Page 91 of Tempting as Sin
He raised a hand and dropped it onto his leg again, and she looked at it. He had big hands. Something about them usually worked on women. “Maybe you’ve seen,” he said, “that I’ve been a bit, ah, followed by the press recently.” His smile now was confidential. “I hate to give them another story. Also, I hate to say it, but Aunt Ruby’s been known to ask for money. You could say we love her best from afar.”
“You realize I could check this,” she said.
He shrugged, and this time, she looked at his chest. Possibly his arms as well. He did a bit of subtle flexing. “No worries,” he said. “I’m not asking for anything. Just a word on Aunt Ruby’s condition. My mum rang the hospital,” he improvised wildly, “but she’s not listed as next of kin, so no joy there. They had a bit of a falling-out. That money, you know. Jace and I, well…we’re a wee bit…ah, extra-comfortable. Too many houses on the beach between us, I reckon. We’ve had more than our fair share of luck, no doubt about it, but some people tend to take advantage, don’t they?”
She was trying not to smile. He smiled himself. Encouragingly.
“You realize this is a very thin story,” she said. “But I’ll tell you, provisionally, as a family member, that Ms. Johnson’s on a ventilator with pneumonia. She’s still alive, and that’s about all they can say.”
He nodded. “Cheers. Not the best news, but Mum’ll be glad to hear it. She still has a soft spot for her in spite of everything. It’s not easy to lose a sister.”
Another skeptical look, and Lily said, “How about if I became a foster parent? How about that? They wouldn’t let Bailey stay last night even though her grandmother had given her permission to be at my house. I understand that that can’t happen until Ruby can sign something, but how about if I signed up? Wouldn’t that make it go faster?”
“Once a child is in the system,” Charmaine said, tearing her gaze from Rafe, “it’s not that easy to get her out of it. You could certainly apply, though.”
“Good,” Lily said. “Then that’s what I want to do. Show me how. Please. How fast can we do it?”
“If everything checks out,” Charmaine said, “a week or so, if we fast-track it. Since her need is immediate. If you were actuallyfamily…”Another glance at Rafe. “It could happen today, but as you’re not, a week or so.Ifeverything checks out.”
“What’s ‘everything?’ Lily asked. “I have a house, I own a successful business, and I have great credit and a clean record. What else? What do I need to do?”
“Fingerprints,” Charmaine said. “Reference check. Home visit. They’ll want to see the bedroom where she’ll sleep, and that the house is clean and safe. Et cetera. You’d have to agree to take the eight-week class on foster parenting, but we could place her provisionally until that’s completed, as long as everything else checks out.”
“Oh,” Lily said. “I have a…a one-bedroom house. Is that going to be a problem?”
Charmaine had been opening a desk drawer, finding a file, which looked like a good sign. Now, though, she looked up and shut the drawer again, which didn’t. “Well, yes. It would be disqualifying. You don’t have to have a separate bathroom, but you need a bedroom. And not a converted garage or a basement, just to forestall you. It would need to be up to code. Separate exit, a door that closes, a safe heat source, and so forth.”
“Oh,” Lily said again. “Could you give me the paperwork anyway? I’ll fill it out right here and now, in the lobby. Could you still start the process?”
“It won’t go through,” Charmaine said. “Not with one bedroom.”
“Yes,” Lily said, and if Rafe had ever thought she was too soft to be strong, he’d been wrong. She was strong, and she had something better than power. She had love. That washersuperpower. “It will. You’ll see. It will.”
Bailey was sitting on her bed reading a book about crocodiles. She’d read it before, but she only had two books in her backpack, and she’d read both of them already. They were library books, though, and Lily would get fines if Bailey didn’t bring them back in a week. She didn’t know how long she’d be here.
Thinking about Lily made her throat hurt, so she read some more about crocodiles instead. They were very dangerous. They were mean, too, especially the Australian ones. After they drowned something, they put it in a hollowed-out place in the riverbank and let it rot before they ate it.
Lily had said Bailey could stay at her house, but she’d called the cops instead. Now she didn’t even have Chuck, and her grandma might die. If she died, Bailey would be stuck here until they moved her to another family, and this lady was as mean as the one with the bunk beds. She only had cereal for breakfast and a kind of milk that didn’t taste good, but that wasn’t the bad part. The bad part was that her house didn’t have any other houses around, and Bailey didn’t have her bike anymore.
When she’d asked if she could go for a walk into town, the lady had said, “It’s too far, and you’ll get lost. I don’t have time to drive around looking for you.” She’d had that face like you’d better not argue, so Bailey hadn’t, and she hadn’t asked about the library. Maybe she’d ask tomorrow. She could say she’d pull the weeds or something, so the lady would feel nicer. The yard had lots of weeds, and it didn’t have a garden. The library could be far, but she could walk far, even though it would be easier if she had a bike. And Chuck for company.
Hermione was going to wonder why she didn’t show up to meet her today. She’d think Bailey didn’t want to be her friend anymore. If she found out she was in foster care, though, she might not want to be her friend anyway. Regular kids didn’t be friends with foster care kids, except boys would sometimes, if you could play football. But not girls with cute outfits, whose moms drove them to soccer practice.
Her throat hurt again, so she concentrated on the crocodile book. They could digest animals alive. That was really gross.
She heard a sound like part of a song, which was probably the doorbell, and then a dog barking. It was a little dog, and it barked really high and tried to bite your fingers if you tried to pet it. The lady said the dog—whose name was Bitsy—only liked her. “He’s a one-woman dog,” she’d said. “Leave him alone.” Bailey was glad Chuck wasn’t a one-woman dog. That way, people liked him. Lily would keep Chuck. People liked foster dogs better than foster kids.
Maybe Bailey could say that she’d take Bitsy for a walk. That might be a way to get to go to the library.
The door opened, and she looked up. It was the lady. Bailey forgot her name, and she didn’t want to ask. It had been pretty late last night by the time they’d gotten here.
“Somebody’s here to talk to you,” the lady said. Bitsy was still barking from the other room.
Bailey tried to swallow, but her throat wouldn’t do it. It must be the social worker again. She was getting moved already.
She’d kept her pillowcase packed just in case. She wished Lily hadn’t thrown away the hot dogs. She wasn’t sure how far Kalispell was from Sinful, but if she could escape and she walked all day for a couple days, she could probably get there. She could sleep in the woods under the trees so there’d be less dew, even if she didn’t have cardboard boxes. Or maybe they’d take her to a foster home in Sinful. It would be easier to escape then.
She slid off the bed and picked up her backpack and the pillowcase. The lady said, “I don’t have all day,” so she shoved the book into the pillowcase and took everything with her to the door.
