Chapter 44
Addie stared at the TV without really seeing what was on the screen. Monroe was leaning against her, and they had a blanket over them. She had Snaggles tucked in next to her chest. And she was wearing her hoodie with the sneaky squishies sown into the wristbands.
Moving Snaggles up higher, she rubbed him back and forth under her nose.
“I’m so sorry about this, babes,” Monroe told her.
Addie gave her a surprised look. “About what, the movie? It’s not your fault it’s terrible.”
After their visit from Ink and Brody yesterday, Monroe had disappeared into her room and hadn’t reappeared.
So Addie had gone to find Monroe first thing this morning, declaring that she wanted to watch cartoons in her pajamas. Well, cartoons had led to movies, and they were still sitting here under the blanket, not doing much.
She wasn’t sure where Cash or Ralen were, but Butch was in and out quite a bit.
Things felt different with Cash since yesterday. She tried not to let it affect her, but it was difficult. She had feelings for him, and he didn’t feel the same way. That wasn’t his fault, and he’d been nothing but kind.
Well, other than when he spanked your bottom.
“No, for the fact that we’re stuck here. I know it must be hard on you especially. You didn’t want to come to Billings in the first place, and now you’re away from everything that you know. What about your work? Don’t you need to get back to that?”
She did need to get back to it. She’d been doing what she could on her phone.
She should have bought herself a laptop. If they stayed here much longer, she’d have to get one. So far, all of her authors have been understanding. It helped that she’d taken some leave from her job when she’d come here, knowing that she wouldn’t have her computer.
“This isn’t your fault,” Addie told her. “Now, we’re all going to be fine. Well, maybe not if we keep watching this movie. It’s brain rot. Let’s watch a cartoon. What about something old school like Rainbow Brite?”
“They don’t have Rainbow Brite,” Monroe said sadly. “We could watch The Land Before Time. You love that movie.”
She really did. But they couldn’t find that either. So they settled on Ice Age, which she also loved. They snuggled in under the blanket.
When the movie finished, Monroe got up and stretched. “I’m going to go have a shower. Thanks, Addie. I needed this.” She walked off towards her bedroom.
Addie was still worried about her, but there wasn’t much she could do at the moment. She glanced up as the door opened and Cash walked in carrying some bags.
“Hey there,” he said to her. “How are you doing?”
“I’m good,” she replied.
Cash put his hands on his hips. “Well, you sound a lot better. Still not sure you should be talking.”
“I’m starting to think you don’t like when I talk. Is there something wrong with my voice?”
“Of course there isn’t,” he told her. “I love your voice.”
She froze in shock at that word, even though she knew he didn’t mean it like that. He didn’t actually love her. It was just a word people used.
“You have a beautiful voice,” he told her. “That’s not what I’m concerned about, all right?”
Addie got it. “My throat feels a lot better today. I think, as long as I don’t overuse it, I can talk just fine. Where have you been?”
“Oh, just doing some jobs.” He didn’t look at her as he said that, and she wasn’t sure why. Did he not want to tell her where he’d been? Well, it wasn’t like he owed her any explanation, was it?
They were just friends. Were they even friends? She wasn’t exactly sure. But he didn’t need to tell her where he was going and when he would be back.
“Let me look in your throat.” He walked over and grasped hold of her chin, tilting her face back. “Open.”
She opened her mouth and he used the flashlight on his phone to peer into her mouth. “All right, it does look less red. But I don’t want you overdoing it. Use your tablet or phone when you have to talk a lot.”
She sighed but nodded. Her phone was on the coffee table.
“But I do come bearing gifts,” he told her. “Look what I found.” He drew out a soft-looking sweater. On the front of it was the face of a saber-toothed tiger.
“Where on earth did you find that?” she asked. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I have my ways. I also got you this.” He pulled out a blanket that had a large saber-toothed tiger on it. It looked nice and fluffy and warm, and she immediately shoved off her blanket to grab hold of it and pull it around her.
“I take it you like that?” he asked with amusement.
She nodded.
“I also got you another squishy making kit. This one has much better ratings than the last one, and says it won’t explode. I also got some air dry clay.”
She eyed the kit skeptically.
“Or we could just sit and color,” he said as he sat beside her. “Have you had any breakfast?”
Hmm. Did coffee count as well as a bag of chips?
“I had coffee and chips,” she said.
Surely that hits some of the major food groups, right?
“You had what?” he asked, handing her phone to her pointedly. Obviously he thought she’d talked enough.
“That counts as breakfast food. Chips are potatoes and potatoes are a vegetable. Which is healthy. And I have lots of creamer in my coffee which is dairy.” She gave him a wide smile.
“Hmm, very smart this morning, aren’t you? Unfortunately, most of the potato goodness has been fried out of potato chips by the time they end up in a packet. And creamer doesn’t really have that much dairy in it. You need something healthy.”
Addie didn’t usually eat that healthy, she had to admit. It wasn’t that she didn’t like vegetables, it was just boring cooking for just herself. So she tended to just eat snacks or whatever was quickest. Noodles or hot pockets made perfectly good meals.
She had a feeling he would object to that, though.
“Well, I suppose it’s my fault because I wasn’t here to make you breakfast, but you’re going to have a healthy lunch. I’ll go start on that if you want to take a look at this squishy maker.”
Out here?
Where anyone could walk in? Could she do that?
“Or we’ll go into your bedroom,” he said. “Whatever makes you the most comfortable.”
She shrugged. Actually, the more time she spent here with everyone, the less she cared. It wasn’t like her sisters would judge her. And she didn’t think that Ralen would either.
That only left Butch or Ink and Brody if they turned up. She rather thought that Brody might enjoy joining in.
Although she could be mistaken about that.
So she set everything out on the coffee table. This set came with its own small plastic mat which was good because she wasn’t certain what had happened to the other one.
“Oh, this looks better,” Cash said as he walked in with a plate filled with healthy snack food.
All right. If this was the type of lunch he was going to serve, she would be happy.
The plate held pieces of carrot, cucumber, and sourdough. As well as crackers, grapes, and cubes of cheese. There was even some ranch to dip things into in the middle of the plate.
“Yummy, this looks great, Daddy!” she said.
Then she stared up at him in shock. Was this the first time that she’d called him Daddy? Out loud?
Cash grinned, satisfaction shining out of his face. “Good. I’m glad you like it. Come on, let’s make some squishies.”
They managed to make four squishies before someone walked in on them.
“Squishy making, huh?” Ralen asked as he sat on the couch with a beer.
And a frown.
That seemed very un-Ralen like. Well, not the beer. She’d seen him drink. But the frown.
“Everything all right?” Cash asked him.
“Just our current issue becoming more and more urgent.”
“You have an urgent issue?” she asked, stopping what she was doing. Why hadn’t Cash told her? If he had to go he should just say.
Not that she wanted him to leave. The idea of it made her stomach tighten. But she didn’t own him.
She knew that very well.
“It’s not urgent. Not yet. The thing that we’ve lost could just turn up. They always do,” Cash said.
Ralen shot him a look. “And if they don’t? Then we’re in the shit. The big guy is researching ways to get here safely.”
What?
What big guy? What did he mean, get here safely? Why wouldn’t he be able to get here safely?
“This isn’t something we should be talking about now,” Cash warned.
“Yeah, you’re right. So can anyone do this or is it just for the cool kids?” he asked as he settled on the floor next to her.
“Just for the cool kids,” she told him. “But it’s just as well you are one.”
“Oh, thanks, Trouble. You always know just what to say.”