Making a Difference ~Book 2 of The Difference Series~ [BWWM] (Major Editing)

「Fourteen」

A/N: Chapter is dedicated to @dimflo for their awesome comment. Thanks for reading!

We stood in the kitchen making a cake together. Amora standing on the stepping stool next to me. I smiled as I watched her drop the egg yolk into the bowl after I had precracked the shell for her. "Good job," I said trying to encourage her.

That's when a piece of the shell fell in the batter and Amora's smile quickly faded as she looked up at me. I could read the sadness in her eyes. It was the same sadness when she kept trying to learn to ride the bike yesterday. She was so afraid of disappointing me, but I had to reassure her it was alright. It had only taken an hour for her to get it down though. She was a fast learner. Once she had it down, it was no getting her off the bike. Her laughs were so joyful and loud that it wouldn't have shocked me if the the whole park heard it. It took forever to get her to come home so she could have dinner and be tucked into the guest bed. She was happy. So, to see that light flicker away from her eyes pained my heart. "I'm sorry," Amora rushed to apologize.

I quickly reassured her like I had done yesterday. "It's fine," I said with a fuller smile. I fished out the shell and showed her. "See. Easy fix." Amora awarded me with a small grin.

As I mixed the batter, Amora decided to throw out a question. "Will my mommy leave me like daddy did?" she asked out of nowhere. My heart felt like it dropped as I was put on the spot. I didn't know what to say to her, but I knew it needed to be something because she stood staring at me as she stood on the stool waiting for an answer. I swallowed thinking quickly as a few seconds already past.

"Well," I began as I continued to mix the batter realizing I had stopped when the question was sprung on me. "Sweetie, I believe everything is going to work out in the end for you. Things may look bad for you right now, but I promise things will get better." The response didn't really answer her question, but I didn't want to tell her that her mom may come back if it was a possibility I'd be lying to her. I also didn't want to tell her the truth until it was permanent. Amora didn't seem to like the answer so I decided to add on against my better judgement. "I promise to be here whenever you call me though." I held out the batter to her. "Now why don't you try your strawberry cake batter and tell me how it tastes," I said quickly changing the subject.

Amora put her finger in the batter and put it in her mouth. "Yum. It's good."

"Really?" I ask taking my turn, but, instead of putting it in my mouth, I wiped my finger clean on her nose. "Oops." I smiled at my masterpiece as Amora's jaw dropped in horror.

I guess I had basically declared war by then because her finger was back in the bowl before I knew it. My nose was coated with the batter before I noticed it. "Payback." She laughed and I couldn't help but laugh along with her.

"Oh it's on now," I declared. With that, our war had begun. Batter was thrown and so was flour. The kitchen was coated in cooking ingredients. One would of thought the a tornado went through here. We sat on the kitchen floor next to each other once the batter and flour was gone smiling. "Well, I guess it's a good thing I bought extra to make your cake," I said with a chuckle. Amora laughed wiping some batter off her to put it on my arm.

"I win," she announced with no doubt in her voice.

xxx

I laid in my bed with my cheek against the pillow . I couldn't sleep. This weekend had been successful. Mission accomplished. I had made her birthday a fun one this weekend no thanks to her mother not showing up.

I had failed not to get attached to her although. I didn't want to return her to the center. It could be temporary. All I needed to do was figure out what I needed to do to make it where she could stay with me until her mother finally straighten up her act and got her. Yes, it would break my heart to give her back to her mom, but at least I knew it would come sooner or later so it wouldn't hurt as much. Hopefully anyway. I didn't want to risk being heartbroken, but I had promised Amora I'd at least try. After all, all you had to do was to show you cared to make a difference in someone's life.

A cry came from around the corner. It was so low I thought I was imaging it until it got louder. It was close to a screaming cry. I jumped from the bed and followed the sound as fast as I could. It was coming from the guest room where Amora was sleeping. When I peeked in Amora was crying out with her eyes closed tightly. As I got closer to her, I could almost make out the tears coming from her eyes. She was having a nightmare. I shook her softly trying to wake her up. The sound of her almost made me shed some tears of my own. "Amora, wake up sweetheart. It's okay. It's just a nightmare."

Amora was kicking and shot straight up in bed. Her eyes sprung open before looking over at me. Her head fell into my lap as her arms encircled me holding tightly. "My mom's never coming back. Please don't leave me," she cried.

I rubbed her back lost for words. I felt for her because it was hard losing someone who you love. "Sweetie, it was just a nightmare. Everything is going to be okay. Just try to get some sleep," I responded trying to be comforting for her.

Amora sniffled quiet for a few seconds before speaking through a cracked voice. "Can you at least stay with me until I fall asleep?" My heart pounded as I slightly nodding running my fingers through her hair. Her eyes closed as she relaxed.

It didn't take long before she fell back to sleep. I ended up sitting in her room for hours though. I felt bad for her. And, honestly, I didn't want to leave her side. I didn't want this weekend to end as much as she didn't. But time stops for no one unfortunately. It wasn't until I saw that the clock said eight in the morning that I slipped out of the bed and out the room. I went downstairs to get ready to make breakfast when there was a knock on the front door.

I decided to ignore it seeing as it wasn't a planned visit. Instead I got ready to make pancakes. By the third knock, I groaned wondering why I even tried to ignore people who came to my place. I always caved and went to answer the door anyway. So, why bother trying to ignore them?

I peeked through the peep hole and there stood Leo. My heart raced as I cursed to myself. There was no point in pretending I wasn't home. I'm pretty sure he saw my car outside and, even if he didn't, he'd probably continue knocking anyway.

I tried to ignore my heart and my body. My body missed his touch. It ached for it. My heart, although on the fence, was glad to see him. My mind, on the other hand, told me to tread lightly and reminded me of my past. I smiled and opened the door coming face to face with Leo. As much as I tried to prepare myself for him, I still failed. "Hey, Leo."