Page 39 of Tied Over

“Since Wednesday.”

“I just got here.”

“I know. I didn’t see you before.”

I squinted at her because she was staring up at my face. “What’s wrong?”

“Are you hungry?”

“A little. Are you hungry?”

She nodded.

“Yanno, the food is on that big table in the dining room. I can see it from here. Why don’t you just go get a plate?”

“I was going to, but Uncle Luke is by the macaroni and cheese, and if I go over there when he’s there, he’s gonna ask me to go swimming in the pool or see if I want to play hide-and-seek again.”

“And you don’t like to do that stuff?”

“No, I like it. I just don’t like to do it with him.”

Instantly, I bristled, all my protective instincts hitting me like a wave. “How come?”

She shrugged. “If he finds me when I’m hiding, he tickles me or kisses me, and when he kisses me, he tries to put his tongue in my mouth, which is gross, and when he tickles me, he always pulls up my shirt.”

I nodded. “I wouldn’t like that either.”

“That’s not how me and my friends play at home, but he says that’s right.”

“It’s not right,” I assured her. “When you’re found, you’re supposed to race whoever finds you back to home base, and if you beat them, you get to hide again.”

“Yeah,” she agreed, nodding vigorously.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah.”

I took a breath, afraid to ask but needing to know. “Uncle Luke, did he touch your chest under your shirt?”

She shook her head. “No. I ran away.”

I hadn’t realized I’d been holding my breath. “Good.”

“He didn’t take off my pants either.”

That was my next question.

“Mom says the only people who can see me naked are her or my doctor, and she said she has to be with me if the doctor ever has to look at my private places.”

I smiled at her. “That’s correct.”

“Uncle Luke didn’t try and take off my pants, but I was afraid he was going to since he kept lifting my shirt.”

“So you stayed away from him.”

She nodded.

“That was very good thinking.”