She tapped him with her toe, more firmly this time. "Wake up, Sleeping Beauty. Time to go."
The honeyed tones of Lori's voice pulled Gray from sleep. He started, snorted, his boot dropping to the step.
"What?" He looked around, blinking his eyes to clear his groggy brain, before his gaze landed on Lori.
God, she was beautiful. Not pretty or cute or even gorgeous. Just damned beautiful. Her hair flowed around her shoulders, and both of those shirts couldn't stop the image of that same hair rippling around her bare skin two days prior.
Gray cleared his throat, if not his thoughts. "You all set to go?"
"Anytime you're ready."
He stood, stomping his feet and shaking his flight suit back into place. Eye level with Lori, he stared at her full, damp lips. Not wise. His gaze shot up to her eyes, her wary eyes. He'd made such a mess of things earlier, he couldn't blame her. "About before—"
"Stop! Please." She held up a hand, pausing just shy of touching him. "There's no need to say anything. You and I have the uncanny knack for making fools out of ourselves around each other. What's one more time? Chalk it up to the whole crazy hormone thing we have going and leave it at that. Keep it simple."
He frowned. "Yeah, I guess."
Lori picked at her overblouse and smiled. "See, two shirts. I'm armored and ready to resist your incredible appeal."
He'd always liked her open approach to life. No games or hidden agendas or wallowing in complaints, just face life head-on. His smile kicked in. "That's my girl."
But she wasn't and they both knew it. Their smiles faded. Gray stepped to the walkway. "Let's get moving. There's a little girl waiting to come home."
An hour later Gray drove back to Lori's apartment, Magda buckled into a car seat in the back of his car. Lori sat beside her talking softly and pointing to different landmarks as they drove past. Magda babbled a phrase in her own language, her new Winnie the Pooh clutched tightly.
At Lori's apartment, Gray unloaded Magda's tote bag of pajamas and the other toys she'd collected while in the hospital. Lori walked ahead up the stairs, Magda perched on her hip. They made a postcard-perfect picture, so why wasn't he happy yet?
The little girl's hair had been trimmed and smoothed into a new elfin do, loose curls fluffing around her face. She could have been mistaken for a boy, except Lori had outfitted her in plenty of pink. The pink overalls patterned with flowers and hearts left no doubts about Magda's gender.
She was a darn cute kid, even when she plastered that tiny scowl across her face every time she looked at him. As if in synch with his thoughts, Magda blasted a glare over Lori's shoulder, a dare that seemed to say, Try and pull me loose this time, buster.
He smiled an apology he hoped she understood, but likely didn't. While he'd rather not be glowered at as if he'd killed the Easter Bunny, Gray couldn't help but applaud Magda's spunk after all she'd been through. She would need it to adjust to a new culture, new language and a load of other challenges. Lucky for her she had one hell of an advocate in Lori.
At the door Lori attempted to juggle Magda and dig out her keys, but the child wouldn't loosen her grip to be put down. "Can you take her?"
"Like she'd go for that. Give me the keys." Gray unlocked the door and shoved it open.
He followed them in while Magda frowned her next message. Hey! You better not live here, too.
Gray kept trailing them inside.
Magda eyed the door as if encouraging him to use it, now.
"No can do, kiddo," Gray muttered. "I'm planning to hang out for a while."
Lori turned. "What?"
"Nothing. I'll put this in her room while you show her around."
"Sure. Thanks."
Gray found himself walking faster to Magda's room. He placed the miniature suitcase by the dollhouse, then shifted restlessly from foot to foot while he waited. He'd brought them home. Shouldn't he be itching to leave?
But he wanted to be there when she saw the Barbie house. He wanted to find out if she would squeal like his niece Jessica or dance around the room like his nephew Trey.
He wanted to discover if Lori sang bedtime songs like his mom did. His father had sung along, too, before he'd left for Vietnam. Funny how he'd forgotten that. Of course, his younger brother and sister wouldn't remember at all. Gray shrugged off the kink in his neck along with the memories that had put it there and focused on Lori.
Nothing wrong with pitching in during the transition, just like he'd planned. The more he helped Lori bond with Magda, the easier it would be when he left Charleston