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neck and
leaned into him, letting herself relax against his warmth, tucking her cheek
into his shoulder. “Who eats ice cream for breakfast?”
    He chuckled and she felt his breath stirring her ear as he
whispered, “There’s a box of chocolates under the Christmas tree for Grace. You
can feed him those for lunch if you like.”
    She snorted in protest, not lifting her head. Not likely.
    “Seriously, though, I have to go,” he continued.
    At that she did pull her head away, looking up into his
eyes. “Where? And why?” She wanted to clutch his arms and refuse to let him
leave, but she didn’t.
    He hemmed and hawed and finally said, “It’s almost
Christmas.”
    “I know that.”
    “I need to go get something. A present.”
    “No, you don’t.” She shook her head fervently. “No. There is
no present more important than being here right now.”
    “It’ll be a good present,” Zane tried.
    “No,” she repeated. “No. No. No.”
    As the door closed behind him, she resisted the urge to kick
it. What was she supposed to do now?
    She covered her face with her hands trying to hide from the
reality that she was alone with a very, very small person, then dropped them
and straightened her back. She was being idiotic. How hard could it be after
all? She could do this.
    She’d start by feeding Toby some lunch. Maybe not the
healthiest lunch—she wouldn’t try for a tofu stir-fry or anything too ambitious—but
she had peanut butter and jelly and bread. Every toddler liked PBJ, right? It
was like a universal law.
    Toby didn’t.
    Or at least he didn’t like her PBJ. Her peanut butter had
lumps in it. Crunchy bits. All of Akira’s persuasive abilities couldn’t convince
Toby that peanut butter was meant to have peanuts in it. It wouldn’t have
mattered anyway, because her jam was the wrong color. It was too red. A bad
red. And the bread…Toby poked at it disconsolately.
    “You could take a bite and see,” she suggested. “Maybe it
tastes better than it looks.”
    “I did.” He pointed to the edge where the tiniest nibble of
crumb might be gone. “It didn’t.”
    The ringing doorbell was a welcome interruption from the big
brown eyes staring forlornly at her from across the table.
    Meredith thrust the take-out container in her direction in a
rush of words, “I was at Maggie’s when Zane swung by and I needed to talk to
you anyway, so I said I’d drop this off. But I can’t stay—I’ve got a million
things to do. I left a message with Nick Bendow but I haven’t heard back from
him yet. His manager, though, said that he’s on an international tour and has
been gone for months.”
    “A what?”
    “Yeah, fun, isn’t it? He’s a musician. Anyway, the manager
didn’t know anything about Nick letting someone use the house. He’s going to
check, but I think your tenant is probably a squatter. Thank you so much for
letting me know. It could have turned into a huge problem, but I’ll call the
sheriff and get it taken care of.”
    “Wait, wait.” Akira put a hand up in protest. “What does
that mean, get it taken care of?”
    “Well, get her out of there.” Meredith raised her eyebrows.
“If she broke the locks to get in, it’s a crime. And the sooner I get her out
the better. Squatting is a serious problem in Florida; I don’t want to wind up
spending months in court fighting her.”
    Akira took a deep breath. This was the solution she needed,
wasn’t it? If the sheriff evicted Nora, Hannah would be happy and no one would
be in any danger from her. Toby might not be able to feel Hannah now, but Akira
didn’t know what would happen to him if Hannah lost control. But still, what
would Nora and her kids do if they lost their home? And at Christmas?  And it
would be terrible if Nora got arrested. But Akira’s pause to think took too
long.
    “Gotta run,” Meredith said, glancing at her watch. “Later.
And Merry Christmas!” With that, she was gone, heels clicking as she hurried
down the