“Yes, please, Mommy.”
She turned to Jayden. “Thank you for this stuff. What do I owe you?”
“Nothin’. Welcome gift.”
“Oh, okay, thank you. Can I make you a sandwich, Jayden? You hungry?”
Before she could take anything out to make a sandwich, he shut the refrigerator door. “I’m starving, so a sandwich won’t cut it. How about pizza?”
“But I—?”
“Pizza! Pizza!” Zak hopped on the spot and clapped.
He whipped out his cell. “What topping you havin’, kid?”
“Cheese.”
“They all have cheese.” He hit speed dial on his favorite Italian. “You like pepperoni, chicken, ham?”
“Yes, all of them.” Zak grinned his big toothless grin. “And mushroom and ’matoes.”
“We can’t, I mean, I have to be careful with cash. I—”
“My treat,” Jayden said and then turned away as his callwas answered.
After he’d put in the order, he slipped his cell into the pocket of his cut.
“You’ve done so much already,” Tammy said, digging in her purse. “Please, I can’t let you buy us pizza too, and really, it’s Zak’s bedtime.”
“Stop.” He curled his hand over hers, preventing her from opening her small wallet. Her fingers were cool and delicate, and he was sure he could sense a small tremble in them. “I wanna eat pizza, and they’ve got a two-for-one offer, so basically yours and Zak’s was free. Don’t think about it again.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really.”
She frowned as if she wasn’t sure whether or not to believe him.
Smart girl. That Italian had never done a two-for-one deal. “It’ll be twenty minutes,” he said. “About.” He sat and crossed his ankle over his knee and poked at the frayed rip in his jeans.
For a moment, she studied him, as if taking in his size in the small room, then, “Time for you to jump in the tub, young man, and get into your pajamas.”
“I don’t have any pajamas. Remember?”
“Oh.” Her expression dropped. “No, you don’t. You’ll have to sleep in your underwear and sweater tonight, and tomorrow we’ll buy some more. But you need a scrub after that long road trip.”
Zak appeared happy with that and wandered off to the bathroom, dragging Bilbo by his ear. Tammy followed.
Jayden plucked out his smokes, then remembered what she’d said about kids’ lungs.
He headed out to the porch, leaving the door on the latch and slightly open. He sparked up, pulled out his cell, and calledBrooklyn. “Hey, how’s it going?”
“Hudson’s still out on business,” she said.
“Yeah, I guessed as much, but it’s you I wanna talk to.”
“Everything okay with Tammy and her kid?”
“Zak, yeah, well, as good as you can expect considering she’s on the run from an asswipe husband who’s obviously been beating the shit out of her for a long time.”