Reckless (Mason Family #3) - Adriana Locke Page 0,56
okay?
Boone: Yes. Just old. Oliver has called me twice in the past thirty seconds so I probably need to make sure that he's just being a dick and nothing is actually wrong. I should be home around five thirty.
Me: I will see you then.
Boone: Can't wait.
I sit on the toilet and turn the water off. Rosie swims around the bathtub like a little duck. The paint from her body dissolves in the water, making it look like a swirling watercolor itself.
The joy in her face warms my heart.
Suddenly, she sits up and looks at me.
“Jaxi? Can I see my mommy?” she asks.
My warm heart breaks. “She went to see Piper, remember?”
Her face falls. “That's right.”
“I'm sure she misses you. She loved you very, very much.”
“I love Mommy, too.” She stills, her hands pausing in the water and the ripples that were moving across the surface stop. “Jaxi?”
“What baby?”
“I'm happy that she was my mommy, even if I can't see her anymore. She read the best bedtime stories.” The light comes back on in her face. “Just a little better than you, though. Not too much.”
She goes back to splashing around again, and I sit back amazed.
If only I were that resilient, I'd be a little less scared for myself.
In some senses, I’m surprised that I seem to know what to do with Rosie. God knows that my mother never sat with me while I finger painted or read to me. She didn’t play with me or sing to me.
But Nettie did. Nettie had been my safety net.
It’s as though she prepared me for Rosie somehow.
Or am I just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Even though I don’t want it to, I’ve lived enough to know that it’s going to happen.
It always does.
Seventeen
Boone
“Found you!”
Rosie shrieks as I yank back the curtain. Her hands cup her face as she giggles, somehow surprised that I found her.
“Again!” She bounces on the balls of her feet, causing her pale pink nightgown to swish around her knees. The fabric near her neck is damp from her hair after her bath. “Let’s do it again, Boone. I hide again.”
“You always get to hide.”
“I know. I like to hide.”
I pout. “I like to hide too.”
She moves toward me and wiggles her finger for me to crouch down. So, I do.
Her hands cup my cheeks as she looks me in the eye.
“You can’t always hide. You have to share,” she whispers.
My natural reaction is to point out that I am sharing. It’s her who’s not taking turns. But then I’m reminded that she’s four, and I’m just not going to get my turn.
Dammit. I had a good place figured out too.
“How about we pop some popcorn and watch a movie instead?” I ask her. Because, while I like playing with her, her hiding spots suck.
“Yes! The Little Mermaid!”
“Uh, sorry, sweetheart,” Jaxi’s voice calls out from behind us. “How about we get to bed instead?”
I turn around to see Jaxi standing in a short pair of shorts and a tee. She holds her head to the side and squishes the ends of her wet hair with a towel.
The sight of her like that—so natural and comfortable—makes my stomach tighten in the best fucking way.
“What?” she asks me.
“I was just thinking that going to bed doesn’t sound like a terrible idea.”
She cracks a grin. “I was talking to Rosie.”
“No bed!” Rosie says.
“But why not me?” I tease.
She drops her towel to her side. “You, behave.”
“You’re no fun,” I say as I stand. “Come on, kiddo. Time for bed.”
I reach for Rosie’s hand, but she jerks it away.
“No. You said we could watch a movie,” she says, stomping her foot.
I raise my brows. “I didn’t realize it was bedtime.”
She crosses her arms tightly across her chest and gives me what I think is the meanest look a four-year-old can give.
“Let’s go,” Jaxi says, motioning for her to come.
“No.”
I bend back down, figuring it might help if I’m on her level. I’ve seen Bellamy do this with the little girl she babysits.
“We have to go to sleep so we have enough energy to play tomorrow,” I say.
“I don’t want to.”
“I get that. I don’t always want to go to bed either.” Especially on the couch.
I have to do something about that.
“We can read two stories if you come now,” Jaxi tells her.
Rosie scrunches her face up even more and turns her glare to her aunt. “Aunt Jaxi is mean.”