Waif

We had a wonderful dinner, and I didn't want the night to end. I asked her if she would like to prowl around, and she was all for it. I took her to the Melrose District, we drove through Copper Star Coffee, got a cup and a pastry and we window shopped, going in if something interested us.

We were at one art shop, and Maia was fascinated with this one painting. It was of a little black girl, standing in front of a store, looking in the window at the dresses inside. It did have a pathos to it, like the little girl was wistful, wishing she could have one of the dresses. Maia dragged me back three times to look at it again. I was going to remember.

She also loved a gold necklace at a jewelry store with a ruby on it. "That's my birthstone," she told me. I was going to remember that, too.

The district had a large LBGTQ presence, and Maia remarked on it. "Pride is a thing here, huh?" she said.

"Yeah, I like to support them when I can," I said. "Umm... Maia, you know Sarah is gay, right?"

She giggled. "Yeah, she told me. It doesn't matter to me. What do you think?"

"It doesn't matter to me, either," I said. "I love her, and I'd love her no matter what. She's my sister. She's a human. She is who she is, and it's none of my business who she loves. Well, as long as she loves you, me and Talley."

She giggled. "I don't think that's a problem. She's a very loving person. She's very pretty, Rogers. Does she have a girlfriend?"

"I'm sure she does," I said. "She always does, but she only introduces me to the ones she intends to be with a while."

We strolled along, hand in hand, and I enjoyed being with her more than I could have ever imagined. We got a lot of looks. Well, Maia got a lot of looks. We were in a kind of "beautiful people" area, but she was something special. Who would have guessed? I certainly didn't when I saw that waif outside that Quick Mart. I hadn't even looked twice at her, until I noticed the cops harassing her. That made me feel kind of bad about myself. I shook it off. I'd try to be more aware. It was impossible to feel bad around Maia, anyway.

I took her fishing on Saturday. She had never fished before, but once she caught her first fish, she was hooked (pun intended). It was a largemouth bass, and she shrieked and laughed the whole time she was reeling it in.

"Can we eat it?" she asked, as I was showing her how to release it.

"Yes, we could if it was big enough," I said. "There's a length limit, and this one isn't long enough. Are you hungry for fish?"

She smiled up at me, her little dimples making her as cute as a month-old kitten. "Always. I love fish. Can we have the potatoes and hush-puppies like we did the night when you... found me?"

"We can," I promised. "We should fish for something besides bass, though, if we want to eat them."

I set her up with a light spinning outfit, maneuvered the boat around brush and debris and she begin catching fat bluegill nearly every time she cast. I cheered her on, and we soon had two-dozen in the live-well. I told her we had enough, and we went back to bass fishing, catching 10 before she wanted to stop.

"Rogers, I'm boutta to have a heat stroke," she declared. "I'm going to jump in."

She pulled off her shorts and top, displaying all that bikini-clad beauty, grabbed her pool noodle and jumped, shrieking, into the water. She played like a sleek little otter while I fished, and climbed back aboard when we were ready to go.

When we got back, I filleted the bluegill while she watched. She wrinkled her cute little nose at the smell, but she offered to help. I gave her a knife, showed her how to remove the ribs from the fillet and she worked alongside me.

"I'm sorry, Rogers, but they smell disgusting," she said.

I laughed. "I know. This is the no-fun part of fishing. Either you release them or do this."

"Maybe we should just buy fish at the store, and release the ones we catch," she suggested.

"Good plan," I said. "Remember, this was your idea, though."

"Yeah, well, it was a bad idea," she said. "Don't listen to me if I have any more ideas."

She was adorable, and I kissed the top of her head. She shot me one of those flashing smiles, we cleaned up and took the fish to the house. She helped me cook, and we were chilling on the sofa, me scrolling through my phone and her watching some sitcom on Netflix, her warm little body snuggled up against me.

"Rogers, I'll never forget that first night," she told me. "This just reminds me of it, and I just want you to know how thankful I am for you. I pray every night and thank God for letting me find you."

My eyes were watering. I squeezed her. "Hey, I'm thankful for you. You've brought a lot of happiness to me and my whole family."

She looked up at me, her huge eyes glistening black pools. "I love you," she whispered.

I pulled her close with both arms. "I love you, too, Maia."

She kissed me good night and went up to her room. She stopped and looked down at me over the railing. "What are we going to do tomorrow?"

"Well, I don't have any plans," I said. "Pick Talley up at five, though."

"I have some stuff I want to talk to you about," she said. "Can we just hang here?"

"You got it," I said. "Anything I need to be worried about?"

"No, just me stuff," she said. "Night, Rogers."

*****

We both slept in and had brunch about noon. She cleaned up, and I was in my office when she came to find me. She had a glass of juice and a cup of coffee, for me. Talley had a chair in there at her computer, and Maia pulled it up beside me, putting her cute little feet up on my legs and leaning back.

"Rogers, next Wednesday is my birthday," she said.

"I know. Eighteen! Maia all grown up!"

She giggled. "Well, you told me you'd give me a job when I turned 18. Are you still gonna?"

"Are you sure?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yes. Very sure. I want to earn money, Rogers, be able to buy my own stuff."

That hurt my feelings a little. "I give you money, Maia. Is it not enough? You know if you need something, I'll get if for you."

"No, no, that's not it, at all," she hurried to reassure me. "It's just... It's hard to explain."

"I'm not going anywhere," I said.

"I love you, Rogers. I told you that last night. Do you know why?"

"Because I take care of you? Because you're grateful? Because I love you and I'm nice to you?

"No," she said. "You do take care of me, I am grateful, I know you love me; you told me, and you are nice to me, but that's not why."

I waited while she gathered her thoughts. "It's because you're the kind of person who would help a stranger you met at a convenience store, take care of her, love her and be nice to her. Do you see the difference?"

"Yeah, I guess I do. I'm not all that, though, Maia. I'm just as dumb and flawed as the next guy."

"I know that," she said. "I also know where I am right now. All this," she waved her hand around vaguely, "this is yours. You let me use it, and I love you for that. The clothes I'm wearing, you gave them to me. I can't live like this, Rogers. Not when I could make it different."

"Talley does," I said.

"Yes, but Talley's your daughter," she said. "I'm not your daughter, Rogers. Don't get that mixed up. Talley is little, and that's the way it's supposed to be. You buy me things. I want to buy you things, give you birthday presents, Christmas presents, that I buy with my own money I earn. I want to buy myself things I can look at and feel proud about, knowing I bought it with my own money. I want to take you out to eat sometimes, instead of you always taking me. Do you understand? I need to be my own person." There was a pleading for my understanding in her voice.

"Yes, I guess I do, Maia. I'll give you a job. It'll be up to you to keep it, okay? I won't interfere unless someone is treating you wrong."

She threw her arms around my neck and kissed me. "Thank you. I promise I won't let you down."

"I believe you."

"When school starts in the fall, can I work after school and be part-time?" she asked.

"You can, but I don't want you to," I said. "School is hard enough without working. I don't want your grades suffering because you're working."

"They won't," she promised. "If they do, I'll quit working while school is going. Okay?"

"Deal," I said. "You know, Talley will be spending the winter at her mom's during the week," I said. "It will just be you and me, except every other weekend."

She cocked her head to one side in that little gesture she had. "Do you think we can stand each other?"

I laughed. "I know I can stand you. I worry about whether you can stand me."

"I'll kill you and eat you if I can't," she promised.

"My God! I'm in danger!"

*****

Her birthday rolled around, and Mom, Dad, Talley, Sarah and I went all out. I had Sarah take her out for lunch, then shopping, and we decorated the place. Balloons were everywhere, Mom baked a cake, Dad and I put up streamers and arranged a bag of confetti in the rafters. Talley was everywhere, nearly unable to contain her excitement and anticipation. We had a big pile of presents we arranged on the coffee table, everything was set, and we waited for them to come home.

Talley ran to the door at every sound, and after about a half hour, she squealed and came running back. "They're here!" she squeaked. "She's gonna love it, I just know."

Sarah came in first, carrying a couple of bags, and then Maia, carrying a shoebox. Talley leaped out of the entry closet, shrieking, "Happy Birthday!" causing Maia to give a little shriek of her own and drop her shoebox. Tally picked it up and dragged her over to the center of the living room. Dad pulled the string on the confetti and the big bag dumped all over her.

Her eyes where shining, she was laughing and crying at the same time, and we all gathered around to give her hugs. Confetti was all in her hair, her beautiful face was glowing and she kissed us all. "Oh, my God! I can't believe this. You went to so much trouble. Thank you, I'll never forget this."

"Gram baked a cake, and we have ice cream," Talley gushed. "You get the first piece. The birthday person always gets the first piece."

Talley dragged her off to the bar, and Mom and Sarah dished up the cake and ice cream. We all sat around eating cake, laughing and talking. Maia kept picking confetti out of her hair.

"I'm never going to get this all out, you know," she complained.

"Hey, you'll be the birthday girl until you do," Sarah said.

Talley hurried eating her cake and ice cream, and tried to rush the rest of us along. "Hurry up, guys, so Maia can open her presents!"

"Hey, you'll make us freeze our heads, eating ice cream so fast," I said.

"I didn't freeze my head," she said. "I can't wait!"

We hurried, couldn't keep the exuberant one waiting. Maia knelt at the coffee table and looked at Talley, cocking her head like she did. "Wanna help me?" she asked Talley.

"Oh, can I? Yes, I do!"

They tore the wrapping off the first present, selected by Talley, of course. Maia's eyes shot to my face as she held up the painting she'd loved so much at the gallery. "Oh, my God," she said. "I can't believe you remembered and got me this!" She clutched it in her arms, and Talley jumped up and down.

"It's from Dad and me," she said. "We went and got it together. I helped him wrap it. Do you like it, Maia? Dad said you would."

Maia carefully sat it down on the table and gathered Talley in for a hug and a kiss. "I love it," she said. "Thank you, Talley." She looked at me. "Can I hang it in my room?"

"It's your room," I said. "You can do anything you want in there."

She jumped up and came to give me a hug. "Thank you, Rogers. I'll always keep it and remember."

She took it and put it carefully beside the stairs before returning to open her other presents. She got clothes, shoes, a laptop from Mom and Dad, some nice blue-tooth speakers from Sarah, perfume from Talley and finally she was down to a last small box. Talley tore the paper off and handed it to her, along with a card.

She read the card, and tears welled up in those amazing eyes. She looked around at all of us. We'd all signed it. "Read it," Talley urged. "Out loud, I mean. Dad and Aunt Sarah wrote it for you. I helped."

"I... I can't," Maia whispered hoarsely. "I... I'll start crying. You read it for me, Talley."

The sweet little voice of Talley began, and I don't think any of us had dry eyes.

"Maia,

"We are so happy you're part of our family. You've brought love and joy to us all, and we hope that you will want to be part of our family for the rest of your life. Family doesn't always happen genetically, Maia. You were sent to us from heaven, a gift of God. We didn't expect you, you just burst into our lives like a sunrise. We didn't rescue you, you rescued us. We love you, always."

She burst into tears as Talley finished, gasping out words. "I love you guys so much. I know I don't have anything to give you... to show you how much. I..."

Dad moved, tears running down his face. He held her as she sobbed. "You have so much to give, Maia. You give us love, and that's all we want. You are amazing, young lady. Don't you ever forget it."

Sarah handed her the tissue box, and she composed herself. "Open the box, Maia," Talley urged. "This is from me and Dad, too. Wait till you see!"

Maia opened the box and gasped. "Really? You remembered? Her eyes were locked on my face. I stood, walked behind where she was kneeling and said, "Can I put it on you?" It was the necklace she'd loved so much.

She gathered her hair and I slipped it around her long graceful neck. She bowed her head and I fastened the clasp.

"It looks so beautiful on you," Mom said.

She got up and ran to the mirror on Talley's bedroom door so she could see, then ran back to hug Talley and me. "Thank you so much. I love it. I don't think I'll ever take it off. I've never had any jewelry before."

"Oh, my God," Sarah said. "Well, we're going to fix that, sweetheart. I'll take you to some of the places I know. It isn't expensive, just gaudy junk, but you'll love it, I promise."

We played party games, and Dad and I had hung a pinata on the back patio. Maia knew about those, as we suspected from her mother, and she and Talley got a kick out of beating it with one of my fighting sticks while blindfolded. The candy spilled out and they hurried around, picking it up.

Mom, Dad and Sarah went home, and Talley was worn out, soon falling asleep on the sofa. I carried her to her bed, and Maia went with me. We tucked Talley in, kissed our little angel and went back to the sofa for a cuddle.

Maia's head was on my chest, and she looked up at me. "This was the best birthday ever, Rogers. Thank you. I love you."

I petted that mass of curls, picking out a couple of strings of confetti. "You're welcome. It made me happy to make you happy."

She sighed and relaxed. "When can I start my job?" she said after a minute.

I laughed. "You aren't about to let me forget that, are you?"

"Noo, I want that job. Do I have to like, apply, or something?"

"You'll have to go through HR to get all your paperwork, but I promise you'll be hired, okay?"

"What will I be doing?" she asked.

"What are you good at?" I asked. "Driving a truck?"

"What? No, I can't do that," she said. "I'm more like good at math and writing stuff."

She was quiet for a minute. "Do you think I could drive a truck?"

I laughed. "I think you could do anything you set your mind to," I said. "I was joking, but we are short a couple of drivers."

"Don't you need like a special license?"

"Well, if you're going to drive one of the big trucks, yes," I explained. "We have a lot of local deliveries, and those drivers pull a trailer with a truck just like ours. The weight has to be a certain amount before you need a commercial driver's license."

"Oh. I might like driving a truck then," she said.

"You could also work in the office," I said. "Answer phones, emails, do bookwork, things like that."

"Would I be with you?" she asked.

"Not much. I'm not in the office that much. Sometimes I am, but I'm mostly out in the warehouses or out visiting clients. You don't need to decide right away," I said. "Look at our website. You have a computer now."

"Oh, I almost forgot! I love computers."

I fluffed up her hair. "You love everything," I said.

She smiled up at me. "Check the job listings, pick the one you want, and tell Linda. That's our HR person. I gotta tell you, though, if you suck at the job, she'll fire you. I won't interfere. I'll get you a different job, but you gotta work, you know?"

She nodded against my chest. "I won't suck," she said. "I'll work hard, do whatever I needa do."

It took her a week to make up her mind, and I was surprised when she told me she wanted to drive a truck.

"Really? You're sure?"

"Yes, positive," she said. "I'm not really that comfortable around people, Rogers, besides our family, I mean. Like in an office."

A thrill shot through me when she said "our family."

"I get it," I said. "You'll have to be around the guys who load you and the customers where you deliver, though."

"I can do that," she said.

I hooked onto a trailer at work the next day and dragged it home for her to practice. Talley and I went with her, and she drove it up and down the dirt roads along the river while I coached her. Backing it was tricky for her to learn, but she quickly mastered it, and could back the trailer into our garage.

She started the following Monday, and Talley got her sitter back. We dropped her on the way to work, and Maia was assigned a truck and a trailer. I put her with Brandon, one of my younger guys who'd been around a while, watched from a distance while he walked her through a load. It looked like they had three stops loaded, and he was explaining that the first load to drop would be at the back of the trailer. They seemed to be getting along great, and Brandon seemed to be in awe of this dusky goddess. As long as they were talking about work, he was fine, but he was kind of awkward. He was a good guy, though.

I saw them jump in the truck, Maia behind the wheel, and they pulled out onto the street. I watched them, a little wistfully. She was growing up, had her first job, and I was just getting to know and love her. I felt cheated that I hadn't been able to know her all her life. I shrugged and went to meet a big installer for lunch.

I was around the warehouse most of the day, and I saw them come back and load up again three times. She came into my office at five and told me she was done.

I got her a soda and we sat and talked. "How did you like it? Have a good first day?"

"I did, and I like it very much. I like Brandon."

"I figured you would," I said. "I'll have him ride with you the rest of the week, then you'll be on your own. Think you can handle it?"

She nodded. "Yes. Brandon said I need a better phone, or a GPS," she said. "I wouldn't be able to find paces without him using his phone."

"I never thought of that," I said. "I have you assigned an iPhone, tomorrow. You can use it like it's your personal phone, but the company will pay for it. Go get Talley and I'll meet you guys at home, okay? We'll go out for dinner and celebrate your first day on the job."

She looked confused. "Oh, I forgot to tell you, that's your truck, now. I mean, it belongs to the company, but you get to drive it. Drop your trailer and drive it like you own it."

She squealed and jumped up. "Really?"

"Really."

"Wow. I like the truck," she said. "I like trucks. I mean, I like the Lexus, too, maybe more, but trucks are so handy."

"You can drive it anywhere you need to go," I said. "We are going to kind of have to drive one of the trucks when it's all three of us. Not enough seats in the Lexus."