“Come, T.” Keyon tugged on my hand and I followed him up the stairs.
“One. Two. Watch out, he likes to hide in the attic. Three. Four.” DeSean continued counting.
Soon we were at the top of the stairs and he dragged me to the right, away from our bedrooms. We passed two other bedrooms and ended up in the bonus room. With sloping walls, I realized this had to be over the garage. On either side of the room, there were teeny tiny doors. Keyon pulled me toward the one on the right.
“Are you sure you want to go in there?” I asked. “I bet it’s dark.”
He shook his head. “Light. Come on.” He motioned for me to crawl through the door with him, and I did.
This couldn’t be terrible, or DeSean would’ve told me not to do it, instead of warning me where I’d end up. Sure enough, I found there was a light switch just inside the door way and I realized this was a storage area. The sub floor ended six feet past the door, with the rest of the space consisting of exposed rafters. “Stop here,” I urged. “We might fall through the ceiling if we go too far.”
“Nah. I do. Watch.” He started to move off the sub floor, but I wasn’t ready to take the chance.
“Wait.” I looked around. “We need to be quiet to trick Daddy!”
This thought seemed to appease him. While we waited for D to hit whatever magical number to come search for us, I studied my surroundings. I hated being in stuffy closed in spaces. I’d get through this by looking around and forgetting how uncomfortable I felt. Just past the sub floor, I saw a scuttle hole. Obviously, this dropped down into the garage. I leaned out, lifted it up, and took a peek. There was maybe a three foot drop onto the highest storage shelf which had been built almost like stairs inside the garage. “Brilliant,” I murmured. Now I was curious if the other side had the same feature, but I could hear D calling for us down the hall.
“Keyon, oh Keyon, where are you?”
“I right here!” The little boy giggled and covered his mouth with both hands.
He was so damn cute, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Are you in the bathroom?” D asked as he noisily opened the bathroom door.
Keyon whispered loudly, “No.”
I heard D snicker, which made me grin.
“Nope. Not in the bathroom.” The footsteps came closer. “Are you in the bonus room?”
“No!” Keyon laughed loudly.
Our cover had been blown from the beginning. I’d have to work on the art of stealth with this kid. Still, I was enjoying myself.
“Huh. Maybe you’re in here!” D yelled as he yanked the door open.
I squealed right along with Keyon.
“Daddy, you find me.” The boy held open his arms and D picked him up.
I crawled out and stood beside them. I’d been so lost in the moment, I’d nearly forgotten why I’d moved in. D reached out and smoothed my hair back.
“I’ll always find you,” he murmured as he stared deeply into my eyes.
Shivers ran down my spine. I had no doubt he meant it for me. And I had no doubt I wanted it.