Page 90 of Wandering Souls

He gently pushed her shoulder. “Go. Find some clothes and don’t be a smarty pants.”

While she picked out a couple pairs of jeans and shirts—none of which were black, he noticed—he made a quick call to Nev to let him know he wouldn’t be back in for the rest of the day, citing family emergency for his absence. He paid for the clothes and they walked back to the police station where he collected his car. She laughed that he still had the old hotrod.

“Can I ask you something?” he said when he pulled up out front of his place. In the cramped seat behind them, Bruce breathed heavily.

“Okay.”

He reached across and tugged on a lock of her hair playfully. “What’s with the black?”

She rolled her eyes. “Didn’t she tell you?”

He shook his head. “Your mum doesn’t tell me everything. So, what’s the story?”

Her eyeballs shifted upward to focus on his hair. “I got sick of the teasing. Everyone thinks it’s funny to make redhead jokes.”

Yeah, he remembered that from high school, too. “They have no taste,” he retorted. “Besides, they just feel threatened by our beauty.”

Millie burst out laughing and he smiled at the sound. That was his niece. Full of fun and laughter. Being her age had sucked for him, too. He hated to think of the cruelty some kids dished out.

“We should get out, before Bruce breathes on us again.”

She put her hand on his arm to stop him. “For what it’s worth, Abi’s much nicer than Viv.”

He blinked, surprised she even remembered his ex-wife.

“And she’s hot.”

His mouth fell open as the audacious teenager got out of the car. Bruce nudged his ear, though whether it was to signal he wanted out or to agree with Millie’s assessment of Abi’s hotness, he didn’t know. Pushing the wet nose away from him, Ray climbed out and moved his seat so the dog could follow. After a quick stop at the bushes in the front yard, Bruce trotted inside and curled up on his cushion.

“We’re going to need to talk about why you ran away, Millie.”

“Ran away? Oh my God you’re so dramatic.” She dumped her bags on the couch, eyeing the piece of furniture with suspicion. “I didn’t run away. I came to visit my uncle. You want me to sleep on this?”

“It’s clean and it’s just for tonight.”

She gave a pointed look at Bruce. “His bed looks more comfortable.”

It probably was. He wasn’t going to let her distract their conversation. “Millie,” he pleaded. “What did you and your mum fight about?”

She pointed at him. “Iknowshe told you about that. Why won’t she talk about him? I have a right to know.”

In the kitchen, Ray grabbed two cans of cola from the fridge and tossed one to her. She could dress up however she wanted, but she was still his favorite throw-and-catch buddy. Plucking the can out of the air, she smiled and dropped to the couch, kicking off her scuffed black Doc Martens.

Ray considered her for a moment. “It’s painful for her.”

“Do you know how many times she’s lectured me about unprotected sex and unwanted pregnancy?”

Oh.He swallowed; glad he didn’t have a mouthful of soda. He did not want to think of Millie as sexually active. Not now. Not ever. “A lot, I take it.”

“Every time I go to a friend’s house. Every party. Every school camp. Like seriously, who has sex at school camp?”

Ray’s brain burned rubber trying to digest his niece talk so openly about sex. He remembered changing her diaper, for crying out loud. “She’s over protective. She doesn’t want you to have to go through that.”

“You mean make the same mistakes she did? Like get pregnant with me?”

His shoulders slumped as Millie’s chin trembled. His sweet, smart, ambitious niece thought she was a mistake. Granted, Grace hadn’t planned to get pregnant when she did, but she had kept the baby after careful consideration. Didn’t that mean anything?

“Honey,” he said softly, moving closer to sit on the arm of the couch. “Believe me when I say she doesn’t regret her choice to keep you. And, it was a choice, but it was a hard road. Almost sixteen and pregnant? Put yourself in her shoes.”

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