Clutching the remnants of the apple in one hand and the pencil and pad in the other, she obediently sat on the couch, positioning herself to watch him. Slowly, remembering to take a bite every now and then, she wrote out what she could remember. Her name, Summer. That she couldn’t remember her home, or her life. That someone was hunting her, someone she could sense as absence instead of presence.
For a long moment she watched him move around the kitchen, confident and sure, and her gaze was sad. Then she bent to the paper again. ‘I have nothing. No way to repay.’
Derek quickly whipped up some steak with the seasonings he had. He was going to share this with Cora when she came in to visit but figured that this girl needed food more than his sister did at the moment. His attention turned back to her when he had them on the stove, his head shaking when he read the note. “You don’t owe me anything. Don’t worry about it.”
She frowned, huffing. There was no way he was just going to give her shelter, food — just give, with no expectations? ‘how is this supposed to work? I have NOTHING. no clothes no money no home. really you’re just going to give me things?’