CHAPTER 15

I nodded and sipped the coffee.

“Smart-ass,” he muttered. “Is she going for a nap soon?”

I knew where this was going. “Yes, after lunch, and yes, we’ll talk then.”

He sipped his drink slowly, his eyes on mine. “Good.”

Silence hovered between us for a long moment, and then . . .

“Mama? Mama? SARS!”

I sat on the sofa to the daily “no nap” chorus being shouted from upstairs and brought my legs up, wrapping my arms around my knees and hugging my thighs to my chest. My chin rested on the top of my knees, and I stared at a spot on the wall over the top of Conor’s head.

“She do that often?” he asked, breaking through the silence.

Without Milka there, it was tense. Unfortunately his words didn’t snap that tension, just the silence.

“Every single day,” I replied. “Give her two minutes, and she’ll give up and go to sleep.”

“Stubborn, huh?”

“She learned from the best,” I muttered to myself.

Conor caught it anyway, and his lips twitched. “You said it.”

Before, I would have flicked my foot out and