No Rhyme or Reason

Chapter 8

I parked my car in the parking lot of our apartment and turned it off. I went around the car and unbuckled Addie and we walked to the apartment. She hadn't said a word since we left.

"Have you had supper?" I asked her in the elevator.

She shook her head.

"Are you hungry?"

She nodded her head. I couldn't blame her for not wanting to speak after all she'd been through.

"Hi," I called out when we walked into the apartment. Addie seemed a bit reluctant to step any further.

"This is where I live," I said to Addie. "My grandparents are in the living room. I can introduce you to them if you want," I said so she felt a little more comfortable. She nodded her head and followed me in. I sat my bookbag on the ground and led Addie into the living room.

My grandparents looked up.

"Now, who's this?" my grandfather asked and they both smiled at Addie who stepped into my side.

"This is Addie. I'm looking after her for a friend for the evening. Addie, these are my grandparents."

"Hi there," my grandmother said to Addie with a warm smile. Addie looked down at the floor.

"I was thinking of making some supper. Have you eaten yet?"

"Not yet," my gramps said. "We were thinking of having leftovers."

"Okay, great," I said to them.

I guided Addie into the kitchen. "Now, what do you feel like eating?" I asked her. She didn't reply so I kept chatting to try and make her feel comfortable.

"Let's see what we have in the fridge." There were some leftovers from last night so I took those out and started heating them up for my grandparents and then brought it out to them in the living room.

"Why don't we eat something fun for supper?" I asked Addie when I came back. "Oh, I got it," I said and then turned around to face her. "How about we make homemade pizza. Do you like pizza?"

She looked up at me through her long eyelashes and nodded her head. I noticed that her eyes looked identical to Jax's. Deep brown eyes and long dark eyelashes.

"Okay," I said as I started lining up pizza toppings on the kitchen counter. I pulled out two pizza crusts and a can of pizza sauce and then brought a chair over and set it in front of the counter.

"Would you like to make your own?" I asked Addie. She looked at the toppings lined on the counter and nodded her head again.

I helped her up on the chair so she was able to see the counter. I placed a pizza crust in front of her and lathered pizza sauce all over it and then did mine.

"Okay. Now for the fun part. You can put whatever you want on your pizza."

I had different veggies, meats and cheese lined up in front of her. I started loading on my favourite toppings and she just watched me. "Take whatever you want," I said to her and she hesitantly reached out and started making her pizza. I grabbed my phone and put on some music in the background.

"It looks perfect," I said when she was done. I popped them into the oven and then turned back to Addie. She looked a little less tense already and another idea came to mind.

"I was thinking," I said to Addie. "After we eat our pizza, we're going to want something for dessert. Do you think we should make some cookies?"

Her eyes went wide.

"Do you like cookies?" I asked. She nodded her head and then... she actually smiled. It was a small, tentative smile, but was a smile nonetheless. To make her smile and maybe forget what she had seen earlier, it felt like a victory.