“Okay, well, I’m gonna need to shower and do some serious baking in order to get through today. The agents are coming later and I’m heading over to my place to get a week or two’s worth of clothes. Mama, it’s cool if I stay here?”
“Chicklet, don’t be silly or absurd. This is your home. You always have a place to stay. All of you girls do, and any family you make in the future. Now, who wants cookies or cake? I have an excellent German chocolate I baked yesterday and some snickerdoodles too.”
I grinned and waggled my eyebrows at Charlie. “The snickerdoodles are mine!” I jumped up at the same time she did.
“No way! You’re hurt. I can totally outrun you! Nothing’s keeping me from first dibs on those cookies!” She dashed toward the cookie jar like a burst of red lightning streaking by.
“Dammit! No fair!”
“Mouth,” Mama warned. One thing our foster mother did not tolerate was profanity. She believed from the moment you could cogitate that you had the ability to choose your words, and a person should do so wisely, as to not offend others. She felt you could always use your vocabulary to get the point across without being profane.
Drove some of the girls nuts. Me, I liked that she had little quirks. Made her more human and less goddess. She was already worshiped by every single one of us for being our ultimate savior. Her quirks made her relatable and loveable. Then again, I loved everything about all of them. They were my family. All I had in the world.
“Ah-ha!” Charlie held up the first snickerdoodle as though it were a bar of gold she’d found in her search for mighty treasure.
“Whatever!” I groused good naturedly.
“There’s plenty to go around for all my girls. It’s most certainly not my first day being your mother, is it?” She nailed the two of us with her blue-green eyes and a twitch of her lips giving away her amusement.
“No, Mama,” I pouted.
“No. But I scored the best one,” Charlie attested, taking a big bite then moaning.
I glared at her. “You’d eat the best one after your sister was shot and almost strangled! How rude!”
“Jesus!” Blessing griped. “Those two.”
“Blessing, that better be a prayer!” Mama warned.
Her eyes got big and she made the sign for zipping up her mouth and tossing the imaginary key over her shoulder.
“Fine. You can have half of the world’s greatest cookie,” Charlie bartered.
I smiled wide and held out my hand. “Thank you, Charlieeeee.”
She rolled her eyes and slapped half a cookie in my hand as if it were the last one, but it definitely was not. Still, the fact that she’d give it to me and share was what mattered. It had been a lifelong game between us. And yet, we always shared. Except when it came to men. That was one thing none of us would ever do. That wasn’t even girl code. That was sister smackdown. If ever one of us went for the same guy, never, not ever, would any one of us date a man that had first been on a date with one of our sisters. No way. No how. That ship would sail before it ever even tried to dock.
The sisterhood was far more important than any man.
Perhaps that was why we were all single…hmmm. Something to ponder at a later date, for sure.
Speaking of dates, Mama’s cellphone that she had charging in the kitchen went off.
I chewed the cookie faster and looked down at the phone hoping it was Agent Fontaine. I’d given them my mother’s cellphone as mine was in my purse in my car which was in the hands of a killer. I shivered at the thought.
When I saw an unknown caller, my cheeks heated and my heart started to pound. I stupidly fluffed my hair and cleared my throat.
“Oh no. She did not just fix her hair for a phone call. And who, pray tell, is callin’ my sista’?” Blessing hugged me from behind and looked at Mama’s phone. “Unknown. Oooh, I do love me a mystery.”
I shoved her back with my bum, and she cackled and stepped back.
“Hello, this is Simone.”
“Hey, Simone? This is Jonah, uh, Agent Fontaine.”
“Yeah.” I smiled wide. I couldn’t help it. Just hearing his voice had butterflies fluttering in my stomach. “Hi. How are you this morning?”
“Discharged. And you?” His voice was deeper than I remembered or maybe it was just my imagination running away with me.
“Fine. Sore. But my uh, most of my sisters are here and we’re at our mother’s having tea and cookies, so…yeah. I’m good.”
He chuckled and I sighed.
I glanced behind me and every single one of the women in the room, besides Mama, was staring right at me, not even pretending they weren’t listening in.
I crinkled my nose, bugged out my eyes, and waved at them.
“Look, I’m going to go home, shower and change, meet up with my team, and secure an update from my boss the Deputy Assistant Director. Then I’ll head over to where you are and pick you up to take you to your place.”
“Honestly, you’ve done so much. You really don’t have to do that…”
Why the heck was I trying to get out of seeing him when not seeing him was the absolute last thing I wanted?
“Simone, I told you I’m gonna keep you safe and I’m committed to that. You’re in danger. No matter how strong you are or how many family members you have around you. The situation is still dire. A very bad man has your contact information, ID, cellphone, and car. That’s too close of a connection than I’d like anyone to have on a single woman who’s as sweet as you.”
“You think I’m sweet?”
Oh my God! He thinks I’m sweet!
He laughed heartier this time and I felt a flush of embarrassment work its way across my cheeks and down my neck and chest.
“Simone, you got out of your car in a tiny pink uniform that made you look like cotton candy. You’re kind. Strong. And you were more worried about getting your sister into trouble because of the possibility that you’d get a ticket or be arrested than you were about yourself. You took care of me. Got us help. Yeah, I think you’re sweet.”
“Um…thank you.”
“No problem. So, text this phone the address to where you’re at…”
“I can have someone bring me, if it’s out of your way,” I offered not wanting him to take me up on it.
“See? Sweet. And no, I’d rather escort you. We want anyone who may be casing the place to know you’re in FBI custody. Meaning unavailable to hunt and hurt.”
I covered my mouth with my hand as I gasped.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got you covered. I promised to keep you safe. I did that last night, right?”
“Yeah.” I let out the single word as though it were a whisper.
“And I’m a man of my word. When you’re with me, you’ll always be safe, Simone.”
I swallowed down the sudden emotion making my throat dry. “I’ll text you the address.”
“Fuckin’ sweet. Christ,” he blurted.
“I’m sorry?”
“Nothing. See you this afternoon, yeah?”
“Okay, Jonah. Thanks again.”
“You got it. Until then,” he said and hung up. No goodbye or farewell. Just, until then.