Chapter 33

I had only been alone for a little while before the door opened; I began muttering the body binding spell without thinking, but it wasn't someone trying to kill me. It was only Sean. He didn't look very happy, though.

"Bryce is sure he can get Grandpa to agree to help Savannah," he told me. "Which is insane. He won't tell me why he thinks that. I don't suppose he told you?"

"We don't actually talk much," I shrugged, leaning back in the chair. "Have the Cortezes found any leads on Savannah?"

"Nothing. They're still looking. If things go well later we'll have more resources to give them."

Or slow them down, but I didn't say that because he was trying to be helpful. "You'll find them. And if you don't, I should be able to talk to Savannah, if I ever manage to get out of here. She's going to be so pissed when she finds out I managed to visit the Nast office before she did."

He nodded. It was unnecessary for him to look at me in that way. I thought I had cleaned up fairly well, but...I really, really hoped I had. Smoothing down my skirt as I got up and walked around to the front of the desk, I asked, "Something on my face?"

He appeared startled and then guilty, as he looked down. "I was just thinking, you probably know my sister better than I do and my brother's—" fucking you. But he didn't say that. Instead, he covered, "He's spent the last couple days in your company and I still don't know anything about you."

"What do you want to know?"

Sean shifted, clearly uncomfortable, wanting to demand the information he wanted, but knowing that regular people didn't just go around demanding things. After a long while I guess he figured the roundabout approach was the best.

"Do you like my brother?"

"Excuse me?"

Sean shifted uncomfortably but steeled his face. "Bryce. Do you...why are you with him?"

"Are you asking me what my intentions are?" I would have been insulted but it was kind of really cute. "That's so sweet."

"That's not an answer."

"Do you have time to do this to all the girls he sleeps with? That must eat up a big part of your week."

"Also not an answer."

It finally dawned on me that Sean, despite his manners and his eagerness to help, was actually a Nast. That meant that if push came to shove, he could have me killed for looking at him wrong. And playing around with his baby brother wasn't the best way to endear myself to the man.

"I'm not under your jurisdiction. You can have the Cortezes interrogate me if you want. Otherwise, I don't have to answer to you."

"That's not..." He sighed in frustration, but I had no desire to make this easier on him. In part because I wasn't exactly sure how I would answer. "He told you, didn't he?"

"Like I said before, we're not so big on talking."

"He told you." Sean had finally found his confidence, but I held his eye. "About me. Or maybe Savannah did and he just confirmed it, but you know. So now I need to know what you're going to do about that."

"And my feelings about Bryce relate to that how?"

Sean needed to be better at this. I was substantially younger, substantially smaller and didn't have even a hint of his power; yet, he was scared to push. He almost looked like he was going to back down. But he didn't.

"When he leaves you, you should come talk to me."

One of these days, I was going to let the Nasts pay me off, just because they kept offering to do it.

"Sean, I'm not with your brother because he's well off, so you won't have to pay me hush money. And your brother is never going to break my heart, so I'm not going to out you to get back at him. I will tell your sister we had this conversation, and she may or may not kick your ass depending on her mood, but that's the extent you have to worry about me. Okay?"

Before he could answer, Sherri was back at the door. She gave Sean the same adoring smile she had given his brother. "I've just been told your meeting's ready to begin."

Sean had the decency to look ashamed. "I'm sorry. I just...I can't risk..."

"The awkwardness right now? You have bodyguards so you can avoid this." But one of them was off escorting my mother, so I guess I couldn't blame Sean for trying to protect himself. "Ready?"

Sean held out his arm, like some sort of old-fashioned gentleman and I took it.

The Nast board of directors were a scary bunch. There must have been growth hormones or something in the water as they all towered over me as they stood around the table. They weren't standing on my account—Thomas Nast was a little late. Everyone was dressed in black, except for Alba who had on a beige suit with a fluorescent green and orange scarf. She was the only one that smiled, and it was forced. I don't think she was pleased with our plan. It was going to be a long meeting.

Alba wasn't the only woman. That was probably the only thing that surprised me about the crowd of angry, over dressed power-whores that faced me. It was a rare thing to see women high up in Cabals, mostly because the higher up you went, the more sorcerers there were—and that meant fewer spots for the rest of the world to fight over. The Cortez Cabal had introduced their first female member only the year before and I suspected—but didn't dare say to Savannah—that had more to do with Benecio wanting to please his daughter-in-law than any other sort of forward thinking.

In contrast to Alba, the other two women looked almost like their male counterparts, with dour expressions and short, severe hair. Cabals didn't pay you to be friendly. There was no indication of race around anyone, but I would have bet the other two women were necromancers and not just because they were flanking the hated Hollis. Half-demons rarely made it to the board of directors, since most only discovered the existence of the Cabals in their twenties, in the middle of an existential crisis. It was a rare person who could find the concentration that joining the board of directors required in the midst of that turmoil. Plus, the two women had identical broaches in the place of bowties, broaches that fairly screamed 'we like dead things.'

So, three women, which wasn't bad. The Nasts did have witches on staff, but they weren't allowed to come near the board room. I heard it had been different before, but since Kristof's death the family had been careful to keep the company witches out of Thomas' sight.

And there I was, getting to sit in on this unpleasant meeting, right beside Bryce. He had left the chair beside their grandfather free for his brother, but put me on his other side. It was a little too close to Thomas Nast, but I didn't say anything. Under the table, his hand found mine, calloused thumb running over the back my hand, reassuring me.

A man in the corner caught my eye, or rather his eyes caught my attention. They were a striking, liquid amber and rather familiar. Bryce squeezed my hand and whispered, "Mr. Bidibadi. He had a daughter, once. We don't talk about it."

Nadira's father. He shared a superficial resemblance to her, but nothing more. What was it like, I wondered, to be human, to have jobs that didn't rule every moment of your life? Bryce wasn't the person to ask, and no one else in that room would talk to me.

A few of the sorcerers were obviously related to Bryce, but only about half of them. The rest were the sons of the other important families. It was infuriating how much like ancient royal courts the Cabal boardrooms really were.

As if on cue, the King himself entered and took his seat at the head of the table. The old man didn't even spare me a glance, which said a lot more than he probably would have liked.

The meeting was nothing like Friday's dinner, however. Sean led most of the discussion, Bryce talking only when his brother asked him too. I wasn't allowed to say a word. My presence was explained away as humouring the Cortezes, and there was a dig in there when Bryce said it that I couldn't help but notice. This was the Nast playground and he wasn't going to play nice when he didn't have to.

The board allowed Sean to finish his speech on what he suspected the Eisenbergs had been up to. They had been relatively silent throughout his presentation, with only a few technical questions being asked. When Sean finished there was a few moments of silence—predators sizing up their prey.

Alba was the first to speak. "I've been saying it for years. You can't make someone loyal to you."

"Yes you can," Bryce said with a shrug, more to defend an old argument than because he should. "It just doesn't seemed to have worked in this case. That doesn't mean it isn't possible."

Hollis got back on topic, addressing Sean's argument. "You could make a similar claim about anyone in this room. Just because they had the opportunity and the power doesn't mean they opened the time tear. What I want to know is why no one was called in when a time tear was discovered on our property? And why we should care about the disappearance of a mere witch?"

That set the rest of them off, a screaming mass intent on finding blood. It was nice to see that some were on our side, arguing against angering the Cortezes, though it probably had more to do with Edmund Eisenberg's vacant board chair than with any desire to help Savannah. It was Sean who tried to bring order to the table as Bryce watched his silent grandfather. That sort of staring freaked me out, so I asked him quietly, "Are you just going to sit here?"

"You don't enjoy the sounds of the animals in heat?" he whispered back.

"Bryce..."

"Wait. Sean'll take care of it."

That didn't seem likely. While he could repeat the Cortez talking points, Sean wasn't able to recite them fast enough for the board. Yes, the Eisenbergs had been linked to the creatures controlled by the time tear. Yes, he was sure that the proof was solid. No, there was no way someone else could have taken Savannah. Yes, he was sure the Cortezes felt that way, too. No, Benecio hadn't been contacted, but it was just a matter of time.

"I simply don't see the profit in it," one of the relatives said. "Why would Edmund go rogue? Mariah may have been unstable, but surely Edmund would see how pointless this entire exercise is. All due respect, Bryce, but attacking you isn't the most logical way to attack this company."

"And it would be easier to kill you in New York," Hollis said.

That sounded like a threat to me, and I think Sean shared my feelings, even if the rest of the board seemed content to ignore Hollis after Bryce carelessly flipped him off (always classy). Sean was turning red.

"Maybe it's not about profit. Call me crazy, but I think the Eisenbergs have a lot of really good reasons to hate us that have nothing to do with profit."

"Then why kidnap the witch?" Thomas fairly bit out the word. "Her disappearance is nothing to us, except to force us into a conflict with the Cortezes."

There was half a grin of Bryce's face as Sean spat out: "Her disappearance means something to me. You know what I'd do if I had access to a time tear? I'd go back and save the people that cared about me. I'd I kidnap the most powerful witch on the planet and get her to make sure the people I loved wouldn't die this time. I would—but then, I've always been on a different page than this company when it comes to human feeling."

Now Bryce was definitely smiling. At least, until Alba spoke.

"Zachery didn't die in an accident that could have been prevented, Sean. He didn't die from injuries that could be cured. He was born sick. Tay-Sachs is genetic. That's not something that can be fixed, no matter how many witches you kidnap."

"It's possible."

I don't know what possessed me; I had promised not to say anything. It was one thing to lie to my housemate's about eating breakfast, it was another to lie to the most powerful people in the supernatural world about Savannah's powers. But I needed them to agree to help. So I told them what they needed to hear.

"Your employees went to a black witch and she had spells more powerful than...anything." Maybe it was true—I couldn't translate most of Yi's spells, so maybe there was a powerful healing spell in there. "There's a spell that could altar someone's very genetic code, so they would become perfect. Savannah could get the spell to work."

Was that good enough?

"Why is she even here?" Thomas demanded.

"Talk to the Cortezes, Grandpa," Bryce reminded him. "Besides, a witch would know more about witch spells than us."

"Someone ask the Enrights if she's telling the truth," one of the blonde men said.

"If they don't know, what does that prove?" Bryce asked. "Besides they're as incompetent as my father always said."

"Call them," Thomas snapped. "Meeting adjourned until further notice."

Without another world, the CEO stormed from the room. The board didn't move. Beside me, Bryce stood up, silently giving me one last chance to stop him. I settled for giving him an encouraging smile. We took too long. Sean was already heading out after his grandfather and Bryce hurried to catch his older brother.

Leaving me surrounded by the Nast board of directors.

"Come with me," Alba said. She was standing in front of me, between me and the wolves, and so I followed her. It's not like I had much of a choice.

Her office was on the floor below, a brightly coloured room with a view not quite as good as Bryce's. The amount of foliage in the room didn't even surprise me. She was a shaman—I was only surprised she didn't have some sort of pet living in her office. The giant painting of puppies on her walls might have qualified.

She didn't go sit behind her desk like I had expected her, just turned to face me as I stood in the middle of the room.

"Well, this is awkward." There was a pleasant smile on her face, but it didn't reach her eyes. "I suppose I should start by saying the blouse was smart, but those nylons are far too thin. From now on stick to pants and put up your hair. It shouldn't be blowing around like that. If only we could start getting you to wear gloves."

"I'll cover up as much as I can," I promised.

"There's something I can do that might fool a shaman who wasn't looking too closely." Without asking, she pushed my blouse up, so she could put her hands on my stomach. It didn't take long until she frowned. "Who tampered with your cycle?"

"Some shaman Bryce brought in. I can't remember his name."

Her lips pursed but she didn't push. "Someone without subtly. I can try and mask that, but it will be difficult. I can't do that without a lot of time and who knows how long those boys will take. If...if he goes through with it, I'm sure Thomas will have me check up on you later. I can do it then."

"You think he won't go through with it?"

"Between me and you, girl?" She tapped me on the nose, and laughed. "No. He won't. Thomas can't deny the Cortezes some help, even if it's an unofficial request. It won't come to this."

"Good." It was a relief, in a way. "Then why am I here?"

"Well, Thomas has made a career out of being predictable. And it's an interesting contingency plan to consider. We'll keep you untouchable for a little while, just in case he needs some prodding."

And she wanted to inspect me personally.

"If it does come to it, I'll tell you what symptoms to report. I may even be able to help you fake some of them. And we'd say it's a boy, of course. You should maybe think of some names."

"Excuse me?"

"It would be better if it had a name. Something...talk to Sherri. Bryce's..." when I nodded, she continued. The look on her face was obviously predatory. "She'd be a good person to ask. Thomas will like that."

"Considering you don't know me at all, you're being awfully cavalier about the fact you're willing to go behind the company's back."

She threw her head back and laughed, body rippling. It should have been terrifying, but it wasn't. It was almost friendly. Before going to sit behind her desk, she patted me on the head. "Oh sweetheart, who says I don't know anything about you?"

"You're meeting wasn't even an hour ago. How much can you know?" I gave Nast resources a lot of credit—but even they had limitations.

"It's been days since the party, though."

"Oh."

"Don't look so worried. Thomas always lets me handle these things without interference." Things—Bryce's whores. I almost snarled. "Don't look so upset, dearie. I can kill you before you realize what I've done, if I think you're going to betray us, but so long as you behave I'll protect you as best I can."

"What does behaving entail?"

She almost looked offended. "Not like that, child. Heaven forbid. You start behaving that way and you're on your own. I simply meant keep your mouth shut and don't give Thomas a reason to have you executed. He won't forgive Thomas that, whatever else he'll forgive. I know you have a good reason to fear us, but we don't try to be cruel. Even Thomas."

Good reason to fear them? "It sounds like you already know a bit about me."

"Some of the information was already in the office. We have quite...extensive files on that incident."

"I'll bet."

One hand reached over the desk, pushing a folder in my direction. "That's a record of what happened to those who thought angering a vampire was a good idea. Most of it is classified, so I can't let you leave this room with it, but since I'm plotting treason with you already anyway..."

I couldn't make myself take the folder she offered. "Why have you agreed to help him?"

"I trust Bryce; I helped raise him, I better trust him. I believe him when he says he's not trying to wrestle power from that old bastard. This isn't really company business at all. Besides, you don't get far in this world by yourself; the shamans have to stick together. We have to stick together."

This time when she patted the folder, I took it. I still didn't trust her, exactly, but I wanted to believe her, anyway.

Alba started talking about Cabal security measures, or something, as I stopped listening to her, too intent on the words I was reading. Thomas Nast had a bit of a temper. For the first time in my life, I was very, very glad. The details were gory and awful; they made me incredibly happy. Sure, I was crying, just a little bit, but it was only because there was finally the tiniest hint that justice had been done.

The Nasts, in their arrogance, had gotten my sister killed. So they had carved the problem out with a dull spoon.

There was a knock on the door. I dropped the folder on the desk and hastily stepped away, while Alba rose. Thankfully, it was only Bryce.

"Darling—" But he stopped addressing Alba once he spotted me. "Thank God you're here. I was afraid Hollis had made you into some sort of human sacrifice."

"He tries keep those sort of things for the weekend," Alba said cheerfully as Bryce closed the door behind him.

"I told you to be nice, Alba."

I hastily wiped my red eyes, trying to stop sniffling. "She was. How did it go with your grandfather?"

The smile on his face was contagious, even if I hadn't heard the good news yet.

"You should have seen Sean," he laughed. "It was kind of scary, actually. I've never seen him so upset; he even threatened to go to Benecio for help himself. Grandpa's pride won't let that happen. He's allowing Sean to help the Cortez investigation. Limited resources, but Sean's got some leeway. Grandpa can't deny his future heir."

The last word came out a little less happy than the rest, but that was Bryce's battle, not mine. Savannah was getting the best help she could expect from Thomas.

"Said future heir accidentally called me a whore. Again," I informed Bryce. "You might want to ask him to stop that. It hurts."

"He gets awkward around girls."

"Bryce!" But he just shrugged, so Alba sighed and moved the conversation along. "It seems as if the two of you don't need my help, unless you count me teaching Sean some manners. Are you done?"

"Yeah." He glanced over, but I agreed. I had gotten my fill of the crazy women that inexplicably cared about him. "I'll see you around?"

"There's just one more thing. If you don't mind, Gillian, I'd like a word with my darling boy."

"I'll be just outside, then," I said as I slipped out.

Just because I should have been safe, didn't mean I felt that way. Though I made sure my ear wasn't against the door (not that there was a chance I could overhear that way; all the offices around here had to be protected) I kept a firm grip on the doorknob. If someone approached, I wanted to be back in that room before they could hurt me.

Which is why when Bryce opened the door, I almost felt down at his feet.

"You ready to go?" he asked, helping me up.

"Shut up."

In the artificial lights of the elevator, it was hard to miss how tired Bryce looked. I probably looked the same, though I didn't dare look in the mirror. We needed to sleep more. Maybe once the spell worked, and my mother left, and Savannah came back...

"What did she say to you?" I asked, trying to distract myself. "If it wasn't top secret?"

"Most of it wasn't. She told me not to fuck this up. I knew she liked you; she told me to watch out for you. Said she was tired of watching my family crush every girl they came across. She expects me to be better than that."

He had beautiful eyes. It startled me how aware of that fact I suddenly became, looking up at him in the middle of the elevator. They were the same colour as always, but there was still...there was something different. Something funny. He really, honestly, truly respected her opinion. He wanted to make her proud—if that wasn't the most disturbing thing I'd ever seen...

"I get why you'd ask for her help. But I still don't like the fact she was comfortable helping you plan what is essentially mutiny."

He shrugged. "She wants me happy."

"Yes, but shamans always have funny ideas about how to make you happy."

My tone must have given me away.

"Dira and I only slept together because we were bored. The way she's acting has nothing to do with that; she's just always been that way. Sort of screwy and possessive."

"Please. I'm not jealous. I'm creeped out by their incessant fawning over you." The elevator doors opened as he laughed.

"Come on," he said, pulling me through the lobby. "As funny as it is listening to criticize me in new and exciting ways, I'd much rather get to the hotel early. It'll give us more time to talk to your mother."

Crap.

"Can we not and say we did?"

"Oh come on, Gillian. I get to see an older version of you. It'll be great."

"She's nothing like me." I couldn't keep the anger from my voice or the hate. I didn't try. It was the truth and he should know it.

We finally arrived at the front, were Grant had brought the car around. Sean had left earlier, Bryce had told me as we left Alba's. Margaret Levine had arrived at the hotel and Sean had gone to play host.

No sooner had we gotten into the car than Bryce pulled me into his lap, kissing me until I was sure my lips were bruised. There was no gentleness, just pure desire and it terrified me because I couldn't figure out what he was trying to prove. So I kissed him back because—fuck it. I kissed him back because I wanted to and he was still very, very good at it.

"What was that for?" I asked, once we pulled apart for air. He just shrugged and I took it as an apology.

"You know what I don't understand?" I asked, making myself comfortable on top of him. "Why didn't the Eisenbergs just come to you? I mean, instead of going rogue and trying to bring down both the Cortezes and the Nasts, shouldn't they have just asked you for help?"

"Cabals don't have many rules," Bryce began, lazily kissing his way down my neck, undoing the top few buttons on my blouse. "No, we have lots of rules. Lots of bureaucratic rules and almost no moral ones. But the dead stay dead. Why else do you think my father is still a ghost?"

"It was just a child, Bryce. It hadn't done anything. I mean, isn't the whole point of having all that power so you can help the people you love?"

He stopped just between the valley of my breasts. "The point of having all that power is to have the power. You don't—"

"You don't what?"

He hadn't picked up where he had stopped, just sort of paused. Eyes studied my face for a moment. I didn't need him to say it anymore—I felt nauseous enough as it was. You don't get to love anyone.

He moved on. "We don't even know if they really did go back through the time tear to save the kid, since I'm assuming you were lying to the board. It would make no sense to go back in time for a kid they can't cure."

"There might be a cure. I just can't translate any of it. I'll start working on it though, once we communicate with her." I kissed him just as hard as he had previously kissed me. "Thank you for not telling the board the truth."

"Like you said, you could be right. Stranger things have happened."

"Thanks." He laughed and I leaned against him, trying to draw the strength from him to face my mother. "You know, even if they're holding my best friend hostage and are responsible for the deaths of more people than I can remember—" The people at the club, Tia, the men of Twelve-Thirteen and all the other people they were playing God over, the men Bryce had sent to stop them, the Yi family...and probably more whose faces I didn't know. "But still. I know this makes me a horrible person, but I can't help wishing they were my parents."

"You wouldn't want that. There is such a thing as too far."

"How far is that?"

"That would be your problem."

Our conversation stopped when the knock came on the glass door, signalling that we were at the hotel. With a sigh, I did my shirt back up and slipped off him. He patted down my hair and then got out. After a deep breath, I followed.

Bryce was enjoying my quiet freak out much more than he should have. I was absolutely terrified. I hadn't spoken to the woman since my father had come to take me to Dana's funeral. And now I had to beg for her help. Plus, show her off to people I didn't want thinking badly of me. It was going to be a nightmare.

Spotting Paige in the lobby didn't make me feel any better. I sighed as we headed over.

"Stop that Gillian," Bryce whispered. "I can do the talking—we'll keep things professional."

"You haven't met her yet," I muttered. Our conversation was cut short when we reached Paige and Sean. They led us to the next floor up.

Sean had booked off the hotel's convention room—the joys of Cabal money—so we could have privacy to perform the spell in peace. I gave Sean the list of how the materials should be laid out while Paige went to get Margaret Levine. Bryce was coming with me, but in his role as Cabal boss. I wanted my mother to see this was not about the two of us. If Savannah had time, I would have waited for Paige—if it was just Bryce, me and my mother I had a feeling violence would ensue. Paige would have let me keep my strenuous hold on morality. The truth was we had wasted enough time already. And I couldn't risk having my mom find out she was a Cortez.

Bryce thought I was being ridiculous—what else was new?—but he explained the story he had told my mother. The Nast representative had promised her a two week all expenses-paid trip to Los Angeles—for her and a friend—if she would agree to a meeting sometime today. That was all. She was going to bleed them for a lot more than that before the day was out, but Bryce told me to shut up and stop being so cynical.

When I ran out of excuses, I knocked on the hotel door.

The woman who opened the door was decidedly not my mother. My mother looked like me; this woman was a good half a foot taller, brown hair streaked with highlights and breasts that might have been bigger than my head. But, sadly enough, she wasn't unfamiliar.

She took one look and ignored me completely. Of course, she would. What was a long-lost daughter compared to a member of the opposite sex? Smiling up at Bryce, adjusting her posture just a little bit, she said, "I don't remember ordering room service."

"Hey Kristy," I snapped at my mother's best friend, drawing her attention to me. She blinked. I was my mother's daughter and seven years didn't change that. "Oh, bless my heart. Gillian, honey, is that you?"

"It's good to see you again," I lied. "Is my mother here?"

"She's in the shower. Honey, you should see it. I think all of us could fit in it." Here Kristy gave Bryce a look I didn't much like, but I could ignore it, because Kristy would have given that same look to anything with a penis. She hadn't changed at bit. "Come in, come in. You're Momma's gonna be so happy to see you."

"Thank you," I muttered as I entered the room, Bryce following behind. Kristy didn't bother shoving the pile of clothes under anything, just led us to a table on the balcony where she had been painting her talon-like nails. "Now, y'all just take a seat and I'll just tell Lynsay that we got guests."

She went back inside, but even through the closed door, we could hear her hollering: "We got company, honey, so hurry up. You don't want to miss this."

"That's my mother's best friend," I explained quietly to Bryce. "They went to school together."

"Are they real?" Bryce asked, still staring in wonder. Kristy's chest was going to fall over one day.

"Ask her and she'll let you find out."

Kristy's return stopped him from replying. "It's so good to see you again, sugar. Lynsay didn't tell me you were why we're out here."

"Actually, she doesn't know I'm coming. It's actually..." I didn't know how to explain this all to my mother's human friend. "Will she be long? I really need to talk to her."

"Of course you do. It has to be more than five years since your Daddy just up and took you. But you know you're Momma; she's got to look nice for company. This a friend of yours, Gillian?" She was looking at Bryce like he was some sort of desert.

"This is my boss. How have you been Kristy? And how's...how's my mother?"

"We've been fine," Kristy said with that pageant queen smile. "She'll be real glad to see you. She talks about you all the time, like."

Does she talk about Dana too? I wanted to scream at her, but didn't dare. The only thing I could do was offer a weak smile.

"She was real sad when she heard about your Daddy. I told her she shouldn't have been, the rat bastard up and took her kid, but she wouldn't listen. She would have gone to the funeral but she didn't want you to think she was disrespecting your Daddy, seeing as he didn't want nothing to do with her."

"She could have called."

"Now honey, we both know your Momma ain't never been good with no phone."

"Sounds like someone else I know," Bryce muttered. I gave him a sickly sweet smile and stepped on his foot. He didn't even flinch.

"I declare, you do look different, Gillian. Though you still sit ever so straight. I always wished my girls could sit like you did. They're a lot different, now, taller than me. I'd bet you'd still fit on my couch. But you filled out some. You're Momma and I always did worry that you'd end up flat like you're sister."

I couldn't handle that, but this time it was Bryce's foot digging into mine. The pain stopped me, made me swallow down the words I had been about to scream at this crass, insensitive woman who had kept me off the streets for part of my childhood. It wasn't her fault I was determined to hate everything about her. She had always been kind to us; she was a loyal friend and I couldn't forgive her for it.

Our conversation was cut short as the glass door slid open. An achingly familiar drawl called out to us: "You won't believe how long that hot water lasted."

And there stood my mother.