized me years ago. I bribed them with cash not to tell the younger ones.”

So that’s where he is on Saturdays when I’m walking the dogs. I always thought he was still shacked up with his Friday night.

“Bribery makes you this happy?”

I’m grinning uncontrollably. “It’s sweet how you look out for them.”

I tell myselfthat’swhy I’m smiling.

Jonah’s entire demeanor changes. His shoulders drop as he rubs his neck with one hand.

“I wish I could do more. If I’d kept fighting professionally I’d be able to send a lot more money and resources their way. They have constant needs. Beds, food, clothing, medical check-ups, supplies, specialists.”

“I met Lylah Kate,” I say softly. She was three-years-old and deaf. I signed what little I could of the bedtime story and one of the other girls helped. But I haven’t studied ASL since I was a girl scout more than ten years ago.

Jonah nods. “LK is precious. But she only gets an hour a day with one of the workers who is learning to sign online. She needs a full-time companion to teach her ASL. ”

“Bet that’s expensive.”

Jonah nods. “You have no idea.”

An idea strikes me and it’s out of my mouth before I can think it through. “I could do it. I could take a few classes at the community college and start working with her a few hours a day.”

Classes are expensive. Getting my own place would just have to wait a little longer.

Jonah regards me with eyes full of an emotion I can’t identify. “In between working for me and running your family’s bar?” He shakes his head. “I’ll figure it out, Hollis. But thank you.”

I have another idea, and even though it’s freezing out here, I warm with excitement.