Adley

"Crew will be back in three days," Ellie tells May as we stand at the corner of Broadway and Eighty-First. "You can explain to him what happened to the kite then."

May shields her eyes from the bright mid-day sun with her hand as she looks up at her mom. "Why can't we just call him? He told me that if I need him that I should call."

He's told me the same thing countless times. I was tempted to reach out to him yesterday, but visions of him in bed with Lucia kept me from making the call. He did send me a text message shortly after two this morning when I was up getting a glass of water. It said that he missed me.

I sent him a response almost immediately telling him that I missed him too, and then I waited for more. Nothing came and now it's almost twelve hours later and I haven't heard another word from him. I won't until he's back in Manhattan.

"What happened to the kite?" I step onto the street once the light changes. "Did you get it caught in a tree?"

"No." May reaches forward to grab my hand. "I gave it to a friend."

I squeeze her hand in mine. She's so much like Ellie that it's hard to believe that they're not related by blood. Ellie was homeless when we met and yet she would have given the few possessions she did have to anyone who needed them. Her good heart has rubbed off on her daughter.

May and I skip up onto the curb once we've crossed the street. Ellie does the same with Jonas by her side.

"Your friend didn't have a kite?" I look down at May. She's wearing a pair of blue shorts and a blue T-shirt. Our outfits are almost identical right down to our flat-heeled sandals. Mine are nude, hers a sparkly pink.

"He doesn't have many toys." She pushes a pebble on the sidewalk with her foot. "Mom took me to fly the kite yesterday and he was there with his little brother. I gave them the kite because I knew Captain Crew would have done the same thing."

She's right.

"He's going to be proud of you." I start walking up Broadway holding tight to her hand with Ellie and Jonas trailing behind us. "You did the right thing by thinking of your friend first."

"That's what I thought too." She looks up at me, her brown eyes widening. "Captain says you and dad are his best friends. Your best friend is a boy and mine is too."

"Your best friend is the boy you gave the kite to?"

"Zane," she says as her cheeks blush. "He's cute."

"I bet he thinks the same thing about you." I squeeze her hand again as we walk toward her favorite bistro for lunch. "He sounds like a pretty special best friend to me. It was kind of you to give that kite to Zane. Crew will think so too."

"I can't wait until he gets back from his trip." She skips faster and I up my pace to keep up with her. "I hope he's not having so much fun that he stays there forever."

He might. Lucia is perfect for him. It's only a matter of time before he realizes that.

***

"Is that blood on your shirt?" Sydney leans in to get a closer look. "That is blood, Adley. Do you know how unsanitary that is?"

"I had to draw blood from a Dalmatian today. Obviously he wasn't cooperative."

I should have known it wouldn't be an easy shift when I was called in on my day off. I'd just finished sharing an ice cream covered dessert brownie with May when Tilly called to ask me to cover the rest of her shift because she felt sick. I couldn't decline. She's done the same for me on more than one occasion.

"You have to change out of your scrubs before the party starts." Sydney runs her hands over her short white dress. "I'm wearing this but you can wear anything but what you have on right now."

A party? Seriously?

I have to work again tomorrow. I can't party until I drop tonight. I'm close to dropping now I'm so exhausted.

"You're having a party? How many people are coming?"

"It's more a pizza and beer hangout to watch the game." She bites her bottom lip. "How many would be too many?"

One. That's what I want to say, but I don't.

I was looking forward to taking a bath tonight and then watching a movie. Obviously, that's not happening now.

"How many, Syd?" I rest my hip against the counter.

"Twenty," she replies quickly. "Two."

I take a deep breath and then let it out; using the minute it affords me to calm down enough that I don't offend her. "You know that sometimes I work odd hours. It would help me a lot, in the future, if we talked about having that many people over before the invites were sent out."

Her bottom lip trembles slightly. "I messed up, didn't I? I'm sorry, Ad. I thought we could both use some fun. I've seen how hard you've been working lately."

I'm not angry. It's hard to be mad at someone who bounced into my life and has become such a good friend in a short period of time. "Normally, I'd be all over the idea of a party but I'm wiped tonight."

"I can cancel it." She reaches forward to grab her phone from the counter. As she slides it toward her, she knocks my keys to the hardwood floor. "Shit. I'm going to get my ass thrown out of here before the night is over."

I bend down to pick up my keys, jingling them in my hand. My eyes catch on the key that I've never used. It opens the door to Crew's apartment.

When he handed it to me he told me that the doormen had a standing order to let me in the building if I ever showed up. He also made it crystal clear that if I ever needed a place to crash, I should consider myself welcome in his guest room.

I stayed the night there twice before. Once when my power was out because of a breaker issue and the second time was when the city came to a standstill because of a snowstorm. I didn't want to deal with the hassle of trying to find a ride back to my place, so I slept in the plush bed reserved for guests. Both nights, I slept like a baby.

"I don't want you to cancel and you're not getting thrown out." I smile. "I love having you as a roommate."

"So you'll change and get ready for the party? Trey Hale's not in the line-up tonight. Do you think he'd want to come over? My friends would freak."

Trey would love to but he's sitting in the dugout tonight watching his teammates take on the team ranked second in their division. He called me right before I left work today. I didn't answer so he left a message asking me if I wanted to watch the game from the team owner's skybox. I texted him on my way home telling him that I had to take a rain check. 

Our relationship hasn't progressed beyond meeting for dinner or coffee yet. He did kiss me goodbye after we met at a café yesterday, but there wasn't even a spark. It was a close-mouthed, uninspired meeting of lips and nothing more.

"Trey's at the game tonight." I dip my chin down. "I think I'm going to take off. You can have the place all to yourself. I won't be back until tomorrow after my shift."

"Someone has a hot date with a smoking hot baseball player after the game."

"That someone isn't me," I say simply. "I'm going to go hang out at a friend's place."

Her gaze narrows. "Why do I feel like I'm chasing you out of your own home?"

"You're not." I shake my head to reinforce the point. "I want you to have a good time with your friends. This is as much your home as it is mine."

"Does that mean we can use your bedroom for any extracurricular activities?" Her eyebrows dance. "I mean I only have that one queen size bed in my room."

"I'm locking my bedroom door before I leave." I smile as I jingle my keys in my hand.

"I was totally joking," she says, nudging my shoulder. "It's mostly friends from high school coming over.  Friends who are girls."

I laugh. "I'm still locking my bedroom door."

"Thanks for letting us hang out here. You're the best." She leans forward to hug me. "I hope your night will be as good as mine."