"I’ve listened to you spout a lot of crap, Leo. But please tell me that you don’t believe that."
"No. I don’t. But Christ, it pisses me off." I blow out a breath and look down at Sarah. "So what do we do?" I ask, managing to get myself back under control.
"We go shopping and buy her a few outfits to travel in. She’ll love it. Then, when we get home, we start from scratch." She tosses me an encouraging smile.
I have no idea how the hell I would have handled any of this without her.
"I love you. So fucking much." I kiss her deeply, trying to return to her even an ounce of the way she makes me feel. But the most amazing thing happens—Sarah’s lips somehow give me more.
"Come on. Let’s go take a nap too. I’m exhausted." She opens the bathroom door and the sound of Liv crying meets our ears at the exact same moment.
We rush around the corner to find her sitting up on the bed with her knees pulled to her chest. Tears are rolling down her face.
"Liv?" Sarah says gently, walking over to the bed and sitting beside her.
Liv quickly scrambles onto her lap. I have no idea what to do, so I stand at the foot of the bed and watch Sarah comfort her.
"You okay?" She smooths down the back of her hair as Liv begins to calm in her arms.
"I thought maybe you left," Liv finally squeaks out.
It rips the remaining shards of my heart in half.
"No, we’re not going anywhere, baby," Sarah reassures her as I let out a Spanish curse in frustration that this child would even have to worry about that.
Liv’s eyes immediately snap to mine.
"Sorry," I respond for my outburst and offer her a smile.
"That’s a bad word," she informs me while wiping the tears from her eyes and moving off Sarah’s lap.
"Hablas espa?ol?" (You speak Spanish?) I ask in shock, although I’m not sure why. It should have been more surprising that she speaks English. Amy’s parents were from Mexico and she spoke almost exclusively Spanish at home.
"Sí," she answers, giving me a small smile I can’t help but return.
"Bien. Ahora ella no entendera cuando nosotros le hacemos una broma." (Good. Now she won’t be able to understand us when we play tricks on her.) I tilt my head to Sarah and Liv begins to giggle.
"No le hagas bromas feas, pues ella es muy buena." (Not mean tricks. She’s nice.)
"Sí, ella lo es." (Yeah, she is.) I respond with a wink.
"Oh no. I think I’m in trouble now," Sarah exaggerates, making Liv laugh even louder. "Looks like I’m going to have to learn Spanish pretty soon."
"I can teach you," Liv volunteers.
"Really? That would be great. But let’s stick to English until I get the hang of it." She reaches out and brushes the hair off Liv’s neck in the most familiar way. "Hey, so I was thinking maybe we could go shopping. Have a little fun before our plane ride home tomorrow. Maybe I can pick out an outfit for you, and you can pick out one for me. What do you think?"
"Is Leo coming?" she asks.
"Of course. Oh, let’s pick out an outfit for him too!" Sarah responds excitedly.
I let out a playful groan, causing them both to laugh. I swear it’s the sweetest harmony I’ve ever heard in my entire existence.
"I CAN’T afford to keep her," I mumble to Sarah as we walk back into the hotel.
What started out as a quick trip to grab the essentials quickly turned into a full-fledged shopping spree. I had to stop and buy more luggage just to be able to get it all home. My credit card is not just smoking. It’s on fire from the amount of times it was swiped today.
"Well, you could have said no," Sarah responds with laughter in her eyes.
"Jesus. And I thought I had my hands full telling you no. Together, as a team, there will be no way to stop you. I’m going to need a second job."
We walk into the bedroom and find Liv trying to open the box on her new iPad.
"Hey, how are you doing?" Sarah asks quietly as we watch her.
"I think I’m okay. I know it will be different when we get home, but I really think it’s going to be good. For all of us." I finish by kissing her on the forehead.
"Leo," Liv calls. "Can you help me?"
"Absolutely." I smile and head her direction.
NOT EVEN forty-eight hours after we landed in Texas, we leave as a family of three. Liv has definitely warmed up to me, and several times, I’ve caught her watching Leo out of the corner of her eye too. She’s a little more hesitant with him though. As far as Leo and I can figure, she hasn’t had a strong male presence in her life. We aren’t exactly sure what kind of a life she has had at all, but at first glance, she doesn’t seem to be overly affected by her mother’s drug use.