Page 22 of The Fall Back Plan
“Uncle Lucas isn’t checked out,” Brooklyn says, and her voice is clear and firm. “He’s a really good uncle.”
“That’s good,” Tina says. “I got seven uncles. Seven.” She shakes her head likeCan you believe that?“Anyway, one of them is a stinker, but the rest are pretty great.”
“Uncle Lucas is pretty great,” Brooklyn says.
“I believe it.” Barely. I’m not going to criticize Lucas to his niece and tell her what absolute trash he was in high school. If he’s good to her, then great. “In fact, I bet he probably set aside money for you to get school clothes, and he’ll be happy to have you spend it. Would it be okay with you if I checked?”
Tina claps her hands. “Say yes, say yes, say yes.”
Brooklyn smiles, even if it looks like she’s smiling in spite of herself. “Okay.”
I text Lucas.
JOLIE:Brooklyn says she’ll do some school shopping with me and Tina. We have a budget?
LUCAS:Whatever she wants.
His answer is lightning quick, and I show it to Brooklyn. “Looks like we have a green light,” I tell her.
“Yes!” Tina says. “Let’s get you straightened out first, boss lady.” She makes a gesture that sweeps from my head to my feet. “We don’t really want to be seen out with a drowned rat. We have reputations to maintain.”
I make a face at her, and Brooklyn makes a noise that might be a giggle. It warms my heart. If I had to guess, she doesn’t laugh much. Tina and I go back and forth, teasing, the rest of the way to the store, while I text Lucas at the same time, making sure he knows Brooklyn is safe.
It’s something I became more aware of and more angry about when I moved away from home and got older and wiser; with my dad’s complete lack of supervision, I was very lucky nothing actively bad ever happened to me. I had to spend almost six months processing the fear a few years ago when it sank in how many times things could have gone sideways, where bad people with worse intentions could have gotten to me, because of his neglect.
But that didn’t happen. I’m here and I’m fine. But I don’t want Brooklyn to worry, and I’m sure Lucas has seen far too much in his job to rest easy.
JOLIE: Tina and I will be with her at all times, so you don’t have to worry about leaving her alone with only one adult. I’ll make it clear that you know we’re buying her underwear and bras as part of her normal back-to-school stuff so she doesn’t feel like there’s any secret keeping.
I’d volunteered at a tutoring center near my condo on Saturday mornings for a long time, and the training was extremely thorough in defining appropriate boundaries with the kids. Not asking them to keep secrets from their parents is a major one.
LUCAS: Thanks, and I trust you, but I’ll verify. She’s got her location app on. Expect to see a few of my deputies who know Brooklyn stopping for a friendly hello every thirty minutes.
I send him a thumbs up and mentally reward him some points. I’m not sure what they’re for. Brownie points? Good guy points? Maybe I’m just restoring some of the many, many human points he lost in high school.
Either way, Lucas Cole is on the scoreboard, and in Jolie McGraw’s world, that’s not nothing.
An hour later, I’m in the first pair of jeans I’ve bought in five years, wearing a black T-shirt that was all I would agree to from the ten things Tina pulled off the rack, and my hair has dried enough for me to graduate from drowned rat status. We’ve also had two friendly run-ins with deputies as we’ve gone from store to store, each saying “hey” to Brooklyn, like they’re surprised to run into her on their various made-up errands.
Best of all, by the time we walk into the third store, Brooklyn’s hood is down, and when we finally head back to the Mockingbird, she has two shopping bags full of clothes.
Tina the freaking magical fairy godmother made it smooth as French silk pie; we walked past the bra and underwear section and she grabbed two packs of socks from the rack. “Size seven?” she asked Brooklyn. Brooklyn nodded and Tina tossed them in the cart.
Tina grabbed two packs of cotton briefs. “Girl’s medium?” she asked like she was barely paying attention to the answer. Brooklyn had nodded again. “Shirts medium too?” Tina asked. Another nod. And just like that, Tina pulled three training bras in neutral colors and tossed them in the basket. “You good on pajamas?”
It was that easy. Then we pulled a bunch of other clothes and sent Brooklyn into the fitting room to try them on, and as Tina would collect anything Brooklyn rejected, we began to hone in on her style. Turns out that Brooklyn is an athleisure girl with a preference for soft neutral colors who doesn’t like words anywhere on her clothes, but if there’s a butterfly, that’s a bonus.
We’re heading back to the Mockingbird with a pretty good wardrobe for the kiddo without any discernible cringing from Brooklyn.
And her hood never went back up.
Back at the bar, I set Brooklyn’s bags in the office, then sweep my hand to encompass the entire place. “We’re not opening for lunches for a while yet, so you’ve got plenty of workspace. Any table you want.”
She walks over to a booth and turns to me with a questioning look. Not a surprise that she would choose somewhere small and burrow-like. It’s what I used to do in the library.
I nod. “Good choice. I’ll let Lucas know you’re back. Maybe your grandfather is ready to come pick you up.”
“Okay. And he’s my great-grandpa.” She slides her backpack off and slips into the bench to set it beside her. “Thank you, Miss Jolie,” she says softly.
