Talk about a mindfuck.
Finished with the kitchen, I walked through the swinging door and living room. Wood creaked beneath my steps as I edged upstairs. Laughter rang out from the bathroom, the sound drawing me forward.
I nudged the door open wider and leaned my shoulder against the jamb.
Kallie splashed around in her bath, covered to her chest in bubbles. Shea sat on the edge of the tub. She’d torn off the sweater she’d been wearing, and now was in nothing but her jeans and a skin-tight tank, the front of it soaked with water.
Damn.
She glanced up at where I was sucking the flawless sight down, eyes locking on me.
Warm.
Honest.
Pure.
“What’s going on in here?” I asked like they were causing all sorts of trouble, making Kallie laugh and giggle. I edged forward just in time to catch Kallie cupping a big mound of bubbles in her hands. She blew them into Shea’s face.
Shea yelped then laughed, wiping it off, a few streaks still clinging to her face. “I think I’m under attack by the suds monster.”
“The suds monster, eh?” I asked, eyeing Kallie who started shaking her head, guilty playfulness written all over her.
“Nuh-uh.” A grin spilled from her. “I not a monster.” She stuck some of the suds to her chin. “I’m Santa Claus.”
Shea looked over at me. The expression on her face touched me from across the space.
Joy.
Joy.
Joy.
Shea’s cell rang from her bedroom. “Mind if I grab that?”
“Nope. Go ahead. I’ve got her.”
She grazed my hand as she passed, a simple touch that felt anything but.
Significant.
That’s what Shea and I had, even in the effortless moments like these.
Trust and certainty.
I took Shea’s spot at the edge of the tub. “Hey there, Little Bug. Did you get cleaned up?”
Kallie nodded. She held her hands up that were wrinkled and pruned. “All done.”
Chuckling, I leaned over and grabbed a towel from the rack then dunked my hand in the water to pull the plug.
Water swirled as it began to drain.
Kallie scrambled to standing, and I wrapped the towel around her and lifted her from under the arms, taking a shit-ton of bubbles with us. “Out you go.”
As I stood, I swung her around. Of course, it made her laugh hysterically, because the kid had to be the happiest thing I’d ever known.
I sat her on the counter, her feet in the sink, tiny body all wrapped up, arms free and tucked in close as she hunched her shoulders.
I stood right behind her to keep her from falling.
Water dripped from her hair, and I grabbed a second towel, figuring the disaster on her head was going to take more attention than anything else.
I began rubbing it through the mess of ringlet curls.
God, she smelled like strawberries and baby, and that protective place in me swelled.
It was the same place that worried incessantly about my little brother.
The same place I’d thought had long ago been filled to capacity.
Somehow broken and faulty, composed of guilt and regret. A distorted obligation.
But that place had transformed.
Expanded.
More, more, more.
I ran the towel through her hair again, gripping the mass and gently tugging her head back as I made a last pass. She peered up at me, and I pressed a kiss to her forehead. “There we are.”
I grabbed a brush and ran it through Kallie’s dampened hair.
I could feel eyes on me as I worked, this little girl’s attention trained on me through the mirror.
I glanced up at her, seeing the wonder there, something brewing in her eyes.
She brushed her teeth, then after helping her down, she ran to her room with the towel around her, the bottom dragging on the floor.
Pausing at the doorway, I listened to Shea’s voice traveling from her bedroom, carefree and airy. “No problem, Charlie,” she said, and I continued on toward Kallie’s room.
By the time I made it there, she’d already dug through her dresser and had pulled a nightgown over her head.