His face pinched. “I’m sorry. Coach told me to, but I forgot.”

“It’s okay.” And it was. She always slept in sweats when she had foster kids in the house, so that she’d be decent if one of them needed her during the night.

She swung her legs over the side of the bed and found her fuzzy slippers, wriggling her toes as she slid her feet inside. The comfort took the remaining edge off the unsteady feeling left by the nightmare.

Joshua giggled. “I like your slippers.”

She shoved the remnants of remembered horror from her mind as she lifted her foot. “So do I. Big Bird always makes me happy. Did you sleep okay last night?”

Joshua nodded, but his smile dimmed. He ducked his head back into the hall for a moment before returning to meet Dani’s eyes. “Michael slept on my floor.”

“I know.” Dani gently tousled the boy’s hair. “I got up to check on you in the middle of the night and he was there.” And it had broken her heart. Children needed to feel safe, but it was clear that Michael didn’t trust her. Yet. That was okay, though. “He probably wanted to be there in case you woke up in the night and didn’t know where you were.”

Joshua gave her one of those old-soul looks that said he knew so much more than he should. “He’s scared.”

“Well, he’s allowed to be, but he’ll get used to me and then he’ll know that you’re safe here.”

“I know already.” Joshua punctuated his words with a hard nod. “You gave him a blanket.”

“I didn’t want him to be cold while he was taking care of you.”

“He’s always taking care of me, but I can’t take care of him,” Joshua said sadly. “I’m too little. Everyone says I’m too little to do anything.”

Dani knelt in front of him. “But you did take care of him, Joshua. Yesterday you got him to talk to Coach Diesel, who brought you guys to me.” She poked him playfully. “You did that.”

Joshua sucked in a breath, his belly going round. “I did!”

“Yes, you did. Now, I’m thinking Coach told you to wake me up because he made breakfast. Is that right?”

His eyes widened comically. “I forgot again! He made chocolate chip pancakes.”

Dani frowned. “I don’t have chocolate chips in the pantry.”

Joshua shrugged and turned to the door. “I know. His friends brought some over. They’re downstairs eating. You should come before they’re all gone.” He started to race away, but she called him back in mild alarm.

“Joshua? Which friends?”

“Miss Merry and . . .” He frowned a little. “That policeman from yesterday. Not the one with white hair. The other one. He says he’s your cousin,” Joshua added suspiciously.