Free 0215543001348293036 vaughn piper oshea m.j. by one small thing Page A

raising her all on your own? You poor thing. That must be hard.” She reached toward me, and I wasn’t sure if she planned on touching me or Alice, but I didn’t stick around to find out. I stumbled backward, nearly falling over my own feet in my rush to get away from her. “G-gotta go.”
    [52]

    one small thing

    I turned and almost ran from the park. I caught a few odd looks as I dodged around the people who were walking the trails, but I didn’t care if they thought I was crazy. I really didn’t like to be touched, especially not by strangers, and I didn’t want anyone trying to touch Alice either. It seemed so unreal to me that someone would just take that kind of liberty without asking permission first. She was a baby, not some toy in the store with a “try me” button. Why did people assume they could just put their hands on her? It made my skin crawl.
    Dusty was approaching my apartment building from the opposite direction when I finally got back to my street. He smiled cheerfully when we met up on the front steps. “Hey, Erik. Out for a walk?”
    “Y-yeah. I took Alice to the park to see the flowers.”
    “That’s so cute,” Dusty said with a soft little sigh. Then he seemed to shake himself a bit. “Did something happen, though? You look kinda upset, hon.”
    I shook my head quickly. “I’m f-fine. It’s just… sometimes it’s hard, you know?”
    “Yeah.” Dusty nodded. Something in his expression told me he really did understand. “Well, I know I’m early, but I don’t work tonight. I figured I’d come take the munchkin off your hands.”
    “O-oh, okay. Come on, I’ll get you her stuff.” Dusty and I made the walk up to my apartment in silence. He followed me in and started gathering up Alice’s belongings as I took her out of the carrier and undid all of the straps so I could remove it.
    Since I’d started watching Alice, Dusty and I had gotten used to each other too. He wasn’t anything like what I’d expected when I saw him that first day. Underneath his odd exterior—the piercings (two on either side of his lower lip, several in his ears, and a small horseshoe ring in his septum), the bleached blond hair and skintight clothes, and the shiny black nail polish—he was one of the kindest people I’d ever met. I’d never had even a flicker of discomfort around him, which was entirely new for me. Even Rue made me uneasy sometimes. More than sometimes. But Dusty was so nonthreatening with his big, dark eyes
    [53]

    Piper Vaughn & M.J. O’Shea

    and candy-sweet smile, I couldn’t even begin to feel nervous in his presence.
    “Is she gonna need a bottle soon, hon?” Dusty asked as he leaned down to scoop Alice into his arms.
    “Yeah. She should be hungry by now.” I watched as he hefted Alice’s black-and-pink diaper bag onto his shoulder. “Need me to carry anything?”
    Dusty flashed me a grin. “No, I’ve got it. Thanks, though.”
    “Okay.” I trailed behind him as he moved toward the door. Some days I almost hated to see Alice go. Maybe I was getting used to having company, even if it was the mini, nonverbal variety.
    Once he was at the door, Dusty stopped and looked at me over his shoulder. “I’m going to be making a veggie stir-fry for dinner. If you want, you can come over.”
    “Oh….” I hesitated, feeling awkward. It was nice of him to invite me, and I really didn’t feel uncomfortable around him the way I did around most people, but we hadn’t spent more than a few minutes at a time in each other’s company in the last month. I didn’t have any idea what we would talk about over dinner.
    “It’s okay, hon,” he said when I couldn’t go on. “The offer’s open. See you later.”
    After he left I felt a little bad. I probably should’ve taken him up on the invitation, if only because of how often he and I would be seeing each other while I was babysitting Alice. I told myself next time he asked I would go. If I said no again, it might hurt his