Ted chuckled. “Though we should’ve guessed. Quinn is curious and wicked smart.” He swallowed before continuing. “This is a bit hard for us, but when Quinny sets her mind to something—she gets it. She’s the most well-adjusted preteen I’ve ever come across. She made a pro and con list before going to meet you. This moment came sooner than we thought.” This admission was huskier in tone. I bit my cheek to hold back another round of tears. The emotions that were flying around this sunny kitchen were heavy. Colt trailed his hand down my back for a moment and I steeled my spine.
“I hope this isn’t too forward of me,” I said, cupping my hands around the mug, just for something to hold onto. “But I want to reassure you that I won’t step on your toes or try to integrate myself into parts of your life where I don’t belong. I know you are her parents.” I swallowed back the emotion that was threatening to bubble up. “I’ve thought of her every day. I’ve wondered if she’d ever come looking. I’ve wondered if she would decide not to. I can see that you’ve given her a beautiful life. The one I hoped for. The one I… couldn’t. When she showed up though, I couldn’t turn her away. The times that you allow me to see her, if she wants to see me, I’d like to because I would never be able to turn her away. I’ve already told you, Jackie, but I want to say it once more before she comes down and we head out: any rule you set, any boundary you ask for, I will follow. I swear to you,” I said with my hand on my chest, my heart thundering beneath my palm.
I didn’t exactly know my place here or where I belonged, but if it meant I could even have one day with Quinn, I’d take the roadblocks, the stumbles, and the pain. Because while I wanted to see Quinn and know her, and that would make me happy, I knew it would also always come with pain. And I’d do anything to keep that pain from Quinn.
Colt laid a hand on my shoulder and squeezed, his thumb brushing against my neck. His ever-steady presence was a balm to my soul.
10
Makenna
Colt’s and Quinn’s heads were bent together as she poured liquid into a beaker. Quinn’s purple glasses were slipping down her nose as she concentrated. It was good that I’d asked Colt to come along. The first task had been an escape room, fleeing from a mad scientist. After we escaped that room, the scavenger hunt around Quinn’s town began. Step after step, clue after clue, it became clear I was definitely a hindrance for our little trio, but Colt took the situation by the reins and got control.
Quinn was right. Colt was good at this. I should’ve known; I was half convinced that the man was good at everything.
I hated myself a little bit for questioning if that was disappointment in Quinn’s eyes every time she looked at me, like she was right now. I plastered a smile on my face and bent low like she and Colt were doing, watching the liquid fill up the beaker. At least I knew it was called a beaker.
“Do you want me to hand you the next beaker?” I asked.
She pushed her glasses up her nose and a small smile, so similar to Declan’s just before he told the punchline of a joke, swept across her face. “That’s a graduated cylinder. This is a beaker,” she said, pointing in front of her. I glanced between the two and, outside of the small difference in size, I didn’t get how they weren’t the same damn thing. Was it possible to fail at this whole mom/friend/weird-quasi-role-model-thing in just a short afternoon? If that was the contest today, I would’ve taken home the prize.
“Right,” I said and smiled harder as I handed over the graduated cylinder. She poured the contents into the beaker.
“There it goes,” Colt said, pointing at the beaker in front of them but looking over his shoulder at me. He motioned me forward with a jerk of his head. I stepped forward, hovering closer behind them. I placed my hand on Colt’s shoulder to steady myself. He reached up and squeezed my hand as my gaze met his. He shot me a wink. I released the breath that had been lodged in my throat and tried to enjoy this moment. My eyes returned to the beaker, where inside a hard shell was melting. Colt and Quinn had chosen the right liquids to open it up and take out a key. Quinn pulled out the key and squirted some water on it before removing her chemical-safe gloves, and she unlocked the box on the center of the table. Colt pulled out the folded piece of paper and read the clue aloud. “Think hard and flip a switch, make it shine. It’s what Thomas Edison did.”
“We need to build a light source,” Quinn said and grinned. I returned her smile and wished I had my phone to google how to build a light source. But our phones had been taken at the beginning by Quinn’s teachers so no one could cheat. Colt was the only one allowed to keep his phone since he was an officer and said he may need it for emergencies, but he vowed to not cheat. Quinn’s gaze was still on the paper. I leaned into Colt and whispered quietly. “Can I use your phone?”
He raised an eyebrow and shook his head once. I shot him a grimace. I didn’t care what anyone thought; I was willing to cheat in this scavenger hunt if it meant I could impress Quinn. Even once. Colt ignored my glare and turned his focus to Quinn.
“Alright, kiddo. How do you want to do this?”
“I think lemons will be easiest,” Quinn said, pushing up her glasses and glancing at me. Her smile was shy. I nodded my head.
“I agree,” I said. Though it was a total lie, I had no idea how to make a light source from lemons. Lemons? Creating a centerpiece with citrus fruits? Now that I could do. I’d made decent grades in school, but I truly felt like the moment I walked across the stage at graduation, it all left. And I never went to college like I had planned. At every turn today, Quinn had impressed me. She was brilliant and my chest clenched every time she turned to me after we read a new clue or solved something. Even in the moments I thought she was disappointed that I had messed up a clue or didn’t know an answer, Quinn blew me away. My eyes burned as those thoughts swirled through my head. I blinked a few times before any tears could flood my eyes.
Colt raised his brow at me, definitely knowing that I wouldn’t know how to turn lemons into a light source. “Kid, I’m glad you said lemons because I just did this project with my nephew recently, so I know what to do. Else you’d have to walk us through it.”
Quinn glanced at me again. “Do you know how?”
I winced. “No, Quinn. I don’t. I’m sorry.”
She shrugged. “It’s fine. My mom says I’m a good teacher. I’ve already started tutoring our neighbor. He’s in fourth grade and struggling with word problems and multiplying fractions. Two tutoring sessions with me and he got an A on his last quiz,” Quinn boasted.
I chuckled. “I’d love to learn, teach. Let’s hear it. What’s the first step?”
“We need to go to the grocery store and the hardware store, but there’s a local produce stand right next to the hardware store on Center Street!”
Quinn rushed out through the gym doors with Colt and me following her. Colt grabbed my hand when I strode past him as he held the door open for me. “You doin’ good, Mak?” he asked softly.
I swallowed and met his stare. As always, it was unyielding and swept over my face, taking in every microexpression that crossed it. “Yes.”