Free Second Chances by Randi Cardoza

her for a while if you promise to be a good girl,” Shawn said as he set her on her feet.

She looked up at him questioningly as though she wasn’t sure if she should run or take him up on his offer.

“I ain’t doing nothing for lunch,” she said stubbornly folding her arms across her chest.

Shawn closed his eyes for a moment realizing what she meant and prayed that his sister didn’t know about the same things as this child.

“Kenzi come here I want you to meet someone,” Shawn called puling the girl behind him.

She peered Shawn’s knees to look up at Kenzi. Kenzi knelt and held out her hand but the girl apparently was afraid.

“This is my friend, Kenzi. Kenzi, this is my friend…?” Shawn said and looked at her for a long moment before she replied.

“Emma,” she said in a barely audible voice.

“Well, Emma I’m glad to meet you. Would you like to go to lunch with me and Shawn?”

Emma just nodded and gingerly took Kenzi’s hand as if she were afraid Kenzi would hurt her. Shawn quickly called the police while Kenzi and Emma ordered lunch from a hot dog vendor.

Emma must have been starving because she nearly swallowed her lunch whole. She began eying Kenzi’s drink next and Kenzi gave it to her.

“What did they say, Shawn?” Kenzi asked when he came back. He handed Emma five dollars and told her to get some more to eat.

“No children have been reported missing in the area. They’re going to check out a few leads and see if they can find the mother. One way or the other, Emma won’t be going back there,” Shawn whispered as Emma ran to get a bag of chips with the money Shawn gave her.

“She’s so young. How could someone willingly do that to her child? It’s cruel, Shawn,” Kenzi said and then wiped mustard from her mouth with a napkin.

“Would you mind keeping her until they can find a foster family? You’re an agent, so they’ll trust you to keep her. I just got called out on an assignment in Memphis or I would,” Shawn said as he sat down next to Kenzi on a bench.

“When did you get called out?”

“While you were getting ready to go to the office this morning. Emma, come on it’s getting close to dark,” Shawn called while Emma looked at her reflection in the water.

“Oh. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want you to worry besides I was going to but then Emma kind of chose a bad moment to pick my pocket,” Shawn said as he brushed strands of Kenzi’s hair away from her eyes.

“Well, let’s get Emma back to the house. I’d like to see what she looks like clean,” Kenzi replied and walked silently in front of Shawn and Emma while Emma talked up a storm.

Shawn left Kenzi and Emma at her house and he went back to his house to pack to leave the next day.

“Wow! This is a big house,” Emma said, as her eyes got as big as saucers.

“Well, it’s not that big. How about a bubble bath?” Kenzi asked as she showed Emma the way to the bathroom.

Emma’s mouth just hung open at the sight of the big claw-foot bathtub. Kenzi got her a t-shirt to sleep in and washed Emma’s clothes while she took a bath.

“Are you sure you can do this by yourself? I’ll help you if you need me to,” Kenzi said as she sat down on the lid of the toilet watching Emma splash around in the water.

“Nope, I’m fine. So are you and Shawn sleeping together or somethin’?” she asked as she blew bubbles off of her hand.

“That’s not a very nice question for a young girl to ask,” Kenzi replied and was horrified that her cheeks turned pink.

“Oh. Why?”

“Young girls are not supposed to know about those kinds of things. You aren’t supposed to know those things until you get  older, maybe not until you’re a teenager.”

“Well, my mama and daddy didn’t say anything like that to me. They talked about sex an’ stuff all the time,” Emma said as she poured water over her hair.

Kenzi helped her shampoo her hair and then took her out