Princess Holy Aura by Ryk E. Spoor

Author:Ryk E. Spoor [Spoor, Ryk E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Fiction, General, Contemporary, Urban
ISBN: 9781481482820
Publisher: Baen Books
Published: 2017-12-05T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 35

“Hi, Tierra, come on in,” Holly said, trying not to yawn. “Hi, Ms. MacKintor.”

“So you’re Holly! Tierra’s said a lot about you.” Marli MacKintor gave a quick smile that momentarily eased visible lines in her face.

“Only good things, I hope,” Trayne Owen said. “Would you like to come in . . . Marli, is it? Have a cup of coffee?”

“Oh, God, I’d love to, but I barely have time to get to work as it is. I can’t say how grateful I am that you’re letting Tierra come over here this early.” Holly noted that while Marli had the same brilliant red hair of her daughter, Marli’s was streaked with gray and she had the pinched look of someone under constant worry.

“Well, we were all caught off guard, to say the least, by what happened at the school. As Holly was going to have her friends over anyway, it’s no problem at all. But if you can’t come in and sit down, I insist you at least take one of these muffins; when I knew you’d be coming this early I baked some—”

The part of Holly that was Steve recognized the almost too intense longing in both Marli and Tierra’s face at the sight of the home-baked goods. “Well, I suppose I could take one—”

“Take two, here, I have a bag.”

“Well . . . thank you very much, Trayne.” Marli’s flash of a smile was very like Tierra’s. “Tierra, you behave yourself—”

“Mooommmm, I’m not five years old anymore!”

“All the more reason to behave yourself,” Marli said, then gave her obviously slightly embarrassed daughter a hug. “I’ll pick her up—”

“No need, I’ll bring her home. If they don’t decide to all sleep over and make it impossible for me to sleep. I understand the school’s closed for an entire week, so it’s an unexpected vacation.”

“Well . . . I’ll call you later.” She glanced at her phone. “God, I have to go. Bye!”

Once her car had departed the driveway, Holly saw Tierra sink slowly down into one of the chairs, eyes scanning the room. She knew that look, too.

“Your mom’s kinda run ragged, isn’t she?”

“Two jobs, sometimes three,” Tierra said, with that expression of defiant embarrassment that showed a past filled with both sneers and oppressive, useless sympathy.

And I’ve never heard her mention—

“And . . . no other parent?” Silvertail asked gently.

Tierra grimaced. “Well . . . um, can I have one of those—”

“Of course. I made them for everyone.”

Tierra took one of the muffins and bit into it. “Orrmgrrrd, thss’s gud,” she mumbled ecstatically through her second huge mouthful, then swallowed. “Yeah, well, like I was saying, I have a father. Biologically. Other than that, he’s an asshole. Sorry.”

“No need to apologize. So your mother takes care of you by herself and cannot afford to miss work because school schedules change. Don’t worry; we’ll handle that part for her during the time school is unexpectedly out. You’re always welcome here.”

“It’ll mean a lot to her.”

In the back of her mind, Holly/Steve had already decided that they’d do more than just play babysitter occasionally.

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