Page 65 of Solanum

"Listen here, short stuff. I've been getting turnt up at Wildrose since before those boots were old enough to walk the streets alone. So calm yourself down over there." I laughed out my words, unable to keep a cap on it any longer.

"I'm gonna go." She pointed at her phone and looked to Nora. "Can I go?"

"You don't have to ask me, Maya." Nora smiled at her, though her sad eyes told more than her words.

"I'll come back." Maya tucked her phone in the back pocket of her nearly shredded jeans. "And stay like I said. Wildrose is like, a few blocks."

"Only if you want to." Nora leaned up and held her arms open to her when Maya approached. They shared a sweet hug, and Nora fussed with Maya's hair. "Behave yourself, Squirt. Love you."

"Love you, too." Maya smooched her cheek. "Later, old fart." She waved at me before jogging off to the door.

"Maya, do you have your service weapon?" Nora called, turning around to scan the length of her.

"Yeah." She lifted up the hem of her flannel top to show us her concealed carry. "Why?"

"Just checking. Text me your plans when you know them." Nora waved and Maya nodded before hopping out.

"She's something else," I said after the door swung shut. "Funny and confident."

"Yeah." Nora smiled then, drawing her eyes away from the door then back to me. "She is. I hope she stays that way."

"Is she still hooking up with Bri?"

"Nah, but they're friends. She's still into Billie, but their age gap is a bit of an issue. Maybe not necessarily age gap, but Billie has a different kind of life. They're both cops, but Billie has a teenage sibling that she's the primary caretaker for," she explained. "We'll see what happens."

"And Maya's…an age-appropriate young adult."

"Bingo. With the energy to match it."

"And she moves super-fast. Like almost bouncing off the walls fast." I chuckled and slouched on the sofa, my nearly empty beer perched on my thigh. "The two of you might look like sisters, sorta, but you're not much alike."

"Not really, no. Her spunk far exceeds my energy expenditure, that's for sure. I'm just happy she's happy, you know?"

"I do." I watched her while she set her beer on the table, and I noted it seemed pretty full. "Does she know all that you did for her growing up?"

"Most of it. Some things she doesn't need to know, or at least not yet. She's finally getting to live a life of freedom and security. We never got to be regular teenagers." She gestured toward the door. "And she's making up for it now, I think. It's good for her."

"It is. It's good for you, too."

"I'm beyond that now." She smirked, leaning her elbow on the back of the sofa. "I've entered my thirties and purchased a condo. Right on time."

"Absolutely on time. Did it bother you when she said something about moving an hour away?"

"A little bit. I've thought about it, endlessly at times. But owning my own place is something I always wanted. I was going to go for full-on purchase of a house but realized I wouldn't have the time for the maintenance because of being away from it so often. The condo was a middle ground. Either way, it's an investment."

"It is," I agreed. "She'll adjust."

"She will. We don't see each other as much these days anyway, but we talk and text every day."

"You're a good cousin, Nor. She's lucky to have you."

"I'm lucky to have her." Nora smiled thoughtfully at the sentiment. "No telling where I'd be if I didn't have a little Maya to care about back then. You know? I think about that sometimes."

"I get it." I nodded, propping my feet on the coffee table and crossing my ankles. "I run through shit like that in my head sometimes, too."

"What do you think you would've been like, if you'd have gone through what you went through alone?"

"Alone?" I paused to think about it. "You know, I'm not sure. More fucked up for sure. I doubt I would've been so…empowered. That's not the right word but you know what I mean. If I hadn't been fueled by Annabelle's death, I'm not sure I would've just gone out and fought for myself alone," I said, shrugging while contemplating it. "I had nothing after I left my parents. Annabelle gave me something."

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