Shattered (Anderson Special Ops #4) - Melody Anne Page 0,31

reading him stories, telling him it would all be okay. During that time, the boy never woke, but Smoke had kept a vigilant watch over him for forty straight hours. Then as Smoke had laid his head on the bed and taken a nap, the young boy, named Jimmy, had passed away.

Smoke woke up to find the room full of medical staff pushing him out of the room as they tried to revive the boy. Smoke cried that day. The boy’s last memories on earth were of being beaten and kicked by someone who was supposed to love him, and that brought an equal amount of sadness and rage to Smoke.

The man who’d been abusing little Jimmy was his father, and yes, the man had gone to prison, but he was already out on parole. Jimmy had never had a chance to feel joy. From that day on, Smoke had made sure to do volunteer work no matter where he was living. He’d been lucky in how he’d grown up. They might not have had much money, but he’d been loved and protected. So many other kids didn’t have those same securities.

One program Smoke truly loved was the Sierra Club. The first ICO group, which stood for Inspiring Connections Outdoors, had been established in 1971 as part of the San Francisco Bay Sierra Club Chapter. Now, there were about fifty groups across the country serving thousands of participants each year.

Since Smoke had moved to Washington, he’d been volunteering at the Seattle ICO, and he loved the program, and loved the children even more. Kids completely had him wrapped around their little fingers. When Jimmy had died, he’d felt as if his heart had broken in half.

As much as Smoke loved large organizations that fed and clothed millions of children, he preferred working with smaller groups where he could get to know the people in the programs. The Seattle ICO let him do exactly that. It was an all-volunteer organization that partnered with a select group of schools and other nonprofit agencies.

What Smoke loved the most about the organization was that it served several hundred inner-city kids in Seattle each year. The program was all about getting the kids outdoors in the beautiful Northwest. They went hiking, camping, canoeing, sledding, snowshoeing, skiing, backpacking, rafting, kayaking, and so much more. Smoke gave as much of his time as he could to the organization.

“Good morning, Boo. That mattress you have is wonderful. I slept like a dream,” his mother said, interrupting his thoughts as he looked over the paper in front of him while eating his bagel and sipping on his second cup of coffee.

“I just moved into this place last week, and I made sure to get the best of the best for when you come to visit. You know I still want you to move near me,” Smoke told his mother as he rose and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek before moving over to the coffee pot and pouring her a cup.

“I might move one day, but I love where I am right now,” Laysha said as she waved her hand at her son. He’d been trying to get her to move wherever he ended up for years. She always turned him down. But maybe living in a new place in the country every few years wasn’t such a terrible thing. Smoke seemed to enjoy it.

“I think you can make great friends out here,” Smoke said as he added cream and sugar to her coffee, knowing just how she liked it.

“Thank you,” she said as she accepted the cup. “I certainly had a great time yesterday. Let’s see how the week goes,” she said, making his heart soar. That was more than he’d gotten from her in the past.

“Do you want waffles?” he asked as he pulled down his waffle maker and the mix.

“You’re going to cook for me?” she asked in shock, making Smoke laugh.

“If I don’t cook once in a while, I’ll starve. Of course, I much prefer your cooking, and when you aren’t around I get a lot of takeout, or go make Green do his chef Boyardee magic for me, but since I’m always starving in the morning, I’ve learned how to do a few breakfast items,” he told her.

“I’d love some waffles and scrambled eggs with bacon,” she said.

“Of course. We can’t have waffles without eggs and bacon,” he said with a wink as he pulled out the other items he