Free The Staying Kind by Cerian Hebert Page A

his girl. His love and support would melt her walls in time. Instead, she kept her mouth shut, carrying her plate and cup into the kitchen so they could have a few minutes of privacy.
    She returned to gather the other dishes and brought them to the kitchen. She rinsed them off and loaded them in the dishwasher.
    “You don’t have to do that.”
    Travis’s voice from behind startled her. She swung around, nearly dropping the plate in her hand. He’d snuck up on her, probably trying to catch her doing something wrong.
    Stop being so suspicious.
    “It’s okay. I should lend a hand. It’s the least I can do.”
    His penetrating blue gaze held her tightly, a thousand questions there. He’d be asking those questions soon enough. Then expect answers, and she couldn’t blame him, since he’d invited her to live in his home.
    For now.
    She had to decide what information she’d share with him. Some of it he could probably access at work. He wouldn’t find any police records on her, or any reports of her missing or as a runaway. Not to my knowledge, anyway.
    She thought of her brother and sister. Older by two years, Diamond had left a few months before Rio, heading as far away as possible too, in a car filled with her friends who’d decided to go west for whatever adventure they could find.
    Diamond had always been a free spirit. She didn’t care for home life any more than Rio. Unlike Rio, though, Diamond didn’t let herself become trapped under their mother’s thumb. Rio wished she’d known her sister’s secret to avoiding most of the hell. Maybe their mother and her friends had simply found Rio an easier target.
    Storm, five years younger, was another story. Rio tried to protect him as much as she could. She’d failed miserably. The night he’d been taken away remained etched in her brain, impossible to forget. And it became the catalyst for her to leave, because after that she had no reason to stay. Social Services would have come for her, and she didn’t trust them any more than she’d trusted her mother.
    Travis could find all this out by checking online or placing a few calls. And then she’d give him some details about her past. With luck he’d leave it alone. As long as he didn’t show her pity. She hated to be pitied.
    Travis had grabbed the coffee pot and brought it to the sink. “Coffee?”
    Usually she didn’t, but she nodded, and regretted it almost instantly. Now she’d be stuck in his company for a while longer. As if there wasn’t enough tension in the air.
    She tried to push it aside, ignore it. Say something. Nothing came to mind. Nothing that wouldn't sound stilted. Forced. So, in silence she searched for more busy work, feeling completely lost here in Travis’s world.
    When the coffee finished brewing, Travis pulled two mugs out of a cabinet and set them on the counter. “Cream? Sugar?”
    Rio forced a smile. “Black is fine.”
    He carried both mugs to the kitchen table, tucked away in the corner of the room.
    “Why don’t you have a seat here.” He pulled out a chair and waited for her to settle, then sat across from her.
    Rio felt like she was about to be lectured. Instead of launching into some rant, however, Travis studied her.
    “Now you’re here, and as long as you are here, we need to set some things straight. I don’t know anything about your background. I can find out easily enough, so anytime you feel the need to let me know what your story is, I’ll listen. In the meantime, there are some things I expect you to do while you’re here.”
    He paused while he sprinkled a spoonful of sugar into his coffee, his attention still on her. “One, set up some kind of savings account. In time you can find a place of your own. As long as things go smoothly you can stay here. Do you drive?”
    “Yes and no. I’ve never had the chance to get a license, but I do know how to drive.” At the age of thirteen, her mother had taught her so she could be the “designated driver”