Page 90 of Wild Love
Cora looks at me from the passenger seat, the brick building visible through the window. She went the day after the whole current events debacle, but she seems awfully quiet today. Even what’s become a regular morning call with her mom didn’t perk her up like it usually does.
“Yeah.”
“You just call me or Rosie if something goes wrong. You know we’ll drop it all to be there for you.”
“I know.” She fiddles with her fingers in her lap.
“You can come hang out at the office if you need a day off.”
“No, I should go.”
“I’ve seen your grades, kid. If you need a mental health day, you can take one.”
She nods, nibbling at her lip. Usually she’d have a snarky, funny comeback, but she seems subdued today. “You’ve got bowling tonight? I get movies with Rosie?”
Good god.You’ve got bowling tonightis a sentence I never thought I’d hear.
“Yup. And we can go visit your mom this weekend. We’ll take a trip into the city.”
“Yeah. I’d like that. And I should probably mow the lawn while we’re there.”
I give her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “You don’t need to do that. There’s a company taking care of the house.”
Her brows lift. “There is?”
I nod.
“We can’t afford that. You should call them off. It’s okay if the grass gets a little long.”
“Cora.” I take both her shoulders and turn her toward me. “I know you had to pick up a lot of loose ends for a while there. But now, you just need to be twelve. Go to school. Give me dirty looks. Hang out with your friends.”
Her cheeks rise, and she peeks up at me from beneath the fringe of her black bangs. “Consult on an album with Skylar Stone?”
“That seems less typical for a twelve-year-old. But yes. Once the booth is ready, we’ll get her out here. Okay?”
She nods back, serious. “Okay.” Then, “Thank you for having my back.”
Oh god. She looks like she’s going to cry. She and Rosie are going to be the death of me.
“I’m always going to have your back, Cora. No matter what happens. With you. With your mom. You’re kind of stuck with me now. That all right with you?”
She blinks rapidly and nods. Then she drops her gazeand her voice comes out a little watery when she asks, “So you’re not mad at me?”
I feel like I’ve been struck. “Why would I be mad at you?”
“Because you got called away from work because of me? Because I got in trouble at school? I’ve never been in trouble before. I don’t know why I just blurted it out. Did I embarrass you? You seem… tense since then.”
My shoulders sag as I take her in. This little girl who’s been so grown up for so long. “Oh, Cora. I am so far from mad at you. I’m mad that an adult charged with educating you said what he did. I’m mad we live in a world where people think about women that way. I’m sad Skylar’s being mocked when no one knows what’s going on with her.” I scrub a hand over my scruff and up into my hair. “I’m tense because I feel like I’m juggling a million balls and dropping the most important ones while trying to get it all done. And I’m nothing if not a perfectionist.”
“What are the most important ones?” She asks it with so much hope. It breaks my heart.
“You. You are the most important one.” And that’s what gets me. This girlneedsme, and I feel like I haven’t been as present as I should be—as I could be.
“What about Rosie?” She says it innocently enough, but I’m not oblivious to her subtle comments. And clearly, she isn’t oblivious to whatever is going on between us, either. The handholding might have been a dead giveaway, but I wasn’t ready to let her go. We felt like a team in the principal’s office. And after so long going it on my own, refusing to trust anyone, it felt really fucking good to trust Rosie.
And unlike other people in my life, I know she would never let me down.
“She’s very important to me too. But don’t tell her that.
