A Better Man(38)

"Yeah? But did she do the actual assignment?" He forced a smile that hid the fear that while the rest of the class wrote a story about bugs, his sister wrote a story about grizzly bears eating tourists who hiked in the woods.

"She did." With a grin, Lucy reached into her bag and removed a folder. She pulled out a stack of papers and handed one to him. 

The pink paper had flowers, and the feminine handwriting had been written with a purple pen. He recognized the paper immediately as being from the journal he'd bought his sister. His chest tightened and his heart gave a hard, out-­of-­tempo thump.

"She used the journal."

"She did." She squeezed his forearm. "And she used the pen."

He didn't know why the hell something so simple felt so damn good. It just did. "But I probably shouldn't read this. Right?"

"You're her guardian." Her head tilted slightly and her long ponytail slid across her back. "Of course you should read it."

"But I'm not her only guardian. My brothers and I all share equal custody."

"Doesn't matter how many there are. And because you obviously care a great deal about Nicole's welfare, I think you have every right to read it." A smile softened her face. "Of course, you might not want to let her know you've done so. Give her the privilege of at least believing she has some privacy. I say that only knowing how it feels to be a teen who's trying to stretch her wings."

He remembered Lucy as a teen. But he didn't remember her as the type to try and spread her wings. In fact, she'd seemed like the type who'd put herself in a box and tried to live quietly within those tight, confining walls.

"I can keep a secret," he said.

"Then don't feel guilty. Believe me, if you had an ulterior motive for wanting to butt into her life, I'd stop you in your tracks. But I know your heart is in the right place."

She might think she knew his heart; it was just a good thing she didn't know his mind, because it was wandering all over the damn place. "I wish Nicki trusted me as much as you do."

"Who said anything about trusting you?" She smiled to take the burn off the remark. "If you don't mind, I'm going to run upstairs for a minute and give you a little privacy while you read."

"Works for me." What didn't work half as well was trying to focus on the task at hand and not wonder where Lucy slept. Or where she bathed. Did she sleep beneath soft cotton or silky sheets? Was she a long hot bubble bath or a quick shower kind of woman?

Mind swirling in all the wrong directions, he watched her disappear up the stairs. Ziggy came over and lay down at his feet with a long groan. Jordan hoped that didn't mean he'd passed gas. When the air remained clear, Jordan gave the top of the retriever's head a couple of long strokes before he read the words his baby sister had written.

Chester Rabbit had seen better days. His long ears, which had once proudly stood erect, now flopped like old wet rags on either side of his head. During the move from the house where his Misty Marie had been born, to the new home where she would finish growing up, Chester had been left behind. In the chaos of the move, Chester had fallen from an overfilled cardboard box while the movers cleared out Misty Marie's pink and yellow butterfly room.

Out in the cold, hard rain, Chester lay on the big front porch until the sun began to set behind a wall of dark, ominous clouds. The storm continued while Chester lay there waiting for his Misty Marie to come back and take him to their new home.

She would come soon. He just knew it. She would dry him off and then they would snuggle.

Night turned to day but the storm raged on. By mid-­afternoon when the mail lady came by he wanted to jump up and shout, "Help me! I've been forgotten!" Because the alternative that his Misty Marie didn't love him anymore was too difficult to imagine.



       
         
       
        

As the mail lady climbed the steps to place a note behind the screen door, she looked down and discovered Chester lying there, sad, wet, and bedraggled.

"Oh!" she exclaimed as she reached down, picked him up, and brushed some of the water from his face. "There you are, Chester."

Hooray! She knew his name!

Chester's happy rabbit heart nearly pounded from his once fluffy chest.

"Misty Marie has been crying all night because she thought you were gone forever," said the mail lady. "I'm so glad her mommy called me and asked me to come looking for you."

Chester wanted to cry with relief, but he was already a soggy bunny.

"Let's get you home and all dried off so when Misty Marie comes to pick you up, you'll look good as new."