Page 88 of Tempting as Sin
Lily wobbled on her heels, and then she was crouching down beside the Asian girl, looking graceful even now, and asking her something in a low voice. The girl nodded. And Bailey came out from behind the stacks.
She was limping. Her bare knees were scraped and smeared with dirt and blood, and her chin was scraped red as well, a bruise forming to rival Lily’s. Her eyes were shadowed, and when she saw Lily, she looked like she wanted to run to her, and also like she just wanted to run. She hovered there, frozen. A fawn.
Lily didn’t hesitate. She was across the floor, crouching before Bailey, her voice a low murmur, her hand going out to smooth back the girl’s hair. And Bailey’s face was working. Crumpling.
Lily was on her knees, her arms around the girl, rocking her back and forth. And Bailey was crying.
Lily had so many questions. She didn’t ask any of them. She told Bailey, “I’d like to take you to my house. Chuck’s in the car. He’d like to see you, too. Is that OK with you?”
“Yeah,” Bailey said. They waited while she said a muffled, indistinct goodbye to her friend and picked up her backpack, and Lily picked up the pillowcase. When Bailey led them around the side of the building to her bike, Rafe took that and stowed it in the back of his SUV without a word, and Bailey climbed into the back seat and put her arms around Chuck, who responded by licking her face and wagging his tail so hard, it whacked Rafe, in the driver’s seat, in the back of the neck through the gap in the headrest.
Lily thought,What would Mamá do?“Are you hungry?” she asked, because, yes, that was what her mother would have asked.
“Yeah,” Bailey said.
“How about eggs and toast?” Lily asked.
“OK,” Bailey said.
Lily was still holding the pillowcase. Now, she opened the top and peeked inside. Something blue and puffy that was probably Bailey’s coat, and, on top of it, a half-full package of cold hot dogs, leaking juice. Two bruised apricots. She shut the pillowcase again and swallowed.
The photographer was still behind them, leaping out at the entrance to Lily’s driveway and pulling out his camera again, and Bailey asked, “Who’s that?”
She’d had enough lying in her life, surely. Enough secrets. And so had Lily. “Turns out Clay’s name is really Rafe Blackstone,” she told Bailey. “He’s a movie star.”
“Oh,” Bailey said.
“And I’m Australian,” Rafe said. “Full disclosure. Mate.” And Bailey laughed.
When she was perched at the kitchen counter, wolfing down eggs and toast like there was no tomorrow, Lily said, “Your grandma’s in the hospital, but I guess you know that. I’m guessing you ran away after they took her there. We’ll clean up those scrapes after you eat and keepyouout of it. How did that happen?”
Bailey looked up, her expression wary again. “I fell off my bike by accident. The ambulance came. Last night. I don’t know if my grandma’s OK, though.”
“She’s still there,” Lily said, “so she’s at least that much OK.” How did you talk about this? About death? “How did the ambulance know to come?”
“I called 911,” Bailey said. “And then I escaped out the window.”
“Oh.” Lily thought about that. “Why?”
“Because otherwise,” Bailey said, “they put you in foster care. If there’s nobody at home.”
Lily had to pause for a minute. “But you thought to pack your stuff. Good job.”
“I didn’t exactly,” Bailey said. “Can I give Chuck some toast? I think he’s hungry.”
Lily yelped. Chuck had his big black nose in Bailey’s pillowcase, and even as she watched, he dragged out the packet of hot dogs with his teeth. Lily jumped down, grabbed hold of the plastic, and said, “Drop it.Drop it.”
He did. Sort of. Somehow, though, two hot dogs slid down his throat in a single gulp.
Lily opened the cupboard and dropped the remaining hot dogs in the trash. “He’s not hungry now,” she said. “Wretched dog.”
Bailey was smiling. “Usually, he eats the package.”
“So you said. What does he want, another trip to the vet? Another cone? Goofball. So, you didn’t exactly pack.”
Bailey got to work on her eggs again. “I didn’t have time. Because of needing to escape. And it was in the night. I just took my jacket.”
“Where did you go?” Rafe asked.
