Watch Over Me by Christa Parrish

Author:Christa Parrish
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2009-10-01T04:00:00+00:00

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“I have to grab some groceries,” she said to Matthew, standing over him.

He wrote on his pad and held it up to her—I’ll be here— from his back, on the floor with Silvia, his legs sprawled in the opposite direction of hers, their faces inches apart. The baby giggled each time Matthew made a noise or smacked kisses on her lips.

Abbi nudged him with her ankle. “The sky’s about to open up. Come with me, and I’ll bring you home when I’m done. You don’t want to get stuck riding home in the rain.”

My bike?

“Ben can drop it off tonight or in the morning.”

Matthew stood with Silvia, ambled across the living room with wide, uncoordinated steps, his teenaged sneakers too large at the end of his thin legs. Thunder cracked, loud enough to vibrate the front window, and Silvia tensed, arching her back and crying her startled cry. Matthew squinted at Abbi.

“Thunder. It scared her.”

He nodded and cuddled the baby close. Abbi gave him a smocked blouse and tiny shorts to dress her in and then bent over and tied a red bandana around her own hair. “Let’s get out of here before it starts pouring.”

She took the diaper bag and an umbrella, and Matthew carried the baby, strapping her into the car seat and remaining next to her in the back. The rain pelted the windshield in plump, explosive drops as soon as Abbi backed from the driveway. “Good timing,” she said, forgetting for a moment Matthew couldn’t hear her. She didn’t repeat her words.

Pulling up in front of the Food Mart, she saw a girl standing out front, under the roof overhang, smoking. She tucked the cigarette behind her back, dropped it, one foot stealthily smothering the butt. Abbi cut the engine and the headlights, turned around to Matthew, who looked up.

“That’s your cousin out front?”

Matthew glanced out the window. Shrugged. Abbi looked toward the store again; the girl was gone. “She must have gone inside. If I see her, I’ll ask if she wants a ride. Stay here, okay?”

Abbi darted from the car through the glass doors, shaking off the rain and greeting Martha, the cashier. She made a bit of small talk about Silvia, and with a shopping basket over her arm, grabbed a container of strawberries, a bottle of Head & Shoulders for Benjamin, a cucumber, and two boxes of prunes. She had come only for the prunes but didn’t want to admit that to herself, or the cashier. And Benjamin had run out of shampoo that morning.

As she paid, she saw the smoking girl plucking videos from the rack near the front of the store, glancing at the back of the cases for a second before sticking them back. “Skye, right?”

The girl fumbled with the movie she held; it slipped from her hand, clattering to the linoleum. She left it there. “Sorry. Yeah. Hi, um, Mrs. Patil.”

“Do you need a ride?” Abbi asked.

“Uh, no. It’s okay. I’m just gonna wait out the rain here. These storms, you know.

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