I made a show of picking up an eraser and the Band-Aid before pulling my wallet out of my back pocket. I leafed through the bills and crooked an eyebrow at her. “How much?”
Her eyes widened, and she looked down into the box like she was seeing it for the first time. “For which thing?”
“All of it.”
“All of it?” Her eyes widened to the size of saucers. “A dollar. No, two dollars!” she quickly modified.
I nodded, keeping my face solemn as if I was considering her price. “You’re a tough negotiator. Here ya go.”
I handed her all of the ones from my billfold and took the box in return. She leafed through the dollar bills, her mouth moving silently as she counted. When she finished, her eyes flew up to mine, wide as saucers. “But… but… this is eleven dollars!” she breathed, awe threaded all through the statement. She grinned and the missing tooth in front gave her smile an endearing twist. “Thanks, sir!”
Sir? I hadn’t been called sir… ever.
“Don’t spend it all on candy.” The last thing I wanted to do was contribute to the cavities of youth.
Her expression changed. The light of excitement that had been in her eyes a second before diminished and her lips pursed as she shoved the money in her back pocket. “It’s for my mom. So she doesn’t cry anymore.”
If I’d been uncertain about having a heart before, the evidence presented itself after hearing that because it broke at her response. It wasn’t just the words that she’d said. It was the somberness, the maturity, and the conviction of her explanation.
“Where is your mom?”
“She’s at our house.”
“Does she know where you are?”
“No, she was sleepin’ and I didn’t want to wake her up. I wanted to surprise her!”
I could see that this little girl’s heart was in the right place, but I’d put money on this not being the sort of surprise her mama would appreciate.
“Did you walk here?”
“Yes, I did!” she declared, clearly proud of her achievement.
I’d never seen the girl before and had no idea where she lived, but I had a pretty good guess. My house sat on four acres of land on a thin stretch of the peninsula. Old Man Thompson’s place was the only other house in miles. It sat on the edge of the property a couple of hundred yards away, but it had been vacant since the old man passed, must be five years ago.
“We just moved here. We live in the blue house.”
Yep. The blue house. That was definitely Old Man Thompson’s place.
“I think you better get home before your mama wakes up.” I planned on watching the hobo sprite through the kitchen window to make sure she made it back across the field that separated our homes safe and sound. I could see the house and the path clearly from there.
“Okay.” She nodded decisively and then stuck out her hand. “Thank you mister…” her voice trailed off.
“Hank.” I leaned down and shook her hand once. “Hank Comfort. It was a pleasure doing business with you miss…” I let my voice trail off the same way hers had.
“Luna. Luna Thompson” Her tiny fingers gripped my palm with a firm handshake.
“Nice to meet you Luna Luna.”
Her eyes widened as she giggled. “Just Luna, not Luna Luna!”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you Just Luna.”
This time her head fell back as she cracked up. If this kid’s reaction was any indication, I might’ve missed my calling by owning a construction company. I should be a stand-up for the under ten crowd.
I woulda thought nothing could’ve turned my day around after the morning I had. But the dark clouds that had been closing in on me were gone. And all it took was a few minutes talking to the girl version of the Jerry Maguire kid. I half expected her to tell me that the human head weighs eight pounds.
“Luna!” I heard a panicked voice scream from the direction of the Thompson place.
I glanced down at the kid who was now wearing the same expression my youngest brother Jimmy used to have whenever I caught him with his hand in the cookie jar and I couldn’t help but smile, which wasn’t somethin’ I did often.
“Well, I think your mama’s awake.”
CHAPTER 2
Skylar
“Luna!”
Panic rushed through my veins as I ran out of the house. I’d accidentally fallen asleep on the couch after driving for two days straight across the country. The last thing I remembered was sitting on the couch to unpack a box marked kitchen. I didn’t know how long I’d been out but when I woke up, Luna was nowhere to be found.
“Luna!”
I ran to the opposite side of the wraparound porch, the hundred-year-old boards creaking beneath my heavy steps as I searched the field for any sign of my little girl.
My hand lifted to block the morning sun assaulting my face. I’d searched the entire house and now I was looking out over a vast expanse of green grass that backed up to a thick bed of trees.
Everything was blurry when I woke up because my glasses must have fallen off when I was sleeping. It took me a second to get my bearings, but the first thing I noticed was the front screen door was open and banging against the side of the house and there was no sign of Luna. I jumped up and began rushing around without my glasses.
I couldn’t make out any sort of detail but my vision wasn’t so bad that I was blind. I could see shapes and colors they were just blurry. I frantically scanned the grass and saw no signs of movement in the meadow that backed up against a large body of water.
A pond?
When we’d arrived before sunrise in the early hours of the morning, I hadn’t seen the body of water behind my house. Luna had taken swim lessons last summer, but she hadn’t graduated past guppy because she was only four. She wouldn’t be five for three more weeks and you had to be five to graduate from guppy.
“Luna!” I screamed louder as I started to rush toward the water.
“Over here!” A deep male voice bellowed over the rustle of the branches and the birds chirping. “She’s here!”
It was coming from the opposite direction. Turning on a dime, I raced down the porch steps and sprinted across the grassy field toward a large farmhouse that I had seen when we’d arrived.
By the time I made it halfway across the field, I heard my little girl’s voice. I couldn’t make out what she was saying but she sounded happy. Not scared or hurt or upset. A wave of relief crashed over me.
I rounded the corner to the front of the farmhouse and took the porch steps two at a time. When I got to the top I saw my blurry baby girl standing beside a massive fuzzy figure. I couldn’t tell what the man’s face looked like but his hair appeared to be a brownish color. If I didn’t know he was human, I would have thought it was a bear standing beside my daughter.
My heart was pounding so hard I was sure it was going to crash out of my chest like the Kool-Aid man as I crouched down and pulled Luna into my arms. My mind raced with all the possibilities of what could have happened to her.
I’d only meant to close my eyes for a second, but after driving forty-eight hours straight, I hadn’t been able to stay awake. I had no sense of how long I’d been asleep, I was just so happy to be holding my baby in my arms again.