When they got back to the house there were two new people there. They were in the spare room of the house that would soon be Angies', talking in low voices to her dad.
Ronda was sitting alone at the table filling out the last of the paperwork.
"Ah! There you are!" She greeted Angie and Jason with false cheer that made Angie want to scream. "How was the walk? Did you get something to eat?"
Not inclined to use words, partly because deep down she knew it annoyed Ronda and she was feeling cross all of the sudden, Angie nodded once while taking off her shoes. Jason had kept hold of her hand when they came in, which Angie now used as an anchor so she didn't fall over when she balanced on one foot. She thought she detected a tiny snort of amusement from him when she nodded solemnly, but couldn't be sure why it would be funny.
"Good!" Ronda ignored the lack of verbal acknowledgment and beckoned her over. "We need to have a little chat, you and I. Mr. Hayes, I think you were wanted with the others when you got back."
Recognizing the dismissal, Jason gave Angie's hand a warm squeeze and headed down the short hall into the rest of the house.
Taking a seat across from Ronda at the small kitchen table, Angie waited for the woman to finish with her phone.
"So," Ronda finally looked at her and smiled a little. "How are you doing? This is probably all a little overwhelming."
"I'm fine." Angie lied.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes." That cranky feeling brought a harder edge to her voice without her permission.
"Ok. If you say so. Well, as I'm sure you've already figured out, you're a smart girl after all, this is where we part ways for a little while."
Angie nodded, schooling her expression carefully so that she didn't let on to the sudden burst of hot anger in her lungs.
"Your dad is taking full responsibility for you, so you're staying here with him. Everything is getting set up right now. You've got your own room and it sounds to me like you're going to have a pretty big family besides your dad! Lots of uncles and aunts, other kids too! That's exciting!" Ronda tried to make it sound like this was a special outing to the zoo or something and not that she was being left alone with people she didn't know. "I'll be calling to check in every couple days and stopping by for a visit in a week."
Nodding again, Angie didn't trust herself to speak now. She wanted to throw something or start yelling.
"If you need anything before then-"
"I won't." Angie snapped in a low voice, tracing the pattern in the wood of the table with furious little circles.
"Angie…honey, I know how hard and scary this is-"
"I'm fine." Angie lied again, failing to keep the fury from her words now. The water glass between them was looking awfully inviting and the urge to watch it smash was suffocating. She knew it would feel good to break it. She'd broken a whole cupboard of glasses at home the day after mommy died. Ronda had been shocked. So had Angie. She couldn't say she regretted it though.
As if reading her thoughts, Ronda carefully picked up the water glass and set it out of Angie's reach.
"I think maybe you should take a few deep breaths with me-"
"I don't want to breathe!" Angie's voice rose a little more without her permission and she could feel herself starting to act without meaning to. Like she was watching someone else. It was scary when that happened and she didn't like how many feelings she had in her chest right now.
"Angie, we don't want the cup incident happening again. Remember we talked about how breathing helps with-"
"I don't care."
Ronda drew a tired sigh and started to pack up her stuff. "Well, you might care later. These are good people and you don't want to make a worse impression, especially after running away earlier."
That hit hard. Ronda didn't usually stab with her words like that. Angie must have pushed her buttons too much.
The anger inside got crushed down for another time and she clenched her jaw, mumbling, "Sorry."
"You're going to be ok, Angie. I promise. This is a good thing and I think if you give it time and a fair chance you'll be happy here."
Angie didn't answer, instead she started tracing lines on the table again and refused to look up.
"Alright. Well, I'm going to go speak with your dad once more, then I'm on my way."
Ronda got up and left her alone.
The second she left, Angie's rage melted into the intense desire to start crying, but she couldn't do that. Not right now.
Anger felt better. She felt stronger with it. She wished it had stayed.
"Angie?" A new voice brought her head up and she found herself looking at a very pretty woman with long dark hair, kind dark eyes and an understanding smile that didn't make her feel belittled. "My name is Naima. I'm a friend of your dad's."
There was something about the presence of this woman that brought down all of Angie's defenses in a matter of seconds. This was a mother of the best caliber, just like hers had been. She could tell. And a mother was what she desperately wanted right now.
"Hi." Angie said shyly, trying not to cry.
"Hi! Can I sit with you?"
"Sure." Angie tried to get a handle on herself. She liked this woman instantly and wanted her to like her too.
Naima took a seat next to her rather than across and folded her hands neatly as she studied Angie.
"So, your room is all set up. I might have made sure there were a few more feminine touches for you. Those boys are very good at a lot of things, but sometimes not so good with comfortable decor. We can work together over the next few weeks to make it just how you would like it though, ok? Don't feel like anything has to stay the way it is. It's your space."
"Thank you." Angie said, knowing that was the right thing to say.
"You and I will be seeing a lot of each other because I'll be one of the people looking after you when your daddy is working. If you want to, you can call me Aunt Naima, or just Naima, if that's more comfortable, ok?"
One of the many knots inside Angie's chest loosened with the knowledge that this woman would be in her life a great deal. Relief crept through her bones and she managed the tiniest of smiles for the pretty woman.
"Ok!"
"I have a daughter your age named Jameelah." Naima told her gently. "She's very eager to meet you, but she also understands that you're going through a lot of change right now and that it's probably pretty overwhelming, so it's ok if you don't really feel like making any new friends for a little while. I just wanted you to know that there's someone who wants to be friends when you're ready."
A lump rose in Angie's throat. She hadn't had any friends for a while. Most of the girls at her old school didn't like her because she wouldn't do whatever they wanted and wouldn't follow the lead of the popular girls.
"Thank you." Angie whispered again, not really sure what else to say now.
There was movement in the hall as Ronda, Jason, Scott and another man came into the main area.
Waving down the new man, Naima said with a smile, "This is my husband, Ray. He works with your dad and you'll see a lot of him too."
Like Naima, there was something calming and warm in the air around this man as he approached.
"Hello, Angie! It's really nice to finally meet you!" Ray said as he took Ronda's seat and leaned his forearms on the table. There was a spark of amusement in his eye as the wheels started to turn in Angie's head. She recognized him as one of the men in the parking lot with Jason, right before she stowed away. "We didn't really get a chance earlier."
Naima instantly swatted his arm and scolded without real malice, "Raymond Perry, don't you tease her about all that!"
"I wouldn't dream of teasing her about it, baby!" Ray looked a little too innocent and Angie decided she liked him because she got the sense he would never tease her in a mean way. Mommy used to tease her lots like that and while she didn't have much experience with men in her life and couldn't be completely certain of what he would be like, Angie was pretty good at sensing these things. "All I'm saying is we missed out on the opportunity earlier today right before she used her super ninja skills and hid in Jase's truck."
Something inside of Angie was secretly delighted at the mention of ninja skills because she'd been pretending to be one at the time. The tiny smile grew by a smidge and she felt the corners of her eyes brighten.
"I'm sure Angie has a lot of feelings surrounding the whole thing, so let's not bring it up right now." Naima warned, not catching the shift in the girl the way that Ray did.
"Oh, alright," Ray held up his hands in surrender before winking at Angie, "I'll just have to pick your brain about it later, Angie. You might have some secret skills that I need to learn"
Naima rolled her eyes and snorted before turning back to Angie. "Angie, are you hungry? Do you need anything? Maybe something to drink?"
The motherly prompting had Angie realizing that she was thirsty, so she shyly asked for some water.
Naima got it for her, setting it down in front of her with a comforting little rub of her back as Ronda made her way over.
"Alright…Angie, I have to go now." Ronda said with that same false cheer and lightness that was starting to make Angie so infuriated. Her grip around the cup tightened suddenly as the unexplainable rage boiled up again over the idea of Ronda abandoning her. She tried to channel it out of her face and into the cup because she didn't want the new grown ups in her life to see and think she was a spoiled, bad kid or something. "You can call me if-"
All the sudden the cup clasped in Angie's hands shattered, sending water and glass all over the table.
Across the table, Ray's eyebrows shot up and he stood quickly to avoid getting a wash of water in his lap.
Ronda gasped and exclaimed, "Angie!"
At the same time there was movement to her left and someone's shadow fell over her as she stared, frozen with horrified shock at the mess she'd made.
The shadow moved her chair back from the table like it was nothing and then a big, rough hand gently took each of her shaking hands, turning them over one at a time as they examined them.
Angie looked up with meek despair to see who it was and found herself face to face with her dad as he bent over her. She bit back a soft whimper when he turned over her second hand, revealing a shard of glass buried in the superficial layers of her skin. It started to bleed across her palm.
"I-I didn't mean to- '' Angie whispered earnestly as she listened to the sound of water dripping accusingly on the floor and became fully aware of the stinging in her hand.
"I know. It's ok."
The complete lack of upset or irritation in her father's low voice and expression as he calmly checked over the rest of her digits and arms was almost more stunning than when the glass broke in her hands. It was like he was suddenly someone else rather than the man she'd encountered over the past hours.
In the background she could hear Ronda talking and she winced when she realized the woman was saying, "That. That right there is what I meant about sudden outbursts. Last time she broke a whole cupboard of glasses against a wall."
Shame flooded her and Angie tried to blink back the tears that were working their way up her throat.
"This wasn't an outburst." Ray broke in firmly as he moved in with a towel and Jason started cleaning up the glass. "It was an accident."
"I think we've got it covered from here, Ronda." Jason said, his tone seemed pleasant enough but Angie thought there might have been something cold about it.
"I would say that you do." Ronda said a little stiffly. "I'll call in a few days, . Reach out if you have any further questions."
Her dad ignored the woman and instead wordlessly lifted Angie from the chair as if she were porcelain and set her gently on her feet so she was well clear of any glass that might have been on the floor.
Naima swooped in, cupping her bleeding hand in a tea towel and putting an arm around her to guide her towards the bathroom.
"Come on, sweetheart. Let's get that looked after."
"I didn't mean for it to break." Angie told her a little desperately because she really didn't want them knowing about the cups she'd broken on purpose, and now they knew and they'd seen her shatter a cup and what if they thought-
"I know, sweetheart." Naima tightened her arm tenderly, slowing the panic. "It's ok. These things just happen sometimes. It was an accident."
Once in the bathroom, Naima lifted her up on the counter and moved the towel so she could take a look.
Angie tried not to cry, but now that it was just her and Naima for the moment she felt safer to do so.
"Hmm, not too deep, but I'm sure it hurts!" Naima rubbed her knee soothingly. "Good news is, I'm an ER Nurse and I take care of stuff like this everyday. You're in good hands."
"You're in the best hands." A low, slightly gruff voice agreed.
Angie gulped back her crying, turning to see her dad leaning in the doorway of the small bathroom and opening one of the cupboards. His size made it feel closed off in the tiny space, but when he met her gaze there was the same soft crinkle of compassion around his eyes like she'd seen just once earlier today.
"First aid kit?" Naima asked as he pulled a box from the top shelf down.
"Uh huh." Angie tried not to go still when he took an extra step into the room so he could hand Naima the box. He was so near to her that he nearly brushed her knees with his arm when he extended it.
Naima didn't seem bothered at all by his closeness, so Angie worked hard to draw from her reaction to control her own. She really didn't want her dad to know she was scared of him…even though Jason had told her that he already knew that she was.
"Thank you!" Naima unclipped the edges and started rummaging through it. "Do you still have that numbing gel I gave you?"
"Should be some left." Scott moved slowly back past them out towards the door, glancing at Angie again. "Need anything else?"
"I'll give you a call if I need one of you." Naima said as she put on gloves and grabbed a pair of tweezers. "Unless, Angie, you think you might need a little help staying still to take this glass out? It's not deep, but it's going to pinch a little when I take it out."
Staring at the blood covered glass and her hand pulsing in time with her heartbeat, Angie whispered, "I don't know."
The idea of having the glass removed wasn't pleasant and she didn't know how still she could stay. She'd never been very good at staying still whenever mommy took splinters out of her hands and this was way worse. Still, she didn't like the idea of someone 'helping' her stay still either. Especially not her dad. Not when she'd just started to see a glimmer of what Jason had promised was beneath the surface of all his roughness.
While she debated, she didn't see Naima and her dad have a silent discussion or the way he shook his head almost pleadingly when Naima wordlessly suggested he be the one to help.
"I'll get Jason." Scott said in a firm voice as he started to make his way back down the hallway. "He'll help if you need it."
In the minute it took for Jason to take Scott's place, Naima examined the shard again.
"Do you want me to try and take it out right now, or should we wait."
Angie was already struggling to leave her hand in Naima's gentle grip and she blinked harder.
"M-maybe…I might need help."
"Ok! That's ok, sweetie. You're doing so well, you know that? I've had grown ups putting up more of a fuss over something like this than you are right now."
Feeling only a tiny bit better, Angie sniffed and asked, "Really?"
Naima nodded and lowered her voice confidentially, "I've even had guys bigger than your dad start to cry because I had to give them a needle. You're being very brave."
"Naima! How can I help?" Jason appeared at the door, leaning on the frame with both arms and stretching the backs of his legs a little.
"Angie just needs a little help staying still so I can get this out quick without hurting her."
"Yeah! Of course! Where do you want me?"
"Right here, and then Angie if you're still ok, we're going to have Uncle Jason just tuck your arm under his, that way you can't see past him when I remove the glass and I think that will help. We do this all the time with little ones who come in."
Angie complied, feeling much less nervous with 'Uncle' Jason in the small space than her dad. He stood close beside her, facing the counter and feeding her small arm under his own then trapping it gently between his upper arm and ribs.
She tensed when she realized she couldn't move it and Naima was holding her hand firmly in her own.
"Angie, are you still ok?" Naima asked from where she was standing behind Uncle Jason.
"Yeah…" Angie didn't sound sure.
"Angie, what's your favorite animal?" Uncle Jason asked.
Startled by the sudden question, Angie turned her attention to him and frowned,
"Dogs. And horse-" She broke off with a gasp when there was a sudden and sharp pinching in her hand.
"All done." Naima announced.
Uncle Jason released her arm instantly with a soft smile at the surprise on her face.
"Dogs, huh. You're going to love your Uncle Brock then. He's got the coolest dog in the world." Uncle Jason told her as he stepped away and hovered near the door. "Anything else, Naima?"
"Nope. We should be good."
Jason nodded and went to leave.
Just before he was out in the hall, Angie remembered her manners and said shyly, "Thank you."
She was rewarded with a warm smile. "Anytime, kid. You did great!"
Angie wished she could believe him.
Once the glass was out of her hand and Naima finished patching her up with the special gel that numbed the throbbing and a bandage, Angie didn't think she could face the rest of the evening.
"Can…can I just go to bed?" Angie whispered as she studied her knees.
Naima looked at her with heart stopping compassion and said, "Of course, sweetheart. Some sleep would likely be very good for you. It's been a big day, hasn't it."
Nodding with one big, fat tear dripping off her nose and into her lap, Angie struggled with the full weight of that statement.
"Come on," Naima reached out and helped her off the counter. "Let's get you comfy and cozy."
Her room wasn't large, but it wasn't tiny either. It had a double bed in the middle of it, with a bare desk in the corner, a big window concealed behind dark blue curtains and a bookshelf in the corner near the closet. Her suitcase was tucked in the far corner of the room, reminding her of the lack of belonging she had here despite how kind they were to her.
The bed itself was welcoming. There were warm fairy lights strung above it and the comforter was soft purple and blue flowers that made Angie think of summer time. There was a plush blanket at the end of the bed and two pillows. The crowning glory of the bed was the strategic placement of her old stuffed dog, Russell. Secondary to that was the comforting sight of her book on the nightstand.
Naima didn't press her to see if she liked it. Instead she went to the closet and opened the door. There were built in shelves and space for hanging things up higher. Angie was surprised to see her own things already in there and not in the suitcase.
"I put everything in here for you. Do you want these pj's tonight or the other ones? These ones? Ok, and then here's your toothbrush and toothpaste. That's all on this shelf here." Naima started pointing to the other shelves. "It looks a little bare right now, but we'll fill it up when the rest of your things come, and like I said earlier, we'll work together to make your room just perfect for you, ok? This is your space now."
"Thank you." Angie murmured, holding her pj's, toothbrush and toothpaste to her chest.
"Ok. I'll give you a chance to get ready for bed. Do you need anything else?"
"I don't think so."
"Ok. I'll be right down the hall if you need me and I'll come back when you're done brushing your teeth."
Once safely in the bathroom alone, Angie changed and brushed her teeth, then used the toilet. Before she left though, she drank silently from the tap. She couldn't bring herself to ask for another cup of water. It made her feel sick even thinking about it.
Naima knocked on her bedroom door once she was back inside and Angie let her come in.
"How are you doing?" Naima asked as she took in Angie who was slipping under the covers. The fairy lights were still on, but the child had turned off the overhead light.
"I'm ok." Angie was getting too good at that lie. She almost believed it herself.
Slowly, Naima made her way over and wordlessly asked for permission to sit on the edge of the bed.
"Do you need anything before you go to sleep?" Naima asked as she fussed a little with the blankets, tucking her in almost absentmindedly.
A lump rose in Angie's throat and she tried to smile. "Nope."
Something akin to pain flashed through Naima's face, but she managed to smile back anyway, respecting her answer despite Angie getting the feeling Naima knew she was lying.
"Alright. Well, Ray and I will be here for a few more hours, I think, so if you need me you can call for me or come find us, ok? Then after that it will be you and your dad for the night. He's happy to help you with anything , Angie. Try not to be too worried by him. He's actually a favorite uncle of Jameelah and is extremely kind beneath all that gruffness. I promise."
"Ok." Angie let her eyes flutter, not needing to pretend that she was tired, because she was unbelievably tired right now and just wanted to have a good silent cry like she had been almost every night for the past week before falling asleep.
"Good night, Angie." Naima gave her one more tender smile before slipping out of the room and closing the door.
Once Naima was gone, Angie's walls crumbled and she curled in on herself, sobbing without making a single peep.
She stilled when she heard a murmur of voices in the hall near her door.
"How is she?"
That was her dad, she was pretty sure. It wasn't hard to recognize the rumbling timber.
"Exhausted. Hurting. Putting on a brave face that's way too old for her years. I just want to scoop her up and hold her." Naima answered quietly. If Angie hadn't gotten so good at overhearing adults talking, she probably wouldn't have been able to make out the words.
"She really has been through the ringer, that's for sure." Angie heard her dad exhale slowly. "It's been barely two days since the funeral, less than a week since she lost her mom, and now she's been dumped here…such a fu- messed up system. Tell me again that I can do this, Naima? Tell me I'm doing the right thing."
"You are doing this, it is absolutely the right thing and you aren't alone. You've got her, and the rest of us have you. It's going to be ok."
The voices faded into the living room, no longer coherent and Angie gave herself permission to start crying again.
Somehow, it felt just a tiny bit less lonely than the other nights.
She was homesick. She wanted her mom. She wanted her own room and her own bed, but…she wasn't worrying about foster care or living with Uncle Curt anymore.
Instead she was worried about how she was going to get along with her dad and what the future had in store for her. She worried about all the new aunts and uncles. She worried about making new friends and having to go to a new school soon. She worried the most about her dad and what he was like.
He seemed a little less scary since not being mad when she broke the cup, but still, Angie was having a hard time not being nervous of him despite what everyone was telling her.
Then the other thought that crept in as she drifted off was the fear that he might change his mind.
What if he decided he didn't want her after all?