Page 40 of A Fine Line

“My language?” I say in annoyance. I turn back to Flora and ask, “Princess, do you have a problem with my language?”

Flora shakes her head in response, and I give Nettie a superior look as I reply, “I think it’s safe to say that my language is the least of our problems right now. But I’ll keep that in mind.”

Nettie glares at me, but Jayme interrupts any further response she may have as he says, “Hello, Flora. How are you this morning?”

Flora stares at him curiously, her brown eyes flitting back to me questioningly. I lift my shoulder in response. She looks back at Jayme as if she’s waiting for him to continue, so he does. “I know that’s a silly question. But I hope you know we’re all here to help you.”

He pauses, swallowing visibly, his eyes glancing up to mine before focusing once again on Flora. “I don’t know exactly what you’ve been through, but when I was young, I had something bad happen to me, too. So, I understand, and if you ever wanna talk about it, I’ll be right here.”

Flora’s face scrunches up in concentration, and she takes a step closer to Jayme, her tiny hand reaching out and patting him on the face. “You’re okay?”

His features soften, and he puts his hand over hers and replies, “Yes. But do you wanna know a secret?”

She inclines her head as if she’s thinking about it and then smiles as she nods, and he continues, “Tony is the one who saved me.”

She looks up, her startled eyes meet mine for a moment, and then she looks back at Jayme and asks, “My Tony?”

Agatha and Nettie giggle at her words, and I glare at them, which makes them laugh a little louder. Jayme joins in the laughter and nods, then straightens as he says, “Yes, Flora. Your Tony.”

The girls are still having a good laugh at my expense, and I shake my head, rolling my eyes at them as I push between them to get to the food. Flora follows closely behind me, but as I step into the mix of men at the buffet, I quickly realize she’s no longer right there. I pivot, and she’s standing uncertainly on the outskirts, so I backtrack, scooping her up and carrying her over to the newly vacated seats at the breakfast bar. I set her on a chair and then move around to the other side and grab a plate and a glass. “What do you like?”

She stares at the vast array of food choices with wide eyes, and I take a good look at her, noting how small she is. She’s not only small, but she’s also almost emaciated, her neglect glaringly obvious, and my anger bubbles beneath the surface. My hand tightens on the glass, and Nettie notices, yanking it from my grasp, then pulling the plate from my other hand before shooing me away, “Go. Sit down. I got this.”

Nettie piles one plate until it’s overflowing with a variety of foods and then grabs a fork and knife, handing it to me across the table. Then she takes the other plate and adds a little of this and a little of that before walking around and setting it in front of Flora.

She holds the utensils out to her, and Flora takes the fork hesitantly as she looks from Nettie to me to the plate and then back again. I start inhaling my food as normal, and eventually, Flora does the same, though much more tentatively. I observe her from the corner of my eye, taking note of the foods she seems to enjoy and the ones she’s not too keen on.

She tries everything on her plate but doesn’t appear to consume much as she puts her fork down and pushes the plate away. Then she starts on the various drinks Nettie put in front of her, taking small sips of each one before drinking all of her milk and leaving the rest.

A few of the men work on picking up the plates and cups, and I push away from the counter, standing and turning to Nettie and Aggie, who are standing by Flora. “So, we gonna do this Lilith thing now?”

“Lilith?” Flora whispers.

“Do you know Lilith, princess?”

“Mhmm,” she says with a nod. “She tried tellin’ Mama no, but Mama couldn’t do it.”

“Did she now?” I ask, my tone calm, even though that’s not at all how I’m feeling right now. “What else happened between Lilith and your mama?”

She screws her face up in concentration as she thinks, and then she shrugs. “When Lilith and Mama was talkin’, everyone got real mad.”

“And then what happened, Flora?” Nettie asks.

Flora looks up at her with wide eyes and shrugs again. “Mama told me to find Tony.”

Nettie and I look at each other, and she raises a brow at me as she says, “Well, I guess we better speak to Lilith and find out.”

I move to walk around Nettie, and Flora jumps to attention, scrambling down from the chair as she comes over to grip my hand. Then Agatha says, “Well, I don’t think this is gonna work.”

Nettie adds, “Yeah, I don’t know if she’s ready for our whole fudge around and find out way of doing things.”

“Fudge,“ I repeat. “Is this really where we’re at already? Fudge?”

Flora giggles beside me, so I look down at her and ask, “Princess. Do you wanna go see Lilith?”

She grabs my hand tighter and nods enthusiastically, so I glance back up at Nettie and smirk at her. “See. It’s fine.”

We make our way out of the dining room and down the maze of hallways into the basement, where they hold people waiting to be questioned. Lilith is being held in a different room than the guy I almost beat to death, and I’m mostly relieved. I’m not keen on being reminded of the time I lost my cool and went off the rails.

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