Page 93 of Coffee Shop Girl
“Of course.”
Silently, she slipped up to the apartment. Seconds later, a pair of thudding feet appeared at the end of the hallway, and the back screen door slammed shut. Ellie and Devin must have escaped outside at some point. As if she could sense something bad had happened, Ellie stared at me in wordless question. New fly-fishing lures filled Devin’s free hand, while a sleeping kitten was tucked firmly under Ellie’s arm. She ran the tips of her fingers down its shaggy stomach, regarding me with wary suspicion.
Grief, when had she found a cat?
Devin stood next to her, one hand around her shoulders as if to protect her. They both had strangely somber expressions.
“Everything is fine,” I said brightly, acting like I didn’t see the new animal or the health code nightmare it would create. “You can keep playing.”
Ellie wasn’t fooled. I could see it in her eyes. She had a weird sixth sense about these kinds of things. But she said nothing else as she turned away and returned to the sunshine with Devin.
I stared at the letter with a churning feeling in my gut.
* * *
Bethany:Hey Kin. I want full custody of my sisters. Can we get the process started? I can promise to pay you $100 next month, and more after. But I’m otherwise strapped for cash right now.
Kinoshi:Of course. Don’t worry about the money yet. Let’s meet tomorrow. We’ll discuss filing an application and start the process. Do you have proof of harm to them?
Bethany:From Jada, yes.
Kinoshi:I’ll contact her to get the documentation. Any neighbors or other people who could also write statements or testify for you?
Bethany:Probably. I’ll call.
Kinoshi:That would be helpful. Gather everything you can. I hate to ask, but can you prove that you’ll be able to give them a better living situation?
Bethany:Yes. I can.
Kinoshi:Then we’ll talk tomorrow.
Bethany:Thanks. Talk soon.
32
Maverick
Ileft the day after my final confrontation with Bethany, but I only made it as far as Jackson City.
Grandpa’s house would be finished soon enough. The staging team would move in furniture for the photos within the next forty-eight hours. I’d dropped the bookshelf off at Jada’s and told Lizbeth about it when I stopped by the shop.
If I hadn’t been so upset about Bethany, I would have felt proud of the house. Satisfied. But I couldn’t feel much except agony.
If I stayed in Pineville, I’d see Bethany. If I saw her, I’d feel it all again. The pressure. The responsibility. The sense of impending doom that choked me. Her death would be on my hands if it ended the way others had . . . so, like a coward, I bailed.
Although I tried to push farther south, or west, oranywherebut here, dammit, I couldn’t. When I steered toward South Dakota, my car wouldn’t function. Or maybe my courage. Or maybe I just couldn’t keep my foot on the gas long enough to make it onto the entrance ramp.
Bethany had given me the worst parting gift of all. Pain. The hurt in her eyes haunted me. Restless nights, fitful dreams, and a cumulative lack of sleep made me feel like a zombie. I shouldn’t have cared this much. She knew this was part of the deal.
But I did care. A lot.
Work would save me. It always had. I forced myself to canvass Jackson City, studying shops from the outside, the way I had for Bethany’s. Public records. Local gossip with other store owners.
Over two days at a nice hotel, I narrowed down three options that were clearly on their last legs, or would be soon. A touristy T-shirt shop that probably had seasonal issues. A restaurant with a limited menu and food that tasted like plastic. A knickknacks shop that appeared to be morphing into a glorified antiques store, but didn’t really know what it wanted to be.
But the same thrill of an impending challenge didn’t come the way it did with the Frolicking Moose. Because that challenge, I realized, had been more about Bethany.
Baxter called daily. Mom called hourly for a while.
