when she saw him for their next not-date.
Except she wouldn’t, because they were done not-dating.
Mama Mac and Daniels had gone shopping—new wooden spoons, no doubt, and several reams of paper for Daniels—and she’d gotten drowsy. (Busy week.) She was almost asleep when Sally crept in beside her.
That had been over an hour ago. At least her nightmare thrashing hadn’t disturbed the kiddo. Lila stumbled out of bed—naps always left her feeling like she was moving through wet polyester—and went to the door. She felt the doorknob, listened, and then
“Jeez, a guy can’t even take a shower, ducha, douche, without the place going up in smoke. That’s literal, by the way!”
opened the door. Devoss was standing just outside the bathroom, stripped to the waist and looking scrawny and vulnerable. His shoulder blades stood out like…well, blades. Behind him, the shower was running, and to her left, smoke billowed and rose from downstairs.
“Get your shirt back on and get in here,” she barked, and to the kid’s credit, he wasted no time. “Sally, time to get up.” She closed her bedroom door, went to the closet, pulled out the EZ-OUT ladder. “Devoss, open the window. Punch out the screen if you have to.” She went to her top dresser drawer and pulled out two pairs of thick socks. “Put these on, both of you. No time for boots.”
She picked Sally up, swung her around until the girl was sitting on Lila’s lap, and tugged on her socks. “What is it?” the child whispered, scrunching into Lila to get small.
Devoss hadn’t punched out the screen, he’d bent it, then pushed it out the window. “What else? Bad guys set this house on fire, too.”
Lila bit her lip; she’d never felt such pride and sorrow at the same time. Devoss’s words were fearless, but his assessment was heart-breaking. Matter-of-fact becomes jaded so quickly. Can’t anyone just be a kid anymore?
“We don’t know that. It might just be a grease fire or something.” Technically true. But she wasn’t a big believer in coincidences. Not a single one of her smoke alarms had gone off. “Up. Window.”
Devoss hooked the EZ-OUT to the windowsill, then watched as the thing unfolded itself down the outside of the house. “Hey! You weren’t exaggerating the other day. This ladder is quick to install.”
“We’ll make sure to send them an appreciative email later.”
“Ugh. Nobody sends emails anymore. Well, maybe grandmas.”
“Listen. Both of you.” She put her hands on Sally’s shoulders. “You’re going to climb down this ladder carefully. Just like the jungle gym at school.”
“I think ‘jungle gym’ is offensive to people who live in actual jungles,” Devoss said, because he was smart and brave and also a pain in the ass.
“Devoss will be right behind you. I’ll come last.”
“No!”
“Sally, you’ll be fi—”
“What if the bad guys come up after we’re out and you’re in here all by yourself? You need us!” Sally pointed to Lila’s fingers with their short, blunt nails. “Your claws are pitiful!”
“You are wonderful now get your ass out that window. Move.” And then, as Sally’s tip-tilted eyes filled with tears, Lila added, “I will be fine. You’ve seen me work.”
“C’mon, Sally.” Devoss picked her up, and Lila helped him ease the child out the window until her arms were on the sill and she was standing on the ladder, small face pinched with anxiety. “Think how pissed Caro’s gonna be that she missed this. I’m right behind you.”
“O—okay.”
“Watch her,” she told Devoss, then went to her closet.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“When she’s just a couple of steps from the bottom, you go.”
“Wouldn’t dream of arguing with you.”
“Wise.”
“Even though you have firsthand knowledge that I don’t need a ladder to get to the ground.”
Lila broke a major-ass gun rule, then joined Devoss at the window. “Here. Turn around.” She stuffed Osa down the back of his jeans
“Ack!”
and then he was climbing out the window. “I’m going, jeez!” he said before she could open her mouth. She poked her head out and saw Sally standing on the ground, cupping her elbows and looking up at them, her face a pale, frightened oval.
“Fuck,” Lila said, went back to the door, listened
(good—if weird—that I still don’t hear anything)
checked it for heat again
(cool it’s cool that’s excellent there’s time)
and then went to her closet, grabbed one of the few boxes left to unpack, and went back to the window. Devoss was standing next to Sally, both of them squinting up at her.
“Heads up!” She pitched the box of sweaters, took one last glance around