The Love I Need

Chapter 23

"Uncle Theo! Uncle Theo!" Emily is bouncing up and down in Theo's front yard as we pull into the driveway.

Cal and April stand on their porch, keeping an eye on her. April smiles and waves at us, while Cal just stares at us with no expression.

"Someone heard we were showing up with pie," Theo says to me with a smirk as he turns the truck off.

He unbuckles his seatbelt and swings open the door, greeting Emily with, "Hey kiddo," and a wide smile. He takes his time getting out of the truck, and the little girl's eyes watch him with grave concern.

"Do you want me to get your walking stick?" she offers, but Theo is already shaking his head before she finishes the question.

"That's okay, I'm just going to park my butt at your kitchen table and enjoy some pie," he tells her with another smile, even as he holds onto the open truck door for support. "Think you could help me out with that? We brought a lot of pie."

Emily nods her head eagerly. "Did you get—"

"Strawberry rhubarb!" They say at the same time, and Emily claps her hands with glee.

I pick up the paper bag from the truck floor and hop out of the truck, carrying the packaged desserts closer to the excited girl.

"You want to carry them inside for us?" Theo asks, and Emily responds by immediately rushing toward me.

Theo uses the distraction to start limping toward her house. April catches his eyes and shakes her head at him, obviously upset about the stubborn man limping around without his cane. She says something to Cal and then walks back into the house. Cal sighs and gives Theo a look, that seems to say "Thanks for pissing off your sister", then follows after her.

As Emily dashes toward me, I stop walking and almost take a step back from the speedy little thing.

She slows her steps at the last minute, and holds out her hands for the paper bag. I pass it over to her.

I expect her to turn around and run back to her house, but instead she stares up at me. I give her an awkward smile, and am surprised when she slowly returns it.

"Dad said that you're safe and I can trust you," she informs me, "You just didn't know about the No Secrets rule." She stares up at me with wide eyes, as if waiting for me to confirm.

I glance in the direction of Theo, hoping for some help with this conversation, but his back is toward me as he continues slowly making his way next door. I look back to Emily. "I didn't."

She seems to be taking in my simple answer, but then has more to say. "He also said that you're really nice and that you always tried to help him and wanted good things for him, even when he was bad and not very nice himself."

Well fuck. Cue the eye burning again.

"I... I tried, yeah."

Emily puts the bag on the ground and steps toward me. She wraps her arms around my legs and gives them a quick hug, then steps back again and frowns. "You are short... But still too tall. I can hug you better if you crouch down?"

And fuck, of course I crouch down.

Her arms wrap around my neck this time and she squeezes tightly. Her voice comes out softly when she says, "Thanks for trying. My dad needs a lot of help."

Then she lets go of me, picks up the bag of pie slices, and takes off running toward her house.

"Did you get apple for Mom and Dad, Uncle Theo?" she asks him as she zips past him.