Even in her current condition, though, she is still beautiful.
I shake that thought from my head as soon as I have it.
“Thank you,” she says, trying to be grateful but looking like she’s about to cry.
She gets in the truck, and I turn on the heater, reaching behind the seat to toss a blanket over her lap to keep her warm. I can’t have her coming down with pneumonia; I need her too much at work.
“Here,” I say as I take off the bag and hand it to her. “Your stuff inside should still be dry, and I have a charger at the house that you can put your phone on.”
“Thanks,” she says with a weak smile. “I just don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Part of me wants to reach over and put my hand on her leg and tell her that everything will be fine. Hell, I have enough money to buy her a hundred shitty cottages. But the problem isn’t money or damage from a flood, the problem isgetting attached. I refuse to care about another woman again. So, it’s better if I offer my assistant a warm, dry place to stay until she can get back to her house—nothing more. She clearly needs my help, and as much as I cringe at admitting it to myself, I am starting to develop some underlying feelings toward Seraphine beyond employer-employee. I don’t quite understand what those feelings are, but I know that I need to swat them away regardless. I should have thought through this invitation to stay at my house, but what was I supposed to do? I would have done the same thing for Tori or anyone that was stranded in a “sinking” house.
When we pull up and go inside, Seraphine looks pitiful. Her soaked hair is matted to the sides of her face as she carries her few meager art supplies in her hands. The blanket from my truck is wrapped around her shoulders but it is now thoroughly soaked, having sopped up some of the water from her clothes and hair.
I amreallyhoping that Lilly is fast asleep, but I should have known that would make things too easy tonight,
“Oh my gosh, are you okay?” Lilly gushes as soon as Seraphine walks into the house beside me.
“Lilly, I thought I told you to go back to bed,” I scold.
“You did, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to make sure that you came home okay.”
I can’t scold her for that. Ever since her motherdidn’tcome home okay, Lilly and I havebothbeen a tad too protective of each other. It’s nothing but pure love and the lasting effects of trauma, nothing that I can fault either of us for.
“Seraphine, this is my daughterLilly,” I introduce before walking further into the house to go start the tea kettle. I think that we could all use something hot and soothing to drink.
I listen for a few minutes while filling the kettle in the other room, as Lilly offers Seraphine her sympathies for being displaced and welcomes her to our home. Lilly is literally the best human that I know, kind and compassionate and selfless. Her mom and I must have done something right.
“All right, off to bed now,” I say when I come back out. I’m balancing three teacups in my hands and trying not to drop one as I hand it off to Lilly. “You can have your tea up in bed.”
Lilly stares down at the cup and then back at me with a look that silently reads “how am I supposed to carry that with crutches?
I turn and hand the cup to Seraphine instead, and then help Lilly back to bed with her tea.
“It was nice meeting you Lilly,” Seraphine smiles.
God, she’s beautiful when she smiles. Maybe even more so tonight.
I shake the thought away again and herd Lilly toward her bedroom. It makes me uncomfortable having the two girls together and seemingly hitting it off right out of the gate. I haven’t allowed myselforLilly to get attached to any woman since Bella’s passing. It’s just not a good idea. It’s too easy to get hurt when you care about someone, and the only person that I need to care about now is my daughter.
“She’s really nice,” Lilly says as she climbs back into bed, lifting her ankle brace up onto the mattress carefully. “You didn’t tell me how pretty she was.”
“You never asked me what my new assistant looked like,” I say. “Besides, what does it matter?”
Lilly grins at me and I hand her the teacup.
“Is it mint?”
“Of course,” I smile. “With extra honey. Now drink up because you need to get some sleep.”
Lilly looks out the window and sighs as she sips her tea.
“I like the storms,” she says. “They make me feel thoughtful. How bad was her house damaged?”
“Pretty bad. I don’t think she’s going to be able to go back to live in it without some major repairs," I answer. “The water damage alone will be extensive.”
“That’s sad,” Lilly frowns. “Are you going to help her?”