Chapter 11—Willow #2
Bobby glances at Jimmy a second before looking back at me. “An associate called and told me what was going on. I needed to make sure you and the girls are all right.”
“We’re fine. We weren’t even here.” I’m so baffled by my home being gone that I don’t care that he’s here.
“We were at the park,” Lily says with a healthy nod to herself before wiggling around until Bobby sets her down.
She grabs his hand and starts pulling him toward the building.
“Come see my new pillowcase, Mr. Bobby. I also got new coloring books. And we all got princess dresses for Halloween. Come see.”
Tears gather in my eyes as it finally dawns on me that my baby girl has no clue what happened. And it hits that almost everything in our place is likely destroyed. Baby pictures—everything I had for me and the girls. Birth certificates. Small moments from my childhood. Gone.
“He can’t, Lily. Our house blew up.” Ivy, my too-intelligent little girl, shuts down her emotions as she says it.
Something she did when her father was around.
A way to protect herself from the hurt. Trevor was never cruel, but he wasn’t nice.
He spoke to both me and the girls in condescending ways that never encouraged but always belittled us.
“Blew up?” Lily looks at me and then the apartment building with her head tilted and face scrunched.
I shake my head and wipe a tear that slides down my cheek as I kneel and grab her hand to turn her to look at me. “It didn’t blow up. It caught fire.”
“What does that mean?” Lily asks.
I let out a sad sigh as I feel my shoulders hunch. “It means that until the police say we can go inside and see what was damaged, we can’t show Mr. Bobby anything that we bought. And it might not be there anymore either.”
“It’s gone?” She looks back once more, then sniffs, realizing that all her favorite things might not be there anymore.
“Yeah, sweetie, most likely.”
She wraps her arms around my neck in a vise grip as she cries against me. I hold her tightly and reach out, grabbing Ivy to pull her close, holding both of them as I work through my own emotions.
“It’s going to be okay.” I pull back just enough to get Lily to look at me as I wipe the tears off her face. “It’s just stuff. We can always buy more, right?”
She nods, and I look at Ivy, who gives me a watery nod herself.
I stand and take both girls’ hands, swinging them slightly to bring a slight smile to their faces. “Now we get to go to a hotel and order room service.”
“If I may.” Bobby takes a step closer with Marco on his heels.
I’m not sure which man looks more wrecked.
Both have a wild look in their eyes, and while Bobby has his hair styled precisely as always and his glasses on his face with perfect placement, his suit jacket is missing, and his tie is pulled loose around his neck.
Marco might have the better outfit with nothing out of place, but the short curls on the top of his head that seem pinned down from gel are in disarray, as if he ran his fingers through it more than once.
I wonder if they were like this before learning about what happened to our building. Or… did the thought of something happening to us cause this? How wrong and wicked am I that I sort of hope for the second.
Especially from Bobby.
“Marco and I would be happy to escort you to temporary housing,” he says.
“Did you bring your spaceship car?” Lily asks with a sniffle.
Marco looks down at her. “Of course. Rule three in fighting dragons is to always come prepared to help those in need. I even have snacks, as stated in rule five, since carrying them at all times is a must.”
The seriousness with which he states a five-year-old’s made-up rules back to her will be a moment I’ll remember for the rest of my life.
Not because of who said it, but because it was enough to draw Lily to his side.
She grabs his hand and then Bobby’s before looking up at me, waiting for me to tell her it’s okay that she went to them over me.
I have to clear my throat to keep the sob from slipping out, and then I nod continuously as I let a few tears fall free.
Bobby uses his free hand to wipe them away gently, and I lean into his touch for a moment, closing my eyes and giving thanks to whoever is out there looking out for us for sending such a man into our lives.
“I’ve got this. My guys will take care of what needs to be done here while I get you and your girls somewhere safe.”
Safe. Funnily enough, I thought our home was. It might not have been the best neighborhood, but of all the things I thought would take me out of here, fire wasn’t one of them.
“Okay,” I whisper. “Just for tonight.”
His hand leaves my face and settles on my back, giving me support as the five of us make our way to Bobby’s car at the end of the roadblock.
I don’t worry about what will happen with the others in the building. Or where Jimmy went. I don’t even start picturing what I lost.
Instead, I shift my focus to what I have. A job. My girls. And now a place to rest my head for the night.
Tomorrow, I can worry about the rest of it. Tonight, I’ll just focus on the blessings I still have.