“Will you wait out here?” I asked, my voice wavering.
He gave me a chin lift, and I disappeared back inside.
Changing back into my jeans settled my nerves, and once I’d pulled my hoodie over my head, I almost felt human again.
Sebastian was leaning against the wall, watching the crowd, when I came back out. He looked up when he heard me, and his eyes traveled from the top of my head all the way to the sneakers on my feet.
I suddenly felt like I wasn’t wearing any clothes at all. But where I usually got the urge to douse myself in bleach when customers gave me the once-over, this time my body heated, my pulse beat faster, and I didn’t move.
Our eyes met, and I suddenly found myself unable to look away. Then one of the security guys came up to him, breaking our connection. Sebastian turned his head to speak to the guy, and I looked at my feet, shuffling uncomfortably. I hoped Sebastian would never find out the power he had over me, because rude turd or not, I couldn’t fight the attraction I felt for him.
He didn’t say a word to me for the rest of the night, not when we walked to his bike and not when we got home. I fell into bed, exhausted from another blipper of a day. Sleep came slowly, my thoughts stuck on the giant currently living with me.
CHAPTER SIX
“No,” I yelled, scrolling through my phone. “No. No. No. No.”
My chant went on like that as I looked through my closet, finding all my savings gone. How was that possible? And why hadn’t I deposited my tip money into my bank account instead of in a shoe box?
Where had the money gone? How could it just disappear?
“Banana sucker,” I yelled, running my hands through my hair. What am I going to do?
“What happened?” Sebastian growled from the doorway.
“I’m fucked,” I whispered and tunneled my shaky fingers through my hair.
There was only one person who could have possibly taken my money. And I had no idea how to find him. I couldn’t even wish that I’d never met Jim, because then I wouldn’t have Luca and Lena. And they were my everything.
“Nora,” Sebastian said, reminding me he was still there.
“All my savings are gone,” I said. It took all my strength to keep my voice even. “All this shit for nothing.”
I sank to the floor, my feet unable to hold me up any longer. This really was rock bottom. I’d worked so hard to save up that money. And it was all gone. I didn’t even care that I’d just told Sebastian that I had money saved up.
Didn’t matter now anyway since it was gone.
He crouched down next to me, putting a hand on my knee.
“You don’t—” he started but was cut off by Luca running into the room.
“Mommy, why is you on the floor?”
“Why are you on the floor,” I corrected him automatically. “I was looking for an earring that I lost.”
“Need help?” he asked, getting down on his knees next to me.
“It’s okay, I’ll look for it later. We don’t want to be late for preschool,” I said and turned to my little human. “You ready to go?”
He grinned and plonked down on his butt, holding his feet up. “I puts on my own shoes.”
There was so much pride in his voice that I was reluctant to let him know they were on the wrong feet. And if we’d only gone to the playground across the street, I wouldn’t have worried. But I didn’t want the teachers to think I didn’t pay attention.
“Well done, Sötnos. You did a really good job. The thing is just that your shoes are on the wrong feet.”
He creased his brow and looked at his shoes, then at me. “But they’re the only feets I got.”
A smile tugged on my lips, and I was reminded once again why I would do just about anything for my kids. “Good point.” I tapped his shoes. “But I meant your shoes are mixed up. We need to switch them to the other foot.”
“I’ll do it,” he said, and I watched him change his shoes, my fingers twitching every time he struggled. But he was determined to do it himself. His lips puckered in concentration, and I didn’t want to interfere.
Once he set his mind to something he wouldn’t stop until he’d figured it out. He used to have a speech problem and slight stutter, but with speech therapy, you couldn’t even tell anymore.
His eyes were bright and his voice animated when he did it all by himself.
“Finished,” he declared, clapping his hands.
“Where’s Lena?” I asked. Usually she was glued to Luca, hardly ever leaving his side.
“I’ve got her,” Sebastian’s deep baritone sounded from behind me.
I got up and turned, my jaw slipping at the sight in front of me. Sebastian was holding a relaxed Lena on his hip like this was a normal occurrence. She was fully dressed, one of her hands resting on his cheek, her other one holding on to the fabric of his T-shirt.
“I’ll take her,” I said, walking up to them.
“No,” Lena declared when she saw my outstretched hands.
“It’s okay, I’ll carry her,” Sebastian said and walked out.
I followed, holding Luca’s hand. We dropped him off, Lena never moving from her comfortable perch.
When we got home, I put a snack together for Lena so she’d be busy when I made a phone call I didn’t want to make. Nausea churned in my stomach at the thought of what I was about to do. But I was out of options. And I just had to get over myself.
Things could always be worse. I could have no money left at all. But since I still had a bank account where my wages were paid into, I’d be okay. Just not
