Page 120 of When a Soul Cries

Her jaw tightened.

“I’m offering you somewhere safe to sleep.”

“I barely know you.”

“And you know the motherfuckers hanging around that motel?”

Her mouth closed.

I immediately softened my tone. “That came out wrong.”

“No.” She sighed and looked down. “It didn’t.”

I waited.

Her fingers stroked slowly over her daughter’s curls.

“I don’t like depending on people.”

“I noticed.”

She shot me a look.

I lifted one shoulder.

“You don’t exactly make it hard to notice.”

“I’ve depended on people before.”

Something about the way she said it made me stop smiling.

Her eyes stayed on the baby.

“And?”

Sol swallowed. “It didn’t work out too good for me.”

There was a story behind that sentence.

A dark one.

I could feel it.

But this wasn’t the place to drag it out of her.

Not in a moving truck while she was exhausted and holding her sleeping child.

So I nodded.

“Then don’t depend on me.”

Her eyes lifted.

“Just let me help you tonight.”

She studied my face.

“If I want to leave tomorrow?”