Forevermore (6 page)

M / 7

The grocery store wasn’t too crowded this morning. I wondered if Briony and Caleb were having the same luck. Olivia and I wandered through the empty aisles selecting our groceries for the week. Months ago, Briony and I decided to split the errands on weekends to keep the kids from getting too bored. It worked well enough, but on busy weeks like we’d just had, it meant less time with my partner on the weekends.

“Hi there, M.”

I turned to find Lauren pushing a full cart down the aisle toward us. She wore a bright smile that competed with her bright red hair. Almost always bubbly, Lauren took a little getting used to when I’d first started seeing Briony. Nothing as bad as some of her other friends, but I’d wanted to like Lauren immediately because of how she was and who she was in the group. I made every effort to drop my defenses around her.

“Hi, Lauren,” I greeted.

She nodded and touched Olivia’s shoulder. “Hi, Livy. It’s nice to run into someone I like today.”

“Uh-oh,” I murmured, wondering who else she’d seen this morning.

“Jessie keeps telling me to represent less skeevy people so I won’t mind seeing clients around town” She chuckled at her joke. “What are you up to today? Got any big plans?” She directed her question at Olivia, which was one of the things I liked about Lauren and Jessie. They talked to the kids, not at them or around them whenever we all got together. They were always offering to sit the kids if Briony and I needed a night out. They didn’t even bat an eye when we told them it would require a background check. For that reason, I tried very hard to be as social as I could with Lauren.

“Willa invited us over for a swim,” Olivia told her, looking every bit the clone of Lauren’s bubbliness.

“How fun.”

“What is, honeybun?” Lauren’s mom asked as she walked up behind her with a carton of eggs. In her eighties, she still seemed as spritely as her daughter whenever I saw them together. “Oh, hello, dearies,” she greeted us. “I heard you’re going to be a chef, sweet girl.”

Olivia’s eyes grew wide. She looked over at me. I brought my hand up to cradle the back of her neck showing the support that Briony always showed me in social situations. All it took was a brief touch to calm the panic I could work myself into around people.

“Helen wouldn’t stop talking about how talented you are,” Lauren told her. “I think she’s planned out your entire career for you.”

Olivia smiled and laughed nervously, stepping closer to me. She wasn’t okay being the center of attention either.

“Knowing Helen, she won’t wait until you’re done with culinary school, Livy,” Rena told us.

“She won’t even wait until you’re done with high school,” Lauren joked and looked at me. “One day you might come home from work and find a kayak in Olivia’s room. It’ll be a nice kayak, one that Helen’s husband made by hand, but it’ll be a kayak instead of a child with only a note telling you she’s recruited Olivia for her restaurant.”

“Oh, you,” Rena brushed off her daughter’s tease. “Now listen, sweet girl, if you want to learn how to make an Irish feast, you come see me.”

“Take her up on it. Nobody makes corned beef and cabbage like Mom,” Lauren bragged.

“How’s your husband feeling, Rena?” I asked to steer the attention away from Olivia.

“He’s doing better, thanks. His hip is almost healed and we’re spoiled rotten living with our daughters like we are.”

Lauren slipped an arm around her mom. “Jessie and I are the spoiled ones, Mom.”

“Don’t let Cap hear you say that or we’ll never leave.”

“Fine by me,” Lauren told her. Warmth bloomed in my chest. This was exactly how I’d imagined interacting with Kathryn if she’d lived past my ninth birthday. “So a little swim fun today?” Lauren turned back to us.

Olivia nodded as I confirmed verbally. Willa offered her pool as a warm weather destination for our family whenever we wanted. Briony and I decided we wouldn’t take advantage of that offer too much over the summer break. It might be ideal, but we’d stick to occasional days when both Quinn and Willa were at work to keep from becoming a nuisance. For now, we were happy to accept an invitation if Willa was on her own for the weekend because Quinn was off on a recruiting trip.

“You girls have fun,” Rena said and patted Olivia’s shoulder. “We’ll figure out a night when you can come over for dinner.”

We continued on with our shopping as they made their turn out of the aisle. Olivia waited a full minute before she glanced up at me. “Could we really go over for dinner or was she just being polite?”

I pulled in a breath, surprised by her request. She was usually very shy around the group of friends. I knew she liked cooking, but this was brave for her. “I’m pretty sure she meant it. If you want to learn, we’ll make it happen.” I gave her shoulder an encouraging squeeze. “Do you think that might be something you want to do when you’re older? A chef like Helen?”

“Maybe. I like it a lot.” She shrugged but shot a quick glance at me. “What do you think?”

“I think you can do anything you want to do, Liv.” She could; she just needed the reinforcement until she felt secure enough to know it for herself.

She blushed and turned back to our grocery list. “Should we get the ingredients for Helen’s rosemary chicken?”

“You’re the chef, kiddo.”

“Yo, what’s going on?” Caleb called out as he jogged down the aisle toward us. “We finished already. What’s taking you so long? We’ve got some swimming to do.”

“Hold your horses there, bucko.” Briony came to a stop behind him. She stroked a hand over Olivia’s head and leaned in for a peck from me. “We’re not invited until this afternoon, and we’ve still got errands to do.”

“Drop me and Liv off at Willa’s first. She’ll be okay with it. She loves us.”

I hid my smile behind a fist. What would that be like? To be so sure of someone’s love when she wasn’t even a relative? It felt wonderful to know that I was part of a family that provided that kind of security for kids.

“She might love you, but that won’t keep her from drowning you when you get on her nerves.” Briony’s hands gripped his shoulders and shook him as if to knock some sense into him.

“Ha-ha. I can swim and she’d never try it in front of Livy.”

We both laughed at his reasoning. Briony shook her head at him. “We’re invited over at two; we’re getting there at two. As you get older, you’ll realize that weekends aren’t always about fun.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he sighed and looped an arm around Olivia’s shoulders. “C’mon, let’s go pick out the good cereal.”

“If sugar is the first ingredient, it’s going right back on the shelf!” Briony called after them. She turned back to me. “Think we could get Willa to keep him for his teenage years while we hold onto Olivia? I’m afraid he’s going to warp her permanently.”

I chuckled and slid an arm around her. “He’ll keep us young.”

“More like age us rapidly.”

“Did you get everything on your list?”

“All set. You almost done here?”

“Just a couple more things. We ran into Lauren and her mom. They invited Olivia to be Rena’s assistant chef for a night. She seemed pretty jazzed about it.”

“Rena or Olivia?” Briony smiled.

“Both, I think. Olivia admitted she might want to become a chef when she grows up.”

Briony’s eyes grew wide. “That’s great, isn’t it? That’s she’s admitting to a future and one influenced by someone in our lives?”

I nodded as the relief I could see on Briony’s face transferred to me. We’d been trying for months to get Olivia to think long term with us, to think long term period. The foster system can mess with that type of planning sometimes, but we’d hoped to provide an environment different than what she’d felt in the past.

It had taken me a while to get to that point in my life, but it was made infinitely easier once I learned to trust my feelings for this wonderful woman next to me.

8 / OLIVIA

SIXTH GRADE MUST HAVE
been designed as a cruel joke. Too old for elementary school, too young for junior high. Caleb didn’t complain about seventh grade, so this school thing had to get better. Hopefully so would the kids because these sixth grade girls were like panda bears, deceptively cute looking but viscous wild animals underneath.

I passed one of the girl packs on my way to my usual waiting place. I snuck a glance at them and tried to remember if I’d ever seen any of them walking alone. Krystal and her pack were never separated. As much as I wanted a good friend, I didn’t think I could get used to needing someone to walk everywhere with me. What did they do over the summer? I grinned when I thought about them cowering in their rooms because they were too afraid to walk anywhere alone.

The smile flattened quickly when I thought about my summer. Summer wasn’t my favorite time. Families decided they needed to move or went on vacations or got bad grade reports and decided they didn’t want their foster kids anymore. My grades got me sent to a temporary home then on to the group home last summer where I stayed until October when Briony and M came by. They always included me in this year’s summer plans. They even talked about my birthday, which wasn’t until August. It made me feel like I could believe them when they said they wouldn’t ask me to leave.

“Hey, retard!” Krystal shouted from inside another clump of girls. The huddle burst into cackles of laughter.

I froze, still not used to her new favorite taunt. My eyes shot to where the teachers were helping the little kids load into the right cars. The screeching excitement of the kids kept them from hearing Krystal, and she knew it. I used to like getting out of class early, but that just gave girls like Krystal more time to make someone’s life sucky. It looked like it was my turn again today.

“Maybe she’s too stupid to understand you,” Kortney said and the minions laughed with her.

“Maybe you’re too much of a jerk for her to want to talk to you,” a voice shouted just as loudly.

My head whipped around to see the new kid marching across the courtyard to push through the passel and stand directly in front of Krystal and Kortney. She’d shown up in our class two weeks ago and hadn’t yet eaten in the cafeteria at lunch. I suspected she took a bag lunch out onto the grounds and ate alone. If not for a couple of the fifth graders who let me sit at their table, I’d probably do the same thing.

“What’s it to you, new girl…or boy? Which is it? Can’t you make up your mind?” Krystal sneered at her.

I cringed. That was really bad, too. The new girl had short black hair, not much longer than a boy’s cut, and she almost always wore jeans, t-shirts, and work boots. She didn’t look girly, but then not everyone had developed like Krystal and her friends. Their bra sizes were the worst kept secret in our class. I didn’t even have a training bra yet, but with my long hair no one mistook me for a boy.

“Blockheads,” she said to them and started walking away.

“Don’t you know?” Krystal taunted. “Or are you one of those freaks that is both?”

The girl turned back to her and smiled, not fake at all, like she was having fun talking to these mean girls. “I know exactly who I am, and I feel sorry for you. The only way you can feel good about yourself is to put others down.”

“If she’s a boy, she’s a girly boy.” Krystal ignored the very smart thing the girl said.

She scoffed then turned away and started walking toward me. I was still frozen in place, my eyes searching for a place to hide.

“Oh, look, girl-boy freak is friends with retard freak. They’re a perfect match,” Krystal shouted and pointed.

My mouth nudged open. I didn’t think it was possible for her to get any meaner.

“Sorry.” The new girl stopped in front of me. She was a good six inches taller than me and her dark brown eyes were bright and untroubled. “They’re jerks.”

I nodded, surprised that her tone was easygoing. Like it didn’t bother her at all that the girls were making fun of her.

“I’m Eden, you’re Olivia, right?”

She must know my name because Mrs. Lomax liked calling on me in class more than the other kids. I was pretty sure the teacher did it to show everyone how much I didn’t know. It was the same treatment for the two boys who always acted like class clowns. I never acted up, but it didn’t seem to matter to the teacher. “Yep.”

“Come on, let’s go sit on the wall over there.” She pointed to a place far away from Krystal’s group. “My dad’s coming to pick me up if you need a ride home.”

She tugged on my arm, which didn’t really give me a choice, but for once I didn’t mind. Krystal was still yammering about something. It was so much easier to ignore her when someone else was there.

“You should have seen this jerk at my last school. Krystal’s easy compared to him.” She sat on the edge of the wall and looked off toward where the cars come into the parking lot to pick us up. “My dad says to feel sorry for them, but sometimes it’s hard.”

I nodded again. It sure was hard. I didn’t feel sorry for Krystal or any of her friends. I just wanted all of them to leave me alone.

“Have you always gone to school here?” she asked me.

“No.”

“Do you like it here?”

I shrugged, not sure how to answer. I loved living with M and Briony, but I didn’t like Krystal and she wasn’t moving any time soon.

“You don’t talk much, do you?” She grinned, showing a little gap between her two front teeth. “That’s okay. My dad says I talk enough for everyone around me.”

I laughed, which surprised me. Usually only Caleb could make me laugh after Krystal picked on me.

“Is that your mom?” Eden pointed toward the parking lot. M was getting out of her car, her eyes on me, smiling.

For a second I wished I could say yes. I really liked M, even let myself start to love her, and it would make things so much easier. But she wasn’t and I felt guilty for wishing she was. I had a mom, a great mom.

“No.”

Eden stiffened and stood as M began walking toward us. “Do you know her?”

I frowned at where she stood, blocking me from seeing M. “Yes.”