Page 350 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

Alice stood on the steps of the courthouse staring up at the cloudless sky while reporters and photographers pestered her. She was so tiny that the reporters were all kneeling and bending over to get good photos of her, peppering her with questions that she was pointedly ignoring as she stared up, squinting against the sun.

“Miss Benson, how do you feel about Woodrow going to prison for so long because of what you said?”

“Alice, do you have any intention to sell the house in Orlando?”

“Alice, will you be pressing charges against the cops who assaulted you alongside Woodrow?”

“Miss Benson, what is the nature of your relationship with Reuben Weston?”

“Alice, what are your plans now that you’re safe?”

I stood behind her, my hands on her shoulders, waiting for her to tell me to get her out of here.

She continued staring up at the sky, her eyes squinted and her nose wrinkled, and said under her breath, “I think mercury is in retrograde.” Looking down from the sky, she jumped at all the people in front of her, as if she hadn’t been paying enough attention to realize they were there.

“That’s right, lowly media hounds. Bow to me and all my glory!” She lifted her hands like she was blessing them. The onslaught of questions stopped at her silliness.

“Okay, I think it’s time to go.”

She turned around and smiled at me. “Can I have a milkshake?”

“Today, you can have whatever you want.”

She immediately got a wicked look in her eye, and her eyes darted down to my pants.

“Not that... come on.” I scooped her up and carried her down the courthouse steps, carrying her on my hip like a toddler.

She threw her hands up in the air. “Milkshake!”

Before we took ourtime off, we made plans to go down to Florida to take care of the house situation. Once we boarded the plane, Alice sat quietly staring out the window, her arms wrapped around her torso like she was hugging herself.

“What are you thinking about, little bug?”

“Why do wedrivebetween Cullowhee and DC? Why not just fly? There’s an airport in Asheville. We can leave one car at each place and then we don’t have to spend ten hours in the car.”

“Because then we only have one car at each place.”

“Oh.” She shut the window and leaned back in her first-class seat.

“Although with all that cash you just inherited, and the car that Augustus left you, we could probably remedy that.”

“I want to get a car that is big like yours so you can fit in it. ’Cause you can’t fit in my car.”

“That’s true. But you’re too short to be able to drive a big car like mine.”

“Yeah. Also, this seat is too big for me.” She shifted in the first-class seat that was.

I laughed. Alice was probably the only person on the planet who was too small for an airplane seat. “That’s because you’re the size of a nine-year-old.”

“Um, excuse me, Sir. It took me until I was fourteen to hit this height, thanks very much.”

She had a mildly panicked look in her eye and in her voice that I hadn’t caught onto earlier. “Hey,” I said, catching her chin and making her look at me. “You alright?”

“Yeah. It just doesn’t feel like it’s over. I don’t know if I can force my brain to stop thinking about it.”

“It might take some time. And I’m prepared to give you that time.”

“I don’t know if I want to go into that house,” she whispered. “What if he did something to it? There was a lot of stuff in there that meant a lot to me. I know Quinn had his mom’s China in there, and some photos of his kids, and of us, and even some stuff I’d given him. What if Woodrow ruined it? Or what if it’s exactly the same as it was, and it’s just sitting there and nothing’s changed? What if it still smells like him–”

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