“Hey,” a light voice said. “Hey,hey.Wake up.”
“Mmph,” I said. “Flora?”
“Yeah,” the voice said. “Can we wake her up, now? Dad?”
My eyes snapped open.
“Maddie,” I said.
“Yeah,duh.” She rolled her eyes at me.
I groped on my nightstand for my watch, but she’d already beaten me to it and held it up in front of my face. “It’s seven fifteen,” she said as I blinked groggily at it. It was too close to my face and too unsteady for me to read, so I gave up, rolling onto my back and rubbing a hand over my face. “Can I go tell her it’s time for breakfast?”
“Yeah, sure,” I said. “Wait, hang on. Can you go downstairs and get out stuff for waffles first? I’ll put some clothes on quick and then take over in the kitchen while you get Flora up.”
“Oh, waffles!” Maddie said. “Sure! Can we have strawberries on top?”
I nodded, and she dashed off. I dragged myself out of bed and over to the phone I’d tossed on a chair. I swiped away some texts from the guys–Bankworth night had gotten rained out, leaving Charlie and Barrett solo and bored–and tapped out a text to Flora.
Maddie incoming.
Thanks for the heads up, I got back.I’ll make sure I’m decent.
I got up and looked out the window. The rain had slowed to a drizzle and I smiled: Tally would come by to pick up Maddie this morning, now that the roads were passable. The clatter of dishes and waffle iron and mixing bowl provided a comforting, homey backdrop as I pulled on a pair of time-softened khakis and a rumpled Oxford shirt that I hoped to be taking back off in not so very many hours. I wanted to get Flora back into bed with me, or maybe the shower.
Or both.
Maddie had gotten out the waffle iron, a bowl, a whisk, flour, eggs, milk, strawberries, and even the baking soda by the time I got downstairs, so waffles were well underway when she reappeared in the kitchen, a sleep-rumpled Flora trailing behind her. Our eyes met over tousled brown hair, and I smiled. Flora looked down at the small stack of waffles on the plate beside the iron.
“Waffles, huh?” she asked. “Don’tevertake this for granted, Maddie. This is the royal treatment.”
“As is only proper for the princess,” I said to Maddie. “And the queen,” I added. Flora’s eyes found mine, and one corner of her lips curved up softly.
Flora stayed for breakfast, and when Maddie asked her to stay a little longer, until her mom came to get her, she agreed to that, too, without any of the hesitation I’d braced myself for. Tally came in a pair of duck boots I hadn’t seen her wear since our college days, and gave Maddie a hug as she apologized to her again for not picking her up last night.
“It’s okay, I had fun. Flora slept over.”
“She did?” Tally asked. I kept my face carefully neutral, but she didn’t even glance my way, only looked up at Flora with a grateful smile. “Well, I’m glad you had a good time. It wasn’t safe for her to go home either, I guess.”
“Flora lives inBrooklyn,” Maddie said with wide eyes. “It waswaytoo far.”
Tally’s smile grew, and Flora let out a short huff of laughter.
See?I thought, stomach clenching as I looked between the women.This could work. We could make this work.
I waited in the doorway as Maddie and Tally left in their car, watching it drive away before I returned to the kitchen. Flora was leaning against the counter, staring into the coffee cup in her hands with a morose expression on her face.
“All out?” I asked, and she blinked and looked up at me.
“Oh, no, I have some. Thank you.”
“Of course. Hey,” I said. “I know you probably have to get home, but–”
She shook her head quickly. “No, I don’t.”
I laughed. “Well, in that case…” I backed her up against the counter, plucking the mug from her fingers and putting it on the counter off to the side, then picked her up, my arms around her thighs, and deposited her on the counter too. “In that case…”
Her hands moved to my hair automatically and I thought, not for the first time, that I should grow it out some, let her get a better grasp on it.
