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She nodded. At least it wasn’t a straight-out no.
Hailey called Megan to the table, then served up lunch. It was a quiet affair, no idle chatter, not even from Megan. And when they finished, Megan put her dish on the counter like a perfect little soldier. Then she went back to the floor, to her cartoons.
“Listen,” Hailey said, “I’m going to go get a few more things from my place.”
He looked a little panicked. “You won’t be long, will you?”
“I’ll be back before you can say Sesame Street.”
“Okay, then,” he said, his panic softening a bit. But only a bit.
She grabbed her jacket from the chair and put it on. “I brought juice for her. It’s in the fridge. But I doubt she’ll want any.”
He looked out to where Megan sat watching TV. Hailey went over to her and saw that her eyes were only half-open. She would be asleep very soon. Just looking at her made Hailey’s heart contract, and she had to fight another bout of tears.
She went back to Jack at the table. “She’s almost asleep. So don’t worry.”
“All right,” he said. “But hurry.”
“I will.”
She left his apartment and headed straight for hers. She wanted it to be ready for Megan, with lots of familiar things around. But first she changed the sheets on the daybed in the guest room, and then she looked for Megan’s stuffed bunny, but she couldn’t find it. The room that had been fine for temporary baby-sitting looked woefully unequipped for a long stay. It wouldn’t do at all.
Hailey went to her desk and got the key Roy had given her, then she picked up her empty clothes hamper to use as a carryall. As she headed outside and around to Roy’s apartment, she thought about all the things she wanted to get. The bunny. Some more clothes, especially pajamas and a warm jacket. There was a picture of Roy in the living room, and Hailey wanted Megan to have that. There had to be some other things that would bring Megan comfort later on.
She reached Roy’s apartment and slipped the key into the lock. The first thing she saw when she opened the door was chaos. Someone had been there. Someone searching desperately for something. Because there wasn’t one piece of furniture that wasn’t overturned or ripped to shreds. Not one picture that wasn’t torn down the middle. Not one cabinet that wasn’t opened and emptied.
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