The kitchen was warm and smelled of butter and something with cinnamon in it.
Milo came in through the side door and stopped at the counter. He had almost forgotten why he'd come this way in the first place before Felix had stopped him in the hallway. He'd wanted cake. That felt like it had happened a long time ago now.
Maureen was at the far end of the kitchen arranging something on a tray. She looked up when he came in, and her eyes went straight to his cheek.
"Oh, look at your face." She set down what she was holding and came over without being asked, pulling a clean towel from the drawer beside the sink, running it under cold water, and folding it into a compress.
"Use this as a compress." She held it out to him.
"Thank you," Milo said, feeling awkward under her attention.
Maureen just nodded and went back to what she was doing without making a big deal of it.
