The Bloom Series Box Set: Bloom & Fade Read Online Free PDF Page B

always
just say she was having trouble sleeping and was organizing her
room.
    She smoothed down the front of her
shirt as she walked over and opened the door. Noah stood in the
hallway rubbing his eyes sleepily. His dinosaur pajamas were
twisted sideways on his small frame.
    “ I had a scary dream,” he
said.
    Haven knelt down next to him and
placed her hands on his shoulders. “Aw, Noah,” she said. “I’m
sorry. It’s over now.” She pulled him close and hugged him, then
twisted his pajama shirt back into place. “Do you want me to sit
with you for a little while?”
    He nodded and walked back to his room.
Haven quietly closed her door and followed him. Every once in a
while he would get woken up by a nightmare, and the only way to
calm him down was to stay by his side until he drifted off to
sleep.
    Haven said a mental apology to Kayla
as she sat down on the edge of Noah’s bed and pulled his covers up
to his chest. His chore that day had been to clean up the floor of
his room by moving all of his toys into the dedicated toy chest
sitting in the corner next to the closet. He had managed to get
most of them into the container, but a few of his favorites were
still scattered around the floor.
    Small glow-in-the-dark stars were
stuck to the ceiling directly over his bed. Noah looked up at them
while Haven patted down his wild hair.
    “ I don’t think you’ll ever
have to worry about going bald,” she said.
    “ You mean like
Daddy?”
    She laughed. “Right, like
him.”
    “ His head’s
shiny.”
    “ Like a cue
ball.”
    He chuckled. “Yeah!”
    “ Just don’t tell him
that,” she said.
    “ No problemo.”
    He held up his right pinky finger and
waited. Whenever one of them asked the other to keep a secret, they
made a solemn oath of silence by sealing the promise with a pinky
swear.
    Haven wrapped her own little finger
around Noah’s and shook once, then bent down and kissed his
forehead.
    “ You going to be okay,
squirt?”
    He nodded and turned away, yawning as
he settled into the bed. Haven stood and walked to the door. She
stepped into the hallway and left the door to Noah’s bedroom open a
few inches so he would have a little light if he woke up again.
Before she even reached the end of the hallway, she heard him
quietly snoring.
    She padded down the stairs quickly and
tiptoed to the front door. Before her father got home from work
earlier that day and while her mother was upstairs trying to get
Noah to clean his room, Haven found a small can of WD-40 in the
kitchen cupboard and sprayed the sliding deadbolt, thumb latch, and
hinges on the front door. There was no sound as she slowly unlocked
the deadbolt and pressed down on the thumb latch to open the door.
She smiled as it swung open silently.
    After she closed the door
behind her, Haven carefully inserted her key into the lock and
turned it until she felt the click of metal hitting metal. She stuffed the key in
her jeans pocket and hurried across the lawn, looking back over her
shoulder at her parents’ bedroom window to make sure they weren’t
peeking out at her from behind the curtain.
    “ About friggin’ time,”
said Kayla as Haven hopped into the passenger seat and gently
closed the car door.
    “ Sorry! They stayed up
late and then Noah had a nightmare.”
    Kayla fired up the engine and winced
at the loud, metallic squeal as it warmed up. “That’s why it pays
to be an only child, like me.” She put the car into gear and turned
around in the middle of the street.
    “ Because you turned out
perfect.” Haven rolled her window down a couple inches and closed
her eyes as the cool night air blew through her hair.
    “ That’s what you’re wearing?” said Kayla. Haven opened
her eyes to see that her friend was sneering at her simple t-shirt
and faded blue jeans.
    “ What’s the matter with
this? It’s a classic combo.”
    “ If you don’t want to get
laid, you mean.”
    “ Hey! Gimme a break. This
is only our first date. And