Maybe he will later.
Maybe that is worse.
Lottie appears behind Amelia, her face unreadable. “Come on, sugar. Janie’s got cartoons queued up.”
August hesitates. “Derby’s staying?”
I look at Amelia.
She looks at me.
“Yes,” she says softly. “He’s staying.”
The word hooks into me.
August lets Lottie take him.
The door closes halfway after they go inside, leaving Amelia and me on the porch with rain smell, porch light, and every wrong thing waiting between us.
Her eyes drop to my hands.
“Your hands.”
“I’ve had worse.”
“That isn’t the point.”
I almost smile because she said the same thing last night. Or this morning. Time has turned weird since a dinosaur became a threat.
She comes down one step and reaches for my wrist.
I let her.
Her fingers are warm. Gentle. She turns my hand palm up, and I watch her look at the split knuckles, the dried blood, the bruising already rising.
Some of it’s mine.
Most of it’s Jeremy’s.
Her mouth trembles.
“I told you he wanted this.”
“Yeah.”
“You did it anyway.”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Because he said he plans to take August from you.”
Her face changes.
There it is.
That dark flash.