Chapter 6
After the bath, Leo looked smaller, wrapped in a plush white bathrobe that swallowed him whole, the sleeves rolled up several times to free his hands. His messy brown hair was combed flat against his forehead, smelling faintly of lavender and hotel soap. Alejandro had called room service for a simple plate of scrambled eggs, toast, and hot cocoa, realizing the boy probably hadn't eaten a proper meal in days. Leo devoured the food with a quiet, ravenous focus, though he kept slowing down to make sure no one was about to take the plate away. Maya sat across from him at the small dining table, resting her chin in her hands, watching him eat with wide, empathetic eyes. "Do you have any games?" Maya asked softly, breaking the quiet clinking of silverware against porcelain. Leo looked up, butter smeared on his upper lip, shaking his head. "I had a wooden top. But I lost it in the truck when the man let me out." "I have a tablet," Maya offered eagerly. "We can play puzzles. Or watch cartoons." Alejandro stood by the window, looking down at the rainy city streets four floors below. The neon signs of the downtown storefronts were beginning to flicker on through the gray dusk. He pulled his cell phone from his suit pocket, staring at the dark screen. He needed to make calls. He needed to cancel his afternoon meetings, check his bank accounts, and figure out the legal nightmare of introducing an undocumented, previously unknown eight-year-old child into his custody without blowing his professional life completely apart. But as he looked back at the table and saw Maya laughing softly as Leo struggled to pronounce the name of a cartoon character, every corporate priority suddenly felt remarkably trivial. He walked back over to the table, pulling out a chair to sit down with them. "Tomorrow," Alejandro said quietly, catching Leo's wary gaze, "we're going to go shopping. Real clothes. Good shoes. Proper boots for walking." Leo stopped chewing, his eyes searching Alejandro's face for any sign of a trick or a retraction. Finding none, the boy gave a tiny, almost imperceptible nod and went back to his toast.
