Lyra

I felt much better after eating my ice cream, only, I couldn't quite tell if it was the ice cream that made me feel better or Brandon. He was so nice to me when he didn't need to be. He owes me nothing and he still drove me home to make sure I was ok. No one's done something like that for me before.

Growing up in the foster system didn't give a kid lots of support and stability so I had to learn to find it myself. I closed myself off and never let anyone in because I knew that in the end, they would send me away and I'd be all alone again.

I worked that into my system so hard that by the time I was out of the system, I literally had no one. And I didn't know how to change that. I still don't. Eight years later and I still don't have one person to call my own.

But Brandon and Macie give me a glimpse of that. And while it makes me so happy to be around them, when they leave I feel even more empty and alone than before.

But the ice cream helps I guess. At least if I'm alone I don't have to share it.

"Lyra!"

I hadn't even heard the bell ring, I was so lost in my thoughts, but here was Macie bounding towards me. She leapt into the air and I easily caught her in my arms.

"Hello Macie," I said, tickling her tummy.

"How are you doing today?" Brandon's smooth voice asked. "I can keep her with me if you want a break."

"No, no, no. I'm better," I insisted. "Besides, it's my day off so I thought we could go to the park. How does that sound Macie?"

Macie cheered and I took that as a sign that she did in fact want to go to the park.

"I'll walk you," Brandon offered and I accepted. It's a few extra minutes for him to spend with Macie, how could I say no to that?

I put Macie down so she could walk and held her hand in my own. Brandon held the other and we walked together down the sidewalks of New York with Macie's chatter leading the way. She's such a talkative kid. And creative too. She always has the most random questions. "Do elephants have tongues?" "Do mermaids wash their hair?" "Do unicorns fart the rainbow?"

She made me giggle and I answered the questions as best I could. I used google for the first one even though I was already pretty sure elephants had tongues. The other two I just improvised. Macie seemed to accept my answers.

When we got to the park, Macie ran off and Brandon and I found a bench to sit on.

"You don't have to go to work?" I asked him.

"That's the best part about being the boss," he said. "I make my own hours. And I don't have any meetings until eleven."

I chuckled a little and sat back on the bench watching Macie play with the other kids. I found it funny how kids could have never met before and be best friends ten seconds later.

Brandon and I sat in silence for a while until he decided to break it. "So, what was really bothering you yesterday. I know you weren't telling me the truth."

I looked at him with my jaw dropped. "I can read people pretty well," he explained. "Now, what's up?"

I shrugged. "I guess I was just feeling lonely."

Brandon didn't say anything, just patiently waited for me to continue.

"I don't really have anyone and sometimes at the end of the day I feel especially alone."

Brandon put his hand on my shoulder and I turned to look at him. "Well, you'll always have me and Macie. Anytime you want some company, just let me know."

I smiled at Brandon and my eyes shined with unshed tears. "You don't know how much that means to me."

Brandon just smiled back at me. And it was one of those smiles that made you feel like you were melting into the earth.

"LYRA!"

I snapped to attention and found Macie. I ran right to her. "What's wrong?" I asked in a slight panic.

"There's a bug."

"Where?" I asked nervously. I'm not a fan of bugs and it would appear that Macie isn't either.

Macie pointed to a railing where a creepy bug was hanging out. I let out a small shriek and stepped back, into a wall. Well, a wall of a person.

Brandon's hands steadied me before he let go and expertly handled the bug. "See? No big deal," he said once it was gone.

I personally begged to differ. Bugs were no joke. I am an excessive cleaner for the sole purpose of keeping bugs away. And it's worked.

Macie was now in her father's arms giving him a big hug for saving her from the bug.

"Well, on that note, I'm going to go to work."

I giggled, but Macie whined, "nooooo."

"Stay and play Daddy," she said.

"I can't Mace, I have to go to work."

Macie sighed, but let Brandon put her down.

"Don't worry Macie, we'll have more fun without him anyways," I joked.

"Can we go get ice cream?"

"No Macie, it's too early for that."

She looked bummed out, but that changed once Brandon left and I said, "Just kidding, let's go."

Macie cheered and Brandon looked back one last time to see what the commotion was about. I picked Macie up and quickly rushed away in the direction of the ice cream shop.