Dreaming of His Snowed In Kiss - Jessie Gussman Page 0,26

walked down the walk, away from the long, low building that housed her mother and other people enrolled in the experimental program funded by private donors that her mother, by virtue of the depth of her tragedy, had earned a scholarship for.

Maybe she should have told Hazel they were coming back, but she didn’t know if they actually were and she didn’t want to lie to her sister.

All Hazel knew was that she was going to visit Poppy for a bit because Mommy was sad.

“It looks like you like to color,” Poppy said, attempting again to draw her sister out. Her previous attempts had not been successful. The little girl was quiet. Exceptionally so.

She nodded but didn’t speak.

“What’s your favorite thing to do?”

The solemn little girl beside her lifted her shoulders, her hand limp in Poppy’s, her little pink suitcase rolling behind them on the sidewalk.

She let the silence stand. She had time. There would be things she could do to form a bond between Hazel and her and develop a relationship.

A little pinch of fear went through her.

Any time the idea of a relationship forming went through her brain, it scared her. Because it reminded her of the pain of loss.

The almost unbearable pain of loss.

She had settled Hazel in a booster seat in the back of her car and pulled her phone out of her purse in order to get the GPS up when she saw West’s text.

It made her smile again. In her mind, anything that made her smile after a morning like she’d had was valuable.

Maybe the man would think she was bothering him, but she didn’t care. After all, he texted her first. So she adjusted her phone and typed her own message.

You smiled just so you could prove me wrong, didn’t you?

She hit send with a grin. Then she pulled the map app up, tapped in her address, got in, and started her car. It was going to be a long drive, and it could end up being an even longer night, although Hazel was hardly acting like anything was going to be a problem.

Poppy had never seen such a quiet, solemn little girl.

She hadn’t wanted to get involved, hadn’t wanted to risk her heart again, but Hazel was her sister, and she loved her. And the risk was worth it in order to try to help her own flesh and blood who’d already had so many bad things happen to her.

It was after dark when they arrived at Poppy’s one-room efficiency apartment which she rented from the hardware store owner in front.

It wasn’t much smaller than the apartment that Hazel had been sharing with her mother at the institute. Hazel’s expression didn’t change as she stood in the doorway and looked around.

They’d picked up some fast food on the way home, and Poppy threw the garbage away, giving Hazel a chance to look around. Her lack of interest was really concerning. Poppy had never met another four-year-old who smiled or talked less.

But the doctors at the institute hadn’t seemed concerned, convinced that children are resilient and a new location would be just the thing.

Poppy wasn’t always necessarily inclined to trust doctors, since, in her experience, real-world experience beat out book learning almost every time, and many doctors had the book learning down but not the actual experience.

Still, she wasn’t going to discount them, and maybe a little faith was what she needed.

“If I draw some water, would you like to take a bath?” she asked, bracing herself for a shrug or no response.

But to her surprise, Hazel nodded. “I like to play in the bathtub.”

Poppy tried to keep her mouth from dropping to the floor. That was the longest sentence Hazel had said all day. “Well, let’s get you in there then.”

“Do you have toys?”

The first question she’d asked without being prompted.

“I’ll get some pots and pans out of the cupboard. We’ll make our own toys.”

Hazel didn’t look convinced, but ten minutes later, she was happily playing in the bathtub with some measuring cups, wooden spoons, and several mixing bowls. A wire whisk and a hand-cranked eggbeater were also keeping her occupied.

Poppy hadn’t quite seen a smile yet, but she figured it was coming.

Keeping the bathroom door open, she went out and grabbed her purse, pulling her phone out to put it on the charger.

That’s when she saw West’s new text and remembered that she’d seen he’d sent one while she was driving but hadn’t stopped to read it.

She pulled it up now.

Victory