Spring Secrets - Allie Boniface Page 0,32

opened the lid of the first container and found some kind of rice that smelled like heaven on earth. Still warm, too. He yanked open a drawer, grabbed a fork and swallowed three mouthfuls almost without chewing. His eyes closed in bliss. I could die right now and be completely happy. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten anything so good. With great effort, he set the rice aside and looked through the other containers. Chicken cutlets, beef with vegetables, garlic bread dripping with butter, and two enormous brownies wrapped tightly in plastic wrap.

Dash sat down at the kitchen table and stared. No one had ever done anything like this for him. Well, his mother, of course, but she hadn’t had the strength or the appetite to cook at the end. And she’d never brought him food at work, neatly packaged with a note on top. Tears welled in his eyes, and he rubbed his face to keep them from falling. His heart felt over-full.

With fingers still stiff from the cold, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket.

Thanks for the food. U shouldn’t have.

Sienna’s response came less than a minute later. It’s the least I could do.

It’s amazing.

Did u eat it all already?

He grinned and took the lid off the beef and vegetables. Not yet.

Good. Enjoy.

He popped the top off a beer and settled himself at the table. He waited to see if she’d text again. The bubbles on his screen popped up and then disappeared, popped up and disappeared. He finished the beef and vegetables and reached for a piece of chicken.

You survive the storm? he finally texted.

She sent a thumbs-up in return. My mom helped with the food, she added. Thanks for taking care of them.

Her parents had paid him more than he’d asked and tipped him on top of that, so Dash figured he should be the one saying thank you. He sent his own thumbs-up in response, followed by a line of snowflakes and a shovel.

Don’t think I’ll be in tomorrow for my 4:30 session.

He stopped eating. We’ll be open.

Yeah but I missed 2 days of school. I’ll have a ton of work to make up.

He tried not to care. He’d have more than enough work of his own to do, bills and cleaning and clients who hadn’t made it in at all this week. But disappointment surged through him all the same. Sure, OK.

But u should stop by Fri afternoon & say hi. We’d love to see u.

Dash took a huge bite of brownie. For read-along time? Everything inside him wanted to say no. Then he looked at the food. Looked at Sienna’s note. Thought about her standing in his hallway, smiling at him over a beer and filling the house with more light and life than it had seen in months.

Wouldn’t miss it, he finally typed. It wasn’t a lie. He’d be counting the hours.

Chapter Sixteen

Sienna looked at the clock a half-dozen times on Friday afternoon. She’d wanted to surprise Dash at the gym yesterday, but then the principal called an emergency staff meeting, and she’d been stuck at work until almost five. Now she wondered if he’d take her up on her offer to visit. Maybe he’d forgotten. Or maybe he had no interest. He’d seemed pleased enough when he texted her Wednesday night, though. She chewed at a fingernail and tried to put him from her mind. He probably had a thousand things to do. She could only imagine the hit a small business owner took when a storm shut down the entire town.

“Miss Cruz?” Caleb broke into her thoughts. “It’s two minutes past read-along time.”

“Ah, yes, it is,” she said with yet another glance at the clock. Thank you, Caleb.” She looked around the room. If Dash was coming, he’d have to join them mid-story. “Dawn, would you like to choose today’s book?”

Dawn stared at her from a bean bag chair that she’d pulled into the far corner of the room. She blinked a few times, then stood and walked to the bookcase. Her clothes, beautiful and impeccable as always, belied the terrified child trapped inside the body.

Just talk to me, Sienna wanted to say. I can’t read your mind. But the girl remained silent no matter what strategies Sienna tried.

Dawn stood for a long minute in front of the bookcase and then chose Where Are My Shoes? and Bears in Winter. She turned and held them out.

“Those are perfect,” Sienna said.