“Sure, honey,” Lilly says getting a coffee mug while Cash nods, and Jax just stands with his arms crossed over his chest and a frown on his face.

“It was nice meeting you, Ashlyn.” I smile as I pass her.

“We’ll have coffee sometime soon.”

“I’d like that.” I nod and head up to the second floor, where I get Hope ready first, in a pair of leggings, a sweater dress, and her ballet flats. Going to my room, I dig through the garbage bags of clothes until I find my trusty black jeans that always look perfect, a black t-shirt that scoops in the front just enough to give a hint of cleavage, my black ankle boots, and a chunky silver and turquoise necklace that makes the outfit look more dressy.

“Let’s go brush our teeth and hair.” I hold out my hand to Hope, who is sitting on the bed, playing with her favorite doll.

Walking across the hallway, I notice Jax’s door is closed, but I can hear him talking loudly to someone on the other side. Closing the bathroom door, I give Hope her toothbrush while I fix her hair into a French braid. Once she’s done, I brush my teeth while looking myself over, seeing sleep has done wonders. The bags under my eyes are gone, and Ashlyn was right; my hair actually looks good with crazy waves. Taking my hair serum, I squeeze some into my palm, using it just on the ends to tame them a bit. All I use on my face is some mascara and a little blush.

“Can I have makeup?” Hope asks, watching me.

“How about lip-gloss?”

She nods, pulling one of the pink ones from my makeup bag and putting it on herself, so I bend to her level and let her put some on me as well. “What do you think?”

“You look pwetty.” She smiles, patting my cheek.

“So do you.” I tell her giving her a kiss.

When I open the bathroom door, Jax is standing in the hall leaning against the wall with his phone in his hand, frowning at something on the screen. When his head lifts and our eyes meet, I look down at Hope.

“Why don’t you go grab a couple of your dolls to take with us, Angel?” I say, and then watch as she heads to her room before looking at Jax again and asking, “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, baby, I just wanted to see if you need any money before I take off.”

“What?” I ask, feeling something strange creep over me, making my insides turn with unease.

“I know your purse is gone, and it’ll take a few days to get a new card from the bank. I don’t know if you need to get anything from the store for you or Hope.”

“Oh,” I breathe out. “I didn’t even think about that. I need to see about getting a new ID. I have the debit card from my savings account that has about four thousand dollars in it, which can hold us over until I get everything else worked out,” I mutter absently. I can’t believe I forgot my purse is gone. I didn’t have much in it, maybe forty dollars, my cellphone, and my wallet with my bank card. I don’t even have a credit card in my name.

“Are you sure you don’t want some cash just in case?”

“I’m sure,” I say, shaking my head, when Hope comes out of her room with her doll and doll stroller. “Millie wants to go for a walk, Mama.”

“Well, you’re gonna have to wait until we get back here later to take her for a walk.”

“But she really wants to go,” she pouts.

“Hope,” I say her name in my ‘mom voice’, tilting my head to the side and waiting for her to take the stroller back into the room before shaking my head and meeting Jax’s gaze again.

“Are you gonna be okay with my mom?” he asks, reaching out and touching my hand so briefly I wonder if it even happened.

“Of course, your mom seems really nice.”

“If you need me, just call.”

“I’m sure we’ll be okay, and that won’t be necessary,” I assure him.

“I know, but call anyways.”

“You know I don’t have a phone, right?” I ask softly.

“Sh—” His eyes move to Hope, who walks out to stand next to me, and then his eyes sweep up to meet mine again. “I mean, I’ll get you one today.”

“I can get my own phone.”

“You’re gonna be busy. I don’t mind getting one,” he says gently.

Pulling in a deep breath, I let it out slowly. I’m not used to anyone looking out for me, but maybe it’s time I learn to accept help from other people.

“Okay, but I’ll give you the money back for it when I get home. Can you make sure it’s not more than fifty? I need to stick to a budget.”

“Sure,” he agrees immediately, making me feel like that was way too easy. I don’t know Jax very well, but I’m getting the feeling he’s the kind of guy who’s used to getting his way, even if it’s by plowing you over.

“Also, here,” he says, handing me some kind of bar in a shiny wrapper.

“What’s this?” I frown, flipping it over and reading what’s in it.

“You need to eat.”

“This has almost a thousand calories in it,” I tell him, holding it back towards him. If I’m going to get in better shape, I’ll need to lose a little bit of weight. In order to do that, I will need to keep under around thirteen hundred calories a day. Eating that bar would leave me just a few messily calories for the rest of the day.

“It’s good for you.”

“Thank you, but I’ll just grab a banana on the way out,” I say, holding the bar closer to him until he takes it back.