I read through two entire stories before the little girl drifted off to sleep and I kissed her forehead. I turned on her nightlight that cast stars onto the ceiling, then I turned everything else off and closed her door. It had been a long day of business calls, and figuring out what the hell was wrong with my truck.
Needless to say, I was ready to fucking crash.
But then, a knock came at the door. It was faint, like the person on the other side knew someone was sleeping. The only person I figured it could be was Tanya, but she had a key so why would she knock?
I opened the door and despite myself, my heart hammered in my chest as I saw Amanda standing on my porch, holding a big pot in her hands.
“Hello,” she said, smiling. “I brought soup.”
She set the pot in my hands as my brow furrowed deeply.
“To return the favor of you cooking chili?” she said.
“Amana!”
I spun around and saw Lanie sprinting down the hallway. She launched herself into the air and right at Amanda, who was poised to catch her in her arms. Why the hell was Lanie up? I just left her damn room, and she was snoring, for crying out loud.
“Hello there, pretty girl,” Amanda said. “I thought you were sleeping.”
“Nope. I was pretening,” Lanie said.
“Pretending, huh?” Amanda asked as she winked at me. “Well, looks like you got your uncle good.”
“I did,” Lanie said, smiling. “What’s that?”
Lanie pointed to the pot in my hands as it began to burn my palms.
“Soup,” Amanda said. “To repay your uncle for dinner.”
“You stay? I have some?” Lanie
asked.
“One question at a time,” I said as I set the pot on the stove.
“Amana you stay?” Lanie asked again.
Her eyes were pleading with Amanda to stay as her hesitant stare turned toward me.
“I don’t know. Can I?” Amanda asked.
“I was going to make a grilled cheese for dinner, but this is better. Lanie, you can have some, but afterward, you need to go to bed. You didn’t have your nap today, so you have to go to bed early.”
“But I’m not tired,” Lanie said.
“Says the girl who was snoring a moment ago. Come in, Amanda.”
She stepped over the threshold of my house with Lanie in her arms. I started spooning the warm soup into bowls for everyone while Amanda settled with Lanie at the table. I heard them giggling and whispering to each other, and the smile on Lanie’s face was larger than I’d ever seen it. Her eyes were sparkling as she played with Amanda’s hair, and she was giggling when Amanda tickled her.
Yes. Lanie was getting way too attached to this woman.
“Oh! I brought you something,” Amanda said.
“What?” Lanie asked. “What is it?”
“It’s something I drew the other day. I figured you might like it.”
I set the bowls of soup on the table as I watched Amanda pull a folded piece of paper from her back pocket. She handed it to Lanie, unfolding it carefully so my niece could see. I grabbed all of us drinks as Lanie gasped at the picture, then suddenly the small girl was at my feet.