“Look, Tally, I’m as much at a loss about what to do right now as you,” Kai attempted to keep his voice low and soothing. “I haven’t the foggiest idea what to do or say to you. I’m not sure what your Mom was expecting me to do either.”
“I’m not sure she knew. She just kept telling me that I could count on you.”
To do what? Was he supposed to give her money, a place to live, and an education? That seemed a bit excessive especially since he hadn’t spoken to Jane for more than fifteen years and didn’t even know that she had a daughter. Keep an eye on her, what did that mean? He needed specifics, dammit.
“Do you have money?” he demanded, after being interrupted by a waitress who took his order of coffee. He wished it was whiskey. He could do with a shot right now.
“A little.”
“How much is a little? Enough to feed and house you for a week? A month? A year?” Kai asked, leaning back.
“I have her savings; it’s not enough to pay for school but it’ll be enough to keep me going until I find a job, a place to live.”
Kai thanked the waitress who handed him a mug filled with hot coffee. It wasn’t Flick’s special blend but it was hot and, he presumed, contained caffeine, something he desperately needed to fire up his sluggish brain cells. “You can’t stay in your old place? You can’t keep renting there?”
Tally shook her head. “We were living with Morris, Ma’s significant other. Staying with him isnotan option.”
It didn’t matter how far he wandered from the streets, he could still read the subtext below innocuous statements. It was there in tense shoulders, flat eyes, and hard mouths. “Does he want Jane’s money or does he want you?” he demanded.
Tally didn’t bother to lie and, better, he saw respect in her eyes. She just shrugged in a way that was both weary and infinitely sad.
“How long has he been coming onto you? And did your Mom know?”
“He came onto me the day of the funeral. Told me that we need to comfort each other.” Tally rolled her eyes. “He wouldn’t have tried anything while my Mom was alive, she would’ve skinned him alive.”
Kai smiled. The Jane he knew would’ve done exactly that.
“I packed up our stuff and I’m renting some space from a neighbor across the hall. She’ll look after it until I find a place. Ma’s furniture is still with Jim.”
“Where were you living?”
“Shipley Terrace.”
He knew the area well. While it wasn’t as bad as others, it wasn’t Georgetown or Adam’s Morgan.
“Give me the address and I’ll have it shipped here. I’ll store it at Caswallawn for you.”
“Can’t do that. I can’t pay you to do that,” Tally lifted her chin Stubborn, just like her mother. And proud. That was all Jane too.
“Do you want to keep your Mom’s stuff? C’mon Tally, you and I both know how it works. You ask a friend to look after your stuff but they invariably, at some point, need cash. 'Let’s just pawn Tally’s painting, or a piece of furniture to tide us over'. They won’t bother to buy it back, especially since it’s not theirs.”
He could see that Tally wanted to argue but common sense won. She reluctantly gave him the address. “I want you to keep a record of how much I owe you.”
Choose your battles, you’ve won this round and you can argue about money later. “So, what’s your next step?” Kai asked.
“I suppose I should go back to DC, find a job, an apartment that I can afford.”
He knew how expensive renting an apartment could be in the city and Tally didn’t look like she could afford to rent a shoe box in a crap area infested by drug dealers, pushers, and pimps. Sending her back there was not an option. Kai sipped his coffee and used the cup to gesture to the view of Main Street. “What do you think of Mercy?”
A smile almost touched Tally’s lips. “It’s nice. I like the colored buildings and the plants and the trees. The air smells clean. I like leaves and grass and…nature.”
Oh, God. Another convert to the cult of cute. “You like nature?”
“Sure, I love it. Don’t you?” Tally sat back as the waitress placed a massive cheeseburger in front of her. Tally immediately popped a handful of fries into her mouth.
He’d spent enough time in nature—in jungles and deserts and fucking cold mountains, usually having someone trying to shoot his ass off—that “nature” had lost a lot of its appeal. “I prefer the business of a city.”
But, he silently admitted, Mercy was nature-lite; pretty, happy, and insidiously soothing. The itch between his shoulder blades had also calmed down.