Chasing Sevens

Chapter Four

4

Her skin was soft against mine. Somehow, in her sleep, she'd pressed closer to me. She could've gotten cold or something, or maybe she was still a bit afraid. Regardless, there was no way it was because she shared the same feelings. The warmth made it a hard decision to retreat. If she knew she'd cuddled up beside someone other than Max, she'd beat herself up over it, and quite frankly, the poor girl had been through enough in the past twenty-four hours.

Seven was still sleeping like a baby as I squeezed past the furniture and into the kitchen, pausing first to throw my hair back into my usual messy ponytail. I couldn't stand the feel of it on my face in the morning.

"Hey, Romeo." Candice winked, glancing in the direction of the sleeping Seven, as she stirred an iron pan full of scrambled eggs.

"It's not what ya think," I muttered, slumping into my seat at the table. "An' when did we get more eggs?"

"Oh, I realized we were out an' picked up a few things from the grocery store. It's not much, but I had a little babysitting money left and I wanted to make breakfast, seeing as how we have a guest today an' all. I borrowed the truck. Hope ya don't mind." She smiled casually and continued tending to her cooking. "There's toast an' peanut butter over there on the counter, too."

"You're supposed to be saving that money for tuition, Candice. Let me worry about the food. It's almost a new month, we can get more groceries soon. The balance will reset."

"Calm down. It was only a couple bucks. Plus, you can't just eat toast for the next few days. Instead of scoldin' me, I think a 'thank you' would be more appropriate," she said sarcastically, spooning some eggs onto a plate for me. She'd also washed up the pile of dirty dishes in the sink, scattering them around the counter to air-dry. What a saint that girl was.

Finding myself unable to be angry anymore, I grabbed a couple of fast-food salt and pepper packets from the bowl on the table and sprinkled them on my eggs, ready to enjoy breakfast. "Thanks, but you've gotta promise me you'll start saving more. Ya know how expensive it can be."

"I've got a few tricks up my sleeve. Been talking to my guidance counselor an' she thinks I could get a full ride to the community college. I've just gotta get a good admission score. That's why I've been studying so much. If I hit a good number, I might not owe 'em a cent."

She grabbed two more clean plates from the counter, pausing to determine which ones were the driest, and slapped a big spoonful of scrambled eggs onto each, followed promptly by a piece of toast.

"She'll be stayin' for breakfast, right?" She glanced toward Seven as she flitted about the kitchen. "Should I go ahead an' make one for Mama, too? I'm so excited to serve up a real family meal."

"Not sure," I responded, "about either one of 'em."

She sighed as she quickly assembled a fourth and brought one of the plates to the table, plopping into the chair beside me.