'Major…'
He stiffened and I immediately corrected myself.
'Logan, I don't want Stevie to think-' My mouth snapped shut. If I said another word I would start bawling my eyes out.
'Don't worry, Lillian.' Reaching down, he took the key chain from my hand and slowly unthreaded his house key from the loop. 'A few days and he'll be all settled in with someone new.'
Sure, I thought, they both would.
Summer for America's youth officially ended two weeks later when school resumed. It also meant that I started my senior year of college and scaled back my hours at work. Since I was no longer babysitting Stevie, my mom roped me into picking my little sister Rhea up from school and dropping her off at ballet a couple times a week.
Whereas Jody is, and always has been, pure torture to be around, my parents more than made up for it by having Rhea. Rhea is one of the two most awesome kids in the universe, the other being Stevie. She is also just a year older than him. Jody calls Rhea 'the mistake' because mom was supposed to be firmly past her childbearing years. Whenever that happens, I lightly elbow Rhea and tell her Jody has a stick up her butt and to ignore her. Jody hates that, but it shuts her up for a while or redirects her bitchiness towards me.
It was on the first Friday of the new school year that Mrs. McBride stopped me with a hand on my shoulder as I waited out in the school parking lot. I recognized her from when she taught Rhea the year before.
She held a thick folder in front of her, almost as if thrusting it at me. 'Lily, dear, you babysit Stevie Jones after school, right?'
My chest tightened, both with embarrassment and worry. It's not like I could explain that Logan had fucked then fired me, and I had been missing the little bug terribly. I gave a tight smile and hoped I didn't look too guilty. 'Just until my classes restarted. Is there something I can help with?'
'Stevie's been out sick half the week and the major wasn't able to collect his homework.' Her mouth puckering, she held the folder up. 'I was going to drive it over, but my own sitter just called…'
My chest tightening another notch, I grabbed the edge of the folder. 'I'll take it over right after I drop Rhea off at ballet.'
Relief spread across her features and she relinquished her hold on the homework. 'Great, thank you so much, dear.'
I nodded and smiled back just as Rhea bounded up and threw her arms around as much of my waist as she could encompass. Unlike most tweens, she's incredibly affectionate, even in public. I hugged her back then hustled her little butt into the car and off to ballet.
Thirty minutes later I stood outside a house I hadn't visited in three weeks, my hand raised to knock but my body incapable of completing the motion. The door opened, Logan's gaze stern and his arms folded across his broad chest. He wore civilian clothing, the tight blue t-shirt showing off every bulge of muscle on his upper arms and torso.
'What are you doing here, Lillian?'
Great, he was still using my complete first name.
My tongue didn't get a chance to unstick before Stevie shouted from somewhere inside.
'Lily? Is Lily here?'
Logan slowly shook his head, forbidding me to speak as he grabbed the folder in my hand.
Stevie called out even louder. 'Lily, are you here?'
'Hey, little man!' I jerked the folder back from Logan. 'I have your homework.'
I sucked a big breath in and held it while I waited for Logan's anger at my disobedience to materialize. I meant it when I said he is a great guy and an amazing dad. He is not at all the kind of man that explodes, but I'd never seen his expression so tense, not even when Mrs. Jones ran off.
His eyes drifted shut, his face otherwise unyielding, and then he pivoted on one heel to let me pass. I hadn't gotten any smaller and the hall hadn't gotten any wider. My body brushed his as it always did. After a three-week absence, the usual flicker of need blazed high and I had to force my legs to take the next few steps away from him.
I heard him shut the door and follow after me. At the threshold to Stevie's room, I froze. Shirtless in bed, a deep red colored his skin and I could see that he was holding his body very stiffly.
'Oh, bug, what happened?'
He didn't answer, just pressed his mouth into a straight line. Behind me, Logan cleared his throat. 'He wouldn't put sunscreen on when the afterschool center went to the pool.'
'That's Lily's job!' He started to fold his arms over his chest in a perfect mirror of his dad but winced and lowered them back to the sheet.
Logan and I spoke at the same time. 'I'm so sorry, little man,' intersected with 'It's not Lily's fault you were sunburnt.'
I started to move into the room. Logan caught the fabric of my sleeve and offered another terse shake of his head. Stevie looked up just in time to witness the exchange. His gaze went from petulant to a few blinks away from crying.
'Why can't she come in, dad?'
Logan didn't answer, just let go of my sleeve. I walked to the edge of his bed and stopped. 'I've got your homework. Do you want me to go over it with you?'
He didn't answer. Lifting his arm, his hand landed on the built-in bookshelf next to his bed. He fingered the spine of one book, refusing to look at me.
'Yeah,' I conceded and put the folder on the nightstand. 'You've got all weekend to do homework. Do you want me to read to you?'
I reached across him, looking for one of his favorites. 'This one?'
He remained silent and my finger kept drifting until he finally nodded.
Where Dolphins Play
Looking at the title, I took a hard swallow. The book had unofficially been off limits since his mother abandoned him. Now he wanted me to read it to him. Taking it off the shelf, I carefully sat down next to him on the bed. He snuggled closer, wincing until he found a position where the pain from his sunburn apparently subsided.
Opening to the first page, I cast a nervous side glance at Logan. He had stayed out in the hall. His back rested against the wall, but his attention was focused on his son. Something like confusion softened his hard features.
Kissing the top of Stevie's head, I started to read.
I spend my day where dolphins play.
Outside my door, along the shore.
Yawning, Stevie slid a little further down his pillow.
They jump for me, they jump so high.
Another yawn, twice as long as the first. I felt his body relax in quick increments as I continued reading. As I read, my attention jumped between sentences to the hall where Logan had moved mostly out of my field of vision. I could only see his left arm and part of his left hip and leg.
From deep green sea to pale blue sky.
They jump for me, they jump for me.
Outside my door, along the shore.
I kept going until a soft snore from Stevie punctuated the last sentence. Careful not to wake him or brush against his injured skin, I rose from the bed and replaced the book. Stepping into the hall, I whispered to Logan.
'Maybe I can stay until he wakes up.' Expecting him to kick me out, I tried to keep my tone neutral and make my words a statement rather than a request.
He inhaled, held it for one long minute then crooked a finger at me. I followed him to the threshold of the laundry room, where he started shuffling the bins stacked across the far wall. Before Mrs. Logan left, there had been one blue storage bin. Since her departure, green bins had started piling up as her things disappeared one-by-
