Olive looks doubtful. “What about Crystal?”
“Sure,” I say. “She can come, too.”
“And the babies?”
“They should probably stay with the nanny.”
She follows me back toward the food line. “The mall is closed,” she points out. “And I don’t think these people would like Goodwill.”
“We’ll go to Little Rock. I said I’d take you for a ride in the Escalade, anyway,” I remind her. “We can even take the girls to get burgers and eat at the quarry. I bet they’ve never been.”
She’s quiet, and I know exactly what she’s thinking because no matter how good things are between the founding families, there’s still the rest of us. Nothing’s changed on our side of town. I might have left the trailer park, and Mill Street, and the life of poverty that trapped me here. Royal even gave me a credit card, and though I know it’ll take me a long time before I stop feeling weird about using it, he promised he won’t even monitor it. It’s mine.
But everyone else is still here.
Jolene is still in the trailer park. Zephyr’s still on Mill Street with his alcoholic dad and his car up on blocks in the front yard. Maverick is still running with the Crosses because that’s his only option. Blue is… I don’t know where she is. Olive came to me with instructions that make it sound like she had a plan and wasn’t murdered or taken off the street on her way home from school. She’s going to Oregon to find their aunt, and then she’ll be back for her sister. If keeping Olive safe is the only thing I can do for that side of Faulkner, I’m going to do the best damn babysitting job the world has ever known.
Because Blue may be gone, but Olive is still here, reminding me where I came from, that there are still girls like me. That I’m still a girl like me.
So I do what girls like us do, and I give her dignity, even if the price is a little white lie. It’s what her sister and I always did, ignoring each other’s bruises and never prying. I can honor her sister this way until she comes home. I know she wouldn’t have asked me to watch Olive if she had anyone else, if she weren’t desperate. She’d never leave Olive if she had a choice.
“Your sister left me some money,” I say as we take two seats at the back of the sea of chairs. “So we could get you new clothes and stuff for school if you need it.”
“How much?” Olive asks, looking at me suspiciously.
“A hundred dollars.”
“Really?” Olive asks, her eyes going wide.
“Yep,” I say, my chest squeezing.
“And she said she’d send more when she could.”
“When did she say that?”
“She texted a while ago,” I say.
“Where is she?”
“She didn’t say,” I tell her. “But she said she loves you, and she’s coming back as soon as she can.”
“I know,” Olive says, biting into a shrimp and swinging her legs back and forth under the chair.
“Good,” I say. “Then we’ll go shopping over Christmas, and you can go back to school with new clothes.”
“Is there enough for shoes, too?”
“Definitely,” I say, smiling sideways at her and nudging her shoulder. “And if there’s not, we can always steal a little from these rich people.”
She grins bigger than I’ve seen since I found her at Gloria’s. “I won’t tell,” she whispers.
I spend the rest of the day trying to stay out of the way of the mourners, watch over Olive, and be there for Royal when I think he needs it. It’s not exactly a big happy family I imagined, but Royal’s relatives seem okay with me, and I’m even warming up to his sister a little. It’s better than sitting around a dinner table with Mr. Dolce, my mother, and Baron, that’s for damn sure. Maybe the happy family thing takes time and looks different than any of us expected, but I know it’ll happen when the time is right. And if it doesn’t, I still have the family I made—my friends, me, and Royal.
It’s evening before everyone clears out, and by then, I’m ready to be out of the spotlight. Even when I’m not by Royal’s side, I notice the attention I garner everywhere I go. I guess that’s the price of landing the most coveted man in town.
When the place is mostly empty, I start to pick up plates. I’ve barely started when an arm snakes around me from behind. “What are you doing?” Royal asks, rubbing his chin against the top of my head.
“Party’s over,” I say.