Page 13 of Levee

“How can you see this sweet munchkin and not want to get to know her?” she asked as the baby just… made little bubbles around her mouth at her. Which, apparently, was adorable, because Jade cooed at her about it.

“No, give it,” one of the other kids grumbled, knocking his fists into the ancient vending machine that had forever been eating my money when I tried to grab a drink or snack while doing laundry.

“Here, let me show you the trick,” I said, moving away from Jade toward the machine. “See right here?” I said, pointing to the side of it, “if you hit it real hard, it usually,” I told him as I banged on the metal, making his chocolate bar fall down,“works,” I finished with a smile as he bent down to fish it out of the tray.

“Thanks!” he said, rushing away as he tore at the wrapper.

“Mom said to share!” his sister ran after him, face getting red already.

I stuck some more money into the machine to get her another bar as her brother tried frantically to shove the whole thing into his mouth.

“Here,” I said, handing it to her as she chased her brother around the laundry room for the second time as their mother grabbed both sides of the washing machine, head thrown back, eyes closed, clearly at her max.

Content with their candy, though, the older kids calmed down as Jade entertained the baby, giving the mom a few moments to focus on her task.

“Have you talked to Curtis?” Jade asked, genuine interest on her face.

Lily glanced back at the kids. Finding them content and not listening, she exhaled hard. “His lawyer thinks he should take the deal the DA offered.”

Jade’s gaze slid to the kids, then the baby. “Ten years?” Jade gasped.

Lily looked back at her older kids. “They’ll be grown,” she said, eyes watering. “And she won’t even know who he is,” she added, looking at the baby.

“Can you get a second opinion?”

“We can’t afford a lawyer,” Lily said, sounding hopeless.

“Could you just go to trial? Maybe the jury will be more understanding,” Jade suggested.

“Not around here,” I said, shaking my head. I didn’t want to squash their hopes, but if the DA was offering ten years, the jury could put him away for twice that depending on the crime and how enigmatic the prosecution was.

“You don’t know that,” Jade said, shaking her head.

“I do. I do know that. What was he accused of?” I asked, looking at Lily.

“Possession with intent,” Lily said, gaze sliding away, embarrassed on his behalf.

“So he’s facing fifteen. Ten isn’t a great deal. But with good behavior, he could be out in six, seven.”

I could feel Jade’s curious gaze on the side of my face, but I decided not to try to explain.

“He didn’tdoit,” Lily insisted.

“I know no one wants to believe—“

“I’m very aware of his flaws,” Lily cut me off. “But he recently got a really solid job. A good job. We were saving up to get out of here. Into a better school district for the kids. He was on his way to getting into a union. He wouldn’t throw all of that away.”

“So what happened?”

“My best guess? He left his damn window open again…”

“And a scout said cops were around, so the dealer tossed the drugs into the car…”

“Yes,” Lily said, looking relieved that someone not only didn’t think she was nuts, but actually believed her.

“And the cops saw he has a history, and didn’t think there was any reason to delve deeper into it. And in a building like this, there’s no security cameras to confirm his story.”

“Yes, exactly.”

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