“Do not start working on problems tonight,” he ordered while she flipped the pages. “I want you to get some rest. It’s been a long day.”
“For you. Even though you won’t tell me what happened.”
“Did you talk to your mother tonight?”
“I did. She wants you to call her when you have a chance.”
“Of course.”
“Don’t fight.”
“We never fight.”
“Really?” Tock asked.
“I don’t like arguing with people,” Shay explained.
“But what if they’re wrong?”
Shay just gawked at her, so Tock let it go.
Gently taking the notebook from his daughter’s hand, Shay put it on the dresser across the room and motioned to the two male dogs. They immediately jumped on the bed with Dani. One faced the doorway; the other rested his big head on Dani’s chest, staring at the big window. Protecting her and keeping her pinned to the bed all at the same time. Ingenious.
Shay leaned over his daughter and kissed her forehead. “I love you, baby.”
“I love you, too, Daddy.”
Tock was walking out of the room when she heard, “Tock?”
She turned back, and Dani motioned to her. She leaned over so the kid could whisper in her ear. The dog resting on Dani snarled a warning at Tock when she came close, but she snarled back and the dog settled down.
“What is it?”
Leaning up as much as the heavy dog head would allow, Dani whispered, “I don’t have any clean underwear for tomorrow.”
“Didn’t your dad bring you clean clothes?” Tock whispered back.
“He grabbed the bag I used when I stayed the night with Aunt Nat, but I refuse to re-wear underwear—”
“No, no. I’d never expect you to do that. I’ll take care of it.”
“Don’t tell Daddy.”
“Why?”
“It’s embarrassing!”
Honey badgers didn’t really experience embarrassment, but Tock still understood that a ten-year-old girl didn’t want to talk about her dirty underwear with her dad.
“I’ll take care of it,” she whispered. “Don’t worry.”
“Thank you!”
That’s when the kid hugged her and Tock froze. She’d never been much of a hugger. If they won a game or whatever, she would hug her teammates in the heat of the moment, but even with her parents . . . her mother did most of the hugging. And it kind of annoyed Tock.
This, however, wasn’t annoying. It was sweet. The kid had been kicked out of math camp—a late-evening voice mail from the head counselor confirmed that—she hadn’t seen her mother in a few days because the She-cat was bonding over football with Dani’s big brothers, and now she was in a strange house with wolves who wouldn’t let their pups play with her. If Tock could make her feel more at ease after all that, she’d do whatever had to be done.
So . . . she hugged Dani back.
“Sleep well, okay?”
“I will.”
Once Dani lay back again, Tock tried to pull the sheet over her a little more, but the dog lying on her was making that impossible. Tock ended up using one hand to lift that concrete block of a head up and the other to tug the sheet. Once she did that, she gently laid that big head back into place. She didn’t want to just drop it. It might crush the kid’s organs!
Grabbing the pink duffel bag that had Dani’s clothes, Tock followed Shay out. She closed the door behind her and headed to the stairs.
As they walked to the first floor, Shay asked, “Dirty underwear?”
“She hasn’t figured out you can hear her even when she whispers?”
“No. And I haven’t had the heart to tell her.”
“Plus, you always know what she’s up to.”
He grinned. “And I always know what she’s up to.”
Shay reached over, trying to take the duffel from Tock, but she pulled back.
“I promised.”
“You don’t have to wash my daughter’s clothes, Tock.”
“I promised her, and she doesn’t want you doing it.”
“I’m her father.”
“It’s embarrassing!”
*
It took a while to locate the stairs that led to the finished basement. There they found a bowling alley, a movie room with a massive screen, and, off the hallway, a large laundry room that looked like a damn new age laundromat.
“This is amazing,” Tock said, clearly marveling at the rows of brand-new or nearly new machines in a variety of bright colors.
“I know. How much laundry could they possibly do here?”
“It’s a big pack. With a lot of pups.”
“None of which will play with my kid.”
Tock picked a washing machine and put Dani’s clothes in it, along with detergent and some softener.
“Your daughter doesn’t want to play with those kids anyway.”
“How do you know?”
She closed the door and punched a few buttons, setting the machine to wash.
When she faced him, she replied simply, “She’s an introvert.”
“No, she isn’t.”
“She punched that kid today because he wouldn’t stop bothering her while she was working. He definitely needs to learn the rules of consent, but most extroverts would have just gotten up and gone to play with other kids. Your daughter punched him because she just wanted to be left alone to work. That’s an introvert who is completely fine being alone with herself. She’s just like you.”
“What? I’m not an introvert. I like being around people.”
“Yeah, but you’re just as happy being on your own. And I get it. I’m an introvert. Mads is an introvert. Max and Streep are not introverts. And we don’t know what the hell Nelle is. She keeps her own counsel.” She tapped her watch. “You have to call Dani’s mother.”
“Oh. Right.”
Tock left as he dialed up Dani’s mom. While his ex warned him that she’d take his skin off “if anything happens to my baby,” Shay was shocked to see Tock come back with a notebook and a pencil case. She hopped onto a dryer, took out a pencil, sharpened it, and got to work.
Baffled, Shay muted his phone and said, “I thought you were going to bed.”
“I’m not tired. And I promised I’d get her clothes done tonight.”
“I can finish.”
“I promised.”
He didn’t know how to respond to that, and Dani’s mom was asking, “Are you even listening to me?” So he refocused his attention and took the phone off mute.
“I’m listening. She’ll be fine. But you and the boys should be careful, too. Until this . . . is over.”
His ex paused before asking. “Shay, are you okay?”
“Yeah. It’s just . . .”
“Dani’s going to be fine. There’s no one I trust more with my little girl than you and your brothers.”
“But I don’t want her in therapy for the next twenty years because Daddy was in a firefight.”
“Give the kid some credit. Our baby is kickass. As long as you and your brothers are protecting her, she’ll be just fine.” She laughed a little. “She does seem a little disappointed about math camp, though.”
“She is. But don’t worry. I’ve got friends keeping her busy with math problems. We’ll make sure she’s entertained.”
“Friends, huh? Would that be the impressive Tock?”
“Uh . . . what?” He glanced over and Tock was still writing in the notebook, so he moved a little farther away.
“You don’t know? Our kid is really impressed with her. She teaches Dani math, doesn’t like football either, and is apparently very cool.”