She shrugged, mocking me. “What? Was he horrible? Did he ignore you and then shove some cash in an envelope to make up for it? Or did he split town before you were even born?” Her chin went wobbly, along with her voice, as she said this last bit.
“He was all right,” I said finally.
She drew an uneven breath. “Lucky you.”
I looked away; crying girls were like kryptonite to me, probably on account of watching my mother boo-hoo plenty, and it appeared things were headed that way. Yet once I steeled my nerves and glanced back, I found Josie lounging with her bare arm carelessly thrown over the neighboring chair like she owned it. Eyes dry as bone. It left me a little off balance.
“Listen,” I said, the word drawn out in a long breath. “The bus leaves in fifteen minutes. I’m going to drop Carl a note. Whatever you do, don’t get on without me, even if you see the rush.”
Her eyebrows perked up. “The rush?”
“So to speak,” I said, before getting up to trudge to my room. Again. It wasn’t even noon, and I’d already beaten my daily step count by a shedload and then some. And damned if I didn’t add extra steps once I made it to the hall too, but only because Alice, Valencia, and Reginald were clustered around the very last door on the right, looking at something. Had to be good if they’d risk missing the bus for it.
“Looks like this wagon train fell into a ditch,” I said upon arrival as Valencia shifted out of the way, revealing a piece of paper taped to the door. I closed in, and a city construction permit came into focus. Dated and signed. Printed and posted. Like a decree from the king.
“Oh,” I said, unimpressed. “So Sharon’s renovation finally begins.”
Valencia said, “I heard the bathroom’s going to have marble countertops and a new skylight, and the bedroom’s going to have a TV set on the wall. Didn’t we hear that, Alice? I say it’s going to be nice.”
“It’ll be lovely,” Alice said, her breath tickling my ear. “But I don’t think it’s worth paying double the rent. How can Sharon get away with charging that?”
Reginald harrumphed. “She can’t charge anything until it’s done.”
Everyone quietly stewed. Technically, the facility facelift didn’t affect us and shouldn’t bother us. Unless we died or moved, Sharon was legally bound to honor our contracts. And she had. She was. With fanatical attention to a little clause entitled “Residency Health Requirements.” It had cleared this room out, and it’s why Mrs. Zimmerman was fixing to hang her wash on Simmons’ line. As for the rest of us, all it would take is one fall, one infection, or one misfiring brain wave. And didn’t we know it too.
Reginald crossed his arms and leaned into the arch of his back, getting too close to me, like usual. “This won’t be done for a while,” he declared with authority. “Contractors are lazy. The city bureaucracy is slow. Sharon’ll go broke without us around to pay the bills for this money pit.”
“We’re the money pit,” I corrected.
A hush fell. Alice blinked at me with wide eyes. “Us?”
I wished to hold her then. Wrap her up tight and keep her like that, safe. Instead, I nodded. We made Sharon less and cost her more than someone new.
“Oh, phooey,” Valencia said, throwing the loose end of her stole over one shoulder. She hooked arms with Alice and gave her a tug down the hall. “I say don’t listen to him. What we need is a little retail therapy. Come on. We’re going to be late.”
Alice gave me one last worried look, then peered glumly down at her pink slippers as Valencia pulled her along.
Reginald sniffed loud, pulled up his britches, and stomped off behind them, muttering, “It won’t be done for a while.”
Boy, did this day keep on giving. I leaned my forehead against the permit, closed my eyes, and took a breath. I might’ve never budged from that spot again if not for the whine of Big Charles’s scooter. Of all people to get me