by Freya Barker
“She’s an idiot. Still can’t figure how she can’t seem to appreciate the amazing kids she has.” Viv gives his shoulder a squeeze. “They can keep me company in the kitchen, and if it gets too late, they can crash upstairs. No worries.”
“I’ll set them up with my iPhone. I’ve got lots of new games they’ll like,” Matt contributes, earning a raised eyebrow from Gunnar.
“Thanks, although I have my doubts about the games. But it means tonight I should be at Emmy’s play and we’ll be short staffed. Also, Dexter has already made it known he doesn’t want to go, so he was gonna hang with me here while I work. He’ll just have to deal and come along.” A deep groan illustrates his frustration.
“I can stay and help.”
I swear the words just come flying out without passing through my brain. Oh my God. And from the startled looks around me, everyone else is as stunned as I am at my words. Although their reactions are more likely over the fact that I actually spoke, they don’t have a clue why my offer is something completely out of character. They don’t know me at all.
I tend to avoid kids like the plague. They wouldn’t know that, nor will they because that part of me is locked away tight.
“Actually,” Viv says with an eyebrow raised, “that could work out quite well. I’ll join Matt and Denise up front and you can help Dino in the kitchen and watch Dex.”
“Dino?”
Viv laughs at my question. “Dino is our chef. His real name is Francis, but he threatens to hit us when we try to use it. The ‘Dino’ will become obvious when you see him.”
“You sure?” Gunnar’s gritty voice asks beside me and I turn to meet his eyes.
“Me?” I ask tentatively. When he nods, I simply nod yes back, but shit, I’m really not sure at all.
“He’s a good kid, Dexter. He won’t give you any trouble and I’ll only be gone a couple of hours. Sure you don’t have somewhere you gotta be?”
I hold back the giggle that threatens to come out at that question and my eyes flick over to Viv, who seems to have kept the fact I’m homeless to herself.
“Nowhere.” I tell him.
CHAPTER FIVE
Syd
Dino is behemoth, and I mean massive.
I just finished my final clean of the washrooms when I venture over to the kitchen and find a large bull of a man coming out of the pantry. My instincts are to turn and run, which is something I would’ve done out on the streets if I encountered someone as intimidating as him, but when I take a step back out the doorway, I bump into Viv who’s come up behind me.
“Ah, you’re early. Perfect,” she says to him as she slides past me, grabbing hold of my arm to pull me further into the kitchen. “Dino, this is Syd. She’s replacing Maria and she’s great in the kitchen as well. Gunnar has something he has to go to for a couple of hours tonight and Syd’s gonna hang around to help in the kitchen while I take over bartending duties. Syd, meet Dino, our chef.”
“Hi,” I choke on his name, a little unnerved by the intense stare directed at me from under his heavy brow. A grunt in response is all I get as he turns away and starts laying out the supplies he collected from the pantry. When I quickly glance over at Viv, she winks at me with a smile on her face, handing me an apron.
“Dino will tell you what to do.”
My eyebrows shoot up, questioning whether the grunting Neanderthal can even speak, only causing Viv to snicker beside me. A light shove in my back from her propels me to step beside him at the counter and without looking at me, he slides over a cutting board with a knife.
“You do know how to use a knife?” The deep rumble of his voice is even more imposing than Gunnar’s, but surprisingly, the tone is soft.
“Yup.” Is all I say, picking up the knife and starting on the peppers he’s lined up on the counter.
Half an hour later, with a bin of diced peppers done, I feel him standing behind me. “Hmmm, not bad. How are you with onions?”
“Okay.”
“Not one for small talk, are you? Nice for a change,” he grumbles, referring to Viv’s chatty personality I assume. Oddly, it makes me feel more comfortable in his presence.
“Not much to say.”
“Hmmm,” he says again. “Tackle the onions next.”
Just as I’m about to grab the first one on the pile, I hear a kid’s voice from the door.
“Hey Dino!” A young boy walks into the kitchen, backpack slung over his shoulder. “Who are you?” His eyes find me frozen with the kitchen knife in my hand.
“Daniel...” The name I tried so hard to forget stumbles off my lips before I can think. Memories of a little boy–both happy and painful–assault me and the knife slips out of my hand, bouncing off the board and cutting my leg on the way down to the ground. I can’t get myself to tear my eyes from the boy in front of me whose eyes have gone bigger than saucers.
“You’re bleeding,” he says, looking at me with worry all over his face.
Snapped out of my memories, I glance down at my jeans that now have a red stain quickly spreading.
“Shit girl!” Dino turns me toward the kitchen table and shoves me down in a chair. “Thought you could handle a knife?”
“Sorry... it slipped,” I mumble while he tries to have a look at my leg.
“Sit tight while I go get some supplies. Dexter? Keep an eye on her,” he says, leaving the kitchen and me alone with the scared looking boy.
Dexter. That’s the kid’s name, right? Gunnar’s son?
“Are you okay?” he asks me timidly and my heart aches at the tears pooling in his eyes.
“Hey, I’m fine ... honest. It’s just a little cut. It doesn’t even hurt.”
“Why did you call me Daniel? My name is Dexter,” he says, concern replaced by curiosity as he regards me.
“You just reminded me of a little boy I knew,” I find myself saying.
“I’m not really that little. I’m nine.” Dexter pulls himself up to his full height and pops his little chest out, making me smile.
“I can tell. You’re gonna be as tall as your dad.”
“Everyone always says I look like him,” he says proudly.
“Sure do.” I smile at him, winning a small smile back. I lift my eyes to the door, spotting Dino who is leaning against the post, listening, and a first-aid kit in his big paws.
“Dex, why don’t you go up front and hang with Viv? I need to fix Syd up.”
At the mention of my name, Dexter looks at me. “Syd?”
“Yup. That’s my name. Nice to meet you, Dexter.”
With a little man’s chin tilt and a wave of his little hand, he’s gone, leaving me with Dino’s dark eyes focused on me, making me more than a little uncomfortable.
“Been married for twelve years so don’t take this the wrong way, but I need you to drop your pants.”
I’m poised to object, but the sticky flow of blood against my skin tells me to suck it up, so I stand, untie the rope at my waste and let the still zipped up jeans drop before sitting again.
“Christ, woman. You’re skin and bones,” Dino mutters as he starts wiping the substantial gash in my thigh with alcohol wipes. I grimace at the sting but sit still, taking this pain as my punishment too.
“Seemed chatty enough with little Dex, there. Been around kids a lot?” He asks, not looking up from the care he’s giving the cut on my leg, so he doesn’t see the look of panic I feel threatening to settle on my face ... I hope. I take a deep breath and with a nonchalant air I don’t feel, I respond without revealing too much.
“Not really. Been a while.”
“That so? Well, Dex and Emmy are great kids. They’re here quite a bit so I guess you’ll be seeing a lot more of them.” He briefly looks up before going back to the task of doctoring me up. I sit quietly as he pulls the edges of the cut together and closes it with butterfly bandages. I think I’ve done enough talking for today, but Dino isn’t done.
“Just so you know, I’m not half as scary as I look. N
ot a big talker myself, but a good listener. Remember that.”
Gunnar
“Dad?”
My little guy stands in the doorway to my office where his big sister has already taken up residence with her homework.
“Hey squirt. Where’ve you been?”
“Kitchen.” Just like his father, Dex doesn’t like to waste words. Would probably piss me the hell off if he were older, but from the little guy, it’s just cute. He’s not moving from the doorway though, just shuffling his feet a bit where he stands. Quiet kid normally, so I know I’ll have to ask before he says anything.
“What’s the matter?”
“I think she’s hurt pretty bad—the lady in the kitchen. She was bleeding a lot,” he says without really looking at me.
“Hurt? Is it Viv?” I ask, shooting up from my chair. With two strides, I’m in front of him.
“She says her name is Syd. And Dad? She called me Daniel. I think I scared her and that’s why she dropped the knife.”
A sick feeling settles in the pit of my stomach thinking about that waif of a girl getting hurt. She’s as fragile as a baby bird already. Damn.
“Stay here with Emmy, kid. I’ll go have a look, okay?” With his head bobbing in agreement, I take off for the kitchen.
I catch Dino’s question about kids just outside the doorway and her tentative sounding response. She hasn’t strung more than three words together at a time to my knowledge so far, so the news she was chatty with my son surprises me. She doesn’t see me but Dino—who is sitting on his knees in front of her—throws me a quick look over her shoulder before saying something in a low voice I can’t quite catch. “What happened?”
At my voice, Syd twists her head around to find me right behind her. Her jeans are puddled around her ankles and her exposed legs tell me she’s even more malnourished than I suspected. I’m almost sickened at the pang of lust that stirs my cock at the sight of the pale expanse of skin and the plain cotton panties she’s in. Fuck me. It hasn’t been that long since I’ve had someone for a skinny little bird like her to rouse me, or has it? Can’t fucking remember now. Spotting the cut on her thigh and the butterfly bandages Dino has obviously placed on the cut, goes a long way to snuffing out any sexual thoughts. Thank God.
“Sorry,” she says, apprehension in her eyes. “The knife slipped. I’ll pay for the jeans.”
I shake my head, trying to understand. “Jeans?”
“That Viv gave me? They’re cut too.”
Still at a loss, I look to Dino for answers but he just shrugs and stands up to his full height, towering over her. “You woozy?” he asks, watching Syd closely. When she shakes her head no, tossing that mane of hair around, he turns to the sink to wash his hands.
Before I have a chance to say or do anything, Syd is pulling her jeans up over those skinny legs, carefully avoiding her injury. The large bloodstain and the rip in her jeans give me a clearer picture, as does the fact that she has to hold them up with a piece of rope. I need a talk with Viv. “You need to go lay down or something?”
She looks at me suspiciously before turning her eyes to the ground. “I’m fine.”
“Still. I’d feel better if you took the load off for a bit. Half an hour, tops. Use the apartment upstairs. It has a comfortable couch, and after that, we’ll see how you feel. Whether you need to go home or not, we’ll manage.” With nothing more than the faintest of smiles, she slips past me, into the hallway.
“Sure she doesn’t need to see a doctor?” I ask Dino.
“Nah. It’s long, but not so deep. Reason she was bleeding like a stuck pig is ‘cause the girl has no fat on her body ... at all.” He looks at me hard. “I mean nothing. She’s skin and bones. Where did you find her?”
“I didn’t, Viv did. She told me Syd had run into some hard times, but I’m thinking there’s more to the story.”
Dino nods in agreement. “Sure seems that way.”
With Syd upstairs and Dino once again focused on his stove, I set off to find my manager for a talk. I find her setting up the bar for the evening crowd. “Tell me more about Syd.” I dive in without preamble, startling Viv who hadn’t heard me walk up.
“Oh, hey! Syd? What do you mean?” She feigns ignorance, but I know her too well. She can’t lie for shit.
“You know what I mean. I just sent her upstairs to go lay down. That woman is not well. Where did you meet her?”
“Upstairs?” Her confusion is clear on her face. “Why? Did something happen?”
I tell her what Dexter told me and what I observed in the kitchen. She looks ready to run upstairs and see for herself when I hold up my hand to stop her. “She’s fine, or at least she will be after she lies down for a bit. I need to know, Syd. That woman is so malnourished and so damn pale; something is off with her.”
“Shit. I know, Gunnar. I kept it to myself ‘cause I wanted her to have a chance to find her feet, so you have to promise me not to jump to conclusions.”
I answer the plea in her eyes with a shrug of my shoulders. I can promise not to jump to conclusions, but I fucking well reserve the right to form those on my own.
“She’s homeless. Well, technically, she lives in the shed down the alley, but she has nothing. I found her collecting food from the dumpster last Thursday night. She was so scared when I caught her, Gunnar. It broke my heart.”
“Who’s to say she isn’t some junkie who’s gonna rob us blind the first chance she gets? Seriously, Viv, what the fuck were you thinking?” I’m pissed to have been put in this position, but I can’t risk what I—no—what my family has spent the last several decades building. She’s gotta go.
“You promised,” Viv spits out, her mouth an angry line. “I know you, and I know how you think. Hell, I even know what you think. She’s not like that. I can tell. Gunnar, please don’t. Give her a chance. I realize she’s a big question mark but you know what? She hadn’t spoken or been spoken to in a long fucking time when I found her, and already she is interacting with most of us and she works really hard!”
I have my mouth open to respond but Viv cuts me off with her hand. “You send her away now, you’ll set her back further than where she was when I saw her first. Please.”
Fucking hell. Those puppy-dog eyes of hers are filling with tears. The times I’ve seen Viv cry in all the years we’ve known each other can be counted on one hand. She’s just that tough. Not now though. I can’t figure what has her so invested in having Syd here, but something does. Turning Viv by her shoulders, I guide her into the hallway in the back where I pull her in for a hug.
“You’re a pain in my ass, you know that?” I tell her, resting my cheek on her head.
“I know...” she snuffles into my chest.
“We’ll see how it goes, but one wrong move and she’s out of here, okay?” I draw a line in the sand but truth be told, I don’t know if I’d have the heart to put her out anyway. Fucking little bird does something to me.
“Ready girl?”
I’ve just left Viv in charge of the pub and have to hustle to get my girl to her play in time, and Dino’s already fed both kids some dinner at the kitchen table. Looks like Syd found her way back downstairs, looking a little better than earlier. She’s sitting at the table, apparently much more at ease with Dino and my children than she is with me since she seems to avoid looking me in the eye.
“Ready, Daddy?” Emmy jumps up and grabs her backpack. I walk over to where Dex is sitting and ruffle his hair.
“You gonna be okay here for a bit, kid?” The enthusiastic nod of his head is answer enough. Without forcing the usual rule of answering with words, I lean down and kiss his head. “Be good for Dino and Syd, okay?”
“Yes, Dad.” I catch Syd observing my interactions with the kids closely, but the moment she senses my eyes on her, she flicks her gaze back down to the table. Huh. Maybe it’s me. The girl is an enigma.
In the car, I can’t help but notice Emmy seems withdrawn and is staring out the window, her long b
londe hair covering part of her face. She has her mother’s looks but thank God not her attitude. Emmy is soft hearted and sweet.
“You nervous, kiddo?”
She nods but doesn’t turn her head to face me. Worried she might be more nervous than I had anticipated, I grab her hand in mine, squeezing it.
“You’ll be brilliant, you know that right? You’re my daughter. How could you be any other way?” I tease her, knowing how to coax a smile out of her, but it’s not working and when I see her shoulders pull up around her ears, I know she’s crying. I pull into the first free parking spot on the side of the road that I see. “Hey. Emmy, look at me.”
“Daddy, we’re gonna be l...late,” she hiccups, finally turning her face so I can see her. Her eyes are wet and big fat tears slowly roll down her cheek. I reach out and brush them away with my thumb.
“What’s going on, honey? I thought you were looking forward to tonight. What happened?”
“I was, but when I got mad at Mom for making other plans, she said because I don’t have a leading role, it’s a waste of time anyway.” Emmy starts sobbing now and I hate it when the kids cry—especially Emmy—who doesn’t do it very often. Leaning over, I pull her against my shoulder where she continues to sob. I try to control the urge to curse her mother out loud, but I don’t want to add to Emmy’s stress. I know she kept this from me because she hates to see us fight, and unfortunately, that has happened more than it should. With a bit more care than I usually would, I try to undo the damage Cindy has caused.
“Listen, I have been looking forward to this ever since I found out I was gonna get to take you instead. I happen to believe you are very talented, very beautiful, and capable of playing any role you set your sights on. That’s why it doesn’t matter what role you play, because I know you will blow everyone else out of the water.”
She lifts her head off my shoulder and gives me a watery smile and a nudge to my side. “Da-ad...”