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“Nooo!” Summer wails. “You’ve ruined everything! My mother will leave her job to come here, and they’ll fire her! She already lost one of her jobs because I was sick and they wouldn’t give her time off! And we already couldn’t pay the rent this month and our utilities got turned off and she needs that job! All of her bosses are jerks and she’s doing the best she can, and now we have go back to the homeless shelter. This is all your fault!” Her voice rises to a shout and tears spill down her cheeks.
I feel sick to my stomach.
“Summer,” Paxton says gently. “It’s not Ruby’s fault. She had to make that call or she’d be in legal trouble. She can’t pretend to be your parent and take you out of here with her. That would be kidnapping. And you need to take some responsibility for what you did here.”
“Don’t talk to me! Both of you, don’t talk to me!” she shouts. She buries her face in her hands, her shoulders heaving with sobs.
I suck in a shaky breath. Did I do the right thing?
I mean, what choice did I have?
Officer Jones is glaring at me.
“I apologize for not clarifying this sooner, but I did not ever tell you I was her mother,” I say. “I wanted to talk to Summer to see what was up, and I did make sure her mother was notified.”
“Snitch,” Summer sniffles into her folded arms.
Officer Jones is not mollified. “You led me to think she was your child. You need to leave the room now. I would like you to wait outside while I talk to my supervisor and see what I need to do.”
“Can you call Detective Ahearn at the Forty-Eighth Precinct? He’ll vouch for her character. I think,” Paxton adds. “I mean, he will. He knows her really well.”
Not sure whether that will turn out to be helpful or not.
She gives him a skeptical look.
Paxton and I both stand up. “Summer, I’m sorry,” I say to her.
“Go away!” she shouts. “I don’t want any stupid lawyer, either!”
Paxton and I walk out together, and he shuts the door behind us. We go find a bench to sit on.
“I just royally screwed that up,” I tell him in dismay.
“No, no, no. You did not.” He shakes his head. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Ruby, she needs to face the consequences of her actions. She’s not ten anymore. She’s almost a teenager, and she’s going to get to the point where she’s facing actual jail if she doesn’t stop this. And she can’t get away with shifting the blame to you or anyone else, either. She shouldn’t have yelled at you.”
“She’s freaking out,” I protest. “Which is leading her to lash out at me. When I took the Buddy Match training, they told me there’s often a honeymoon period with kids, and then they start trying to test you. They also tend to lash out at the people they feel the most safe with.”
“Fun,” Paxton says dryly.
“I know. I know it’s a challenge. These kids have been through a lot; that’s why they need buddy matches. Sometimes they’ll take out their pain and anger on you. In the training, they told us not to take it personally.”
“It’s hard not to, though, isn’t it?” Paxton says sympathetically.
I nod. “Yes, it punches me right in the feels. She may never want to talk to me again.”
“The thing is, your job isn’t to be her best friend and tell her that everything she does is great, when she’s doing something wrong. That does not help her. Your job is to be a role model, and that means doing the right thing, like calling Dominique to tell her where Summer is, and telling Summer hard truths that she may not want to hear. Summer, as you pointed out, is angry and freaking out and scared right now, so she said things she doesn’t mean. She may get over it. She may not.”
I blink hard, tears beading on my lashes.
“Ouch,” I say faintly. “But thank you. You’re right. I guess I have to be okay no matter what Summer decides, but if she hates me forever...”
“I really don’t think she will. Either way,” he continues, grabbing my hand and folding it in his, “You absolutely did the right thing, and someday she will understand that.”
“Maybe,” I say weakly.
“Ruby?” a voice calls out to me.
Dominique is hurrying towards us, and there’s a frazzled-looking woman in her thirties following behind her. Dominique must have just come from Buddy Match, because she’s wearing her bright crayon colors, with zoo animals on her blouse and giraffe earrings.
