Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
Pyro had been restless for days. He’d always been a solitary man. Yes, he enjoyed spending time with his friends, but he was also perfectly happy being by himself in his apartment. Reading, watching TV, sleeping, eating…however he passed the time, he was content to do it alone.
But now? After meeting Bowie and Penny? All he did was think about them. What were they doing? Were they happy? How was Penny’s job search going? Was Bowie sleeping through the night yet?
A week had gone by since Bowie had stated unequivocally that she wanted to live with Pyro. Her words had made him yearn for things he’d never even had on his radar.
He also wanted Bowie in his apartment. He had plenty of room.
He couldn’t imagine anything better than waking up in the morning to the sound of her laughter.
Teaching her how to make scrambled eggs or waffles, reading to her as they sat in the corner of his couch, all bundled up in blankets.
Taking her to school to meet her new teacher.
But it wasn’t just Bowie he could imagine living with. Penny was constantly on his mind, as well.
He felt like a different man than he’d been before his mission to Gabon.
Honestly, he was having a hard time wrapping his brain around how much he felt he’d changed in such a short period of time. Before his deployment, he wasn’t even interested in a serious relationship. And he hadn’t thought about children at all.
No, that wasn’t true. He’d thought about the fact he didn’t want any.
Many foster kids yearned for their own children, so they could give the love to a child that they never had growing up. Not Pyro. He’d simply never wanted anything to do with kids.
Until Bowie.
Every minute that he’d spent around her was fascinating. How her brain worked, how she compensated for not being able to see. She was funny and smart, even a little sassy. She wasn’t afraid to get dirty and had an insatiable thirst for knowledge. About everything.
Pyro saw a little bit of himself in her, as well. Every time she was given something, no matter how small, she was incredibly grateful, just as he’d been as a kid.
A kid’s meal from a fast-food restaurant that included a small toy inside?
She acted as if she’d been given the moon.
When he’d brought home a T-shirt from the base that had ARMY written across the front, she declared it her “favorite piece of clothing ever”—and Penny said she’d slept in it that night, then cried when she wasn’t allowed to wear it a second day in a row.
Last night, Bowie had called and asked if he’d go with her to her new school in the morning. It took a moment for him to realize she’d called him all by herself, without Penny even realizing. Her mom was bringing her to the school to get enrolled, and it was more than obvious Bowie was nervous.
Of course, he’d agreed…as long as it was all right with her mom. He then asked Bowie to bring the phone to Penny, so he could talk to her.
Penny had been equally surprised to find Bowie had called him without her knowledge, but not surprised at all that the girl had memorized his number. She had a great memory, and Penny told him during the call that she’d made Bowie learn their new address and phone number, as well.
Pyro was relieved when Penny had accepted the phone he’d gotten her. He’d been able to add a phone line to his current plan with no trouble; it had actually made his bill go down, which made no sense, but he wasn’t going to complain.
He was headed to Penny’s apartment right now to walk with the mother/daughter duo to Bowie’s new school.
He’d woken up more than thirty minutes before his alarm went off this morning, which was unheard of for him.
But…restless. The anticipation of being included in this momentous occasion for Bowie was on par with how he’d felt a few times before Christmas and his birthday, when he’d been in foster homes where he was treated like part of the family.
He hadn’t always been included in holidays, and the knowledge that there were presents with his name on them, ready to be opened in the morning, had been a huge deal on those rare occasions.
PT had dragged, and he didn’t even care that Casper decided this morning was a good time for wind sprints in the sand, Pyro’s least favorite workout.
He’d taken extra care with his appearance, even going so far as to use the scented body wash he’d picked up somewhere along the line instead of the unscented Ivory soap he usually preferred. He’d also meticulously trimmed his beard so not one stray hair was out of place.
He was nervous. And Pyro never got nervous. He’d flown in some seriously scary missions and not once had he felt like he did right now. He’d always been confident in his abilities. But one little six-year-old girl and her mom made him feel things he’d never felt before.
He wasn’t sure why he felt this way. All he was doing was walking with Penny and Bowie to her new school, for God’s sake. But Bowie already had him wrapped around her little finger, and anything she wanted, he’d bend over backward to give her.
He parked his Chevy Malibu and jogged to the door of their building. He was immediately buzzed in, cleared by the security guard at the desk, and, too impatient to wait for the elevator, took the steps two at a time to the third floor. Penny opened the door before he had to knock.
“We’re running late,” she said breathlessly. “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe we’re going to be late on her first day.”
Pyro stepped into the apartment. “What’s up? I thought for sure Bowie would be up and ready to go hours before it was time to leave.”
“She claims nothing she has to wear is good enough. That she wants to make a good impression but doesn’t like any of her clothes.”
“That doesn’t sound like Bowie.”
“I know. She’s never cared about clothes before.
But maybe it’s because she never really had to.
She spent most of her days with the lady who lived next door in Gabon.
Didn’t interact with kids. And it wasn’t as if she had a lot of choice in her clothing.
Now that she has a dozen things to choose from, it’s messing with her head. ”
Twelve outfits didn’t seem like all that many to Pyro, but he wasn’t an expert on six-year-olds outfits. “You want me to talk to her?”
“Yes!” Penny said without hesitation. “I’ve got to finish putting together her lunch. She didn’t like any of my suggestions and was on the verge of tears when you arrived.”
Suddenly, Pyro kind of regretted offering his help, because what did he know about comforting or reassuring someone Bowie’s age?
But he couldn’t take it back now, and wouldn’t even if he could, because the relief on Penny’s face that he might be able to get her daughter to move made him feel ten feet tall.
He walked down the hall and knocked on Bowie’s door before pushing it open.
Bowie was sitting on the floor, on the mattress Obi-Wan had bought for her—the bed frame Pyro ordered hadn’t been delivered yet—surrounded by various articles of clothing.
“Hey, Bowie-Bear, I hear you’re having trouble deciding what to wear for your first day of school?”
She looked up in his direction, and Pyro’s heart nearly broke at seeing the tears in her eyes.
She looked so much like her mom. Straight, long black hair, tiny button nose, and full lips that were currently trembling as she attempted to hold back her tears, with no luck.
She was going to be a petite woman when she grew up, like Penny. Right now, she simply looked tiny.
Pyro moved without thought, heading to the mattress and lowering himself next to her. He put his arm around her, and she immediately rose to her knees and leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder.
“I don’t think I want to go to school,” she said with a sniff.
“What? You were so excited last night when you called. You’ll get to make so many friends and learn all sorts of new things.”
“What if nobody likes me?” she whispered. “I’m blind. Weird. Not like the other kids. I can’t see if they’re laughing or pointing at me. Can’t see if they’re making faces at me.”
“Not like you? Bowie, you’re the most likable kid in the world.”
She scrunched up her nose and huffed out a breath. “How many kids do you know?”
Right, she had him there. Pyro had to think fast. “All right, not many. But I was a kid once. And trust me, I would’ve picked you as a best friend over anyone else in a heartbeat.”
“Why?”
“For one, because you can hear a fly fart from across a room. What I would’ve given to know what my teachers were talking about when they whispered to each other.
Especially during parent-teacher conferences.
Not that I had a parent there, since I was a foster kid.
None of them bothered to show up because they didn’t care. ”
Bowie looked up at that. “You didn’t have a mom and dad either? Like Mommy?”
“Yeah.”
Showing what an extraordinary child she was, and the depth of her empathy, Bowie put her hand on Pyro’s knee and patted it. “Mommy’s sad I don’t have a Nana or Papa, but that’s okay, I have her.”
“That’s right. And you have me, and Casper, and Buck, and—”
“And Edge, Chaos, Obi-Wan, Zita, Fred, Jen, Mandy, Laryn, Rain, and now Waffles!”
Pyro chuckled. “Exactly. And you’re so smart to remember so many names.”
“I know their numbers too. Well, not all of them. Mommy made me memorize Zita’s and Casper’s.”
“She’s a smart mom.”
“Yeah.”
“And smart moms have smart kids. Bowie-Bear, you’re going to slay first grade. You have nothing to worry about.”
Bowie bit her lip. “I’m scared,” she whispered.
“There’s nothing wrong with that. A ship in a harbor is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for. And you, my friend, are destined for great things. But if you don’t take that first step, if you don’t sail out of the harbor, you might never achieve them. And that would be incredibly sad.”
“You think so?” Bowie asked.
“I know so.”