“Mama said not yet.”
“Not yet ran out.”
He pulls back enough to look at me. “Did you bring Widowmaker?”
“She brought me.”
His eyes widen. “Can Princess Chomp see her?”
“Who the hell is Princess Chomp?”
“Language,” Hot Mama says behind me.
I glance over my shoulder.
She is smiling.
I hate her again.
August points to the green dinosaur. “This is Princess Chomp. She escaped jail.”
“Sounds dangerous.”
“She bit a bad dad.”
The whole world stills for me again.
Bad dad.
These kids have their own language for monsters.
I think of the dinosaur I have in my saddlebag for him. It can wait. I crouch so I’m eye level with August. “You doing okay?”
He nods fast. “There’s kids. And chili. And a jail in the sandbox. And Hot Mama says Blue Rex is a fair judge.”
I glance back at Hot Mama. “Did she?”
“She did. And she said cheating at cards depends who you cheat.”
“Did she now?”
Hot Mama lifts one shoulder. “Nuance matters.”
I look back at August. “Where’s your mama?”
He turns and points.
My heart stops before my eyes find her.
Amelia stands across the campground near the fire circle.
She is still.
One hand at her throat. Dark hair loose around her shoulders. Face pale in the Oregon dusk. Alive. Safe.
Mine to ask, not take, I remind myself
She looks at August tucked against me.