Page 78 of Mace

I sit with Toby in the waiting room, ignoring the looks of mistrust, disgust, curiosity, and even admiration people keep directing at me. I’m used to being watched, it comes with the territory, but I can tell the kid finds it a little odd.

“Do people always stare at you?” Toby asks as he leans back in the plastic chair he’s sitting in, his gaze roaming the waiting area.

“Yeah.”

“It bother you?”

“No.”

He swings his head back and forth, watching the endless movement of people in and out of the waiting area. “You like being a biker?”

“Yep.”

“You ever say more than one-word answers?”

I snort. “Kid, is there a reason for the twenty questions?”

His shoulders shift. “Just making small talk.” He pauses, then asks, “You like my sister?”

I turn to him. The question isn’t malicious or accusing, just curious.

“Yeah, I like your sister,” I answer plainly.

I more than like Maylie, which is why she ain’t leaving town. I will burn every part of Link’s life to ashes before I let her walk away.

“She’s a good person.” Is he about to deliver me the same warning Steve had when he noticed my interest in Maylie?

“She is.” I lean forward on the plastic chair, ignoring the ache in my back and lacing my fingers together between my slightly parted thighs. “It bother you?” I fire back his earlier question.

He shakes his head. “No. She deserves to be happy.”

A pang of pain spreads through my chest. “She hasn’t been happy?”

That thought doesn’t sit right with me, but what I’ve learned about Maylie is that she puts on a brave face, often hiding behind her smiles and sunny personality. Beneath it, it’s easy to see she’s not doing as well as she makes out.

I’m surprised Toby has noticed that. In my experience, young boys aren’t usually all that empathetic. “She tells me and Ivy that she is, but I don’t think she’s been happy for a long time.”

“What makes you say that?”

He shifts his shoulders, pushing his too-long hair out his eyes. “I can tell. My sisters think I don’t notice things, but I do. I see what they try to hide from me as if I’m too young or too stupid to know the details. Maylie pretends she’s happy. She doesn’t want me and Ivy to feel as if we’re a burden to her, but of course we are. No one wants to be stuck raising their siblings.”

My chest tightens at his words. I’ve been this kid. I’ve been the teen with no parents, relying on other people to take care of me. I understand how he feels, but he couldn’t be more wrong. Maylie doesn’t see him as a burden. If anything, she is clinging desperately to the idea of family that she’s built since they lost their mother.

“That’s not true, Toby. Your sister desperately wants to keep you together as a family. Ain’t saying the situation ain’t hard. Taking care of anyone else at any point in life is fucking hard, but don’t ever feel like you’re weighing her down.”

He turns his head towards me, pinning me with the gaze. “But we do weigh her down. Maylie can’t have anormal life while she’s taking care of us. Sometimes, I think it would be kinder for her if she put us into the system.”

That pain in my chest spreads. “Trust me, it wouldn’t be kinder for you, and it wouldn’t be kinder for her either. You think about the way Maylie worries about you now, how do you think she’s going to feel knowing you’re in foster care? And the system… it ain’t rainbows and unicorns, Toby. There are good people who really want to help kids, but there’s a small percentage of foster parents in it for the wrong reasons. You get placed with one of them, it can change your life in ways you can’t even imagine. So, yeah, things might not be perfect with your sister, but trust me when I tell you it’s the best way for all of you.”

His brows draw together as he mulls over my words. “I didn’t think about that. I just… I hate that she’s never got to experience things she should have.”

“Like what?”

His mouth pulls into a wry smile. “Dating. She never had time to do anything. When Mum first got sick, she lost most of her friends from school. It’s hard to keep up with things when all your free time is spent sitting in hospitals or taking care of me and Ivy.”

“She doesn’t do anything other than go to work?”

The thought of her living and breathing nothing but work is depressing. “Not usually. When you took her out for breakfast, I think that’s the first time she’s ever done anything fun that wasn’t with me or Ivy.”

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