“What if she relapses?”
Dale answered me wholeheartedly. “Blue comes back to us.”
“But—but… what if it’s not safe for her?” I pleaded.
Sapphire eyes darted to me in warning.
Shit! Fucking promise.
Dale’s head tilted in concern. Then he casually asked me to step outside. Shutting the front door behind him, he studied me. “Do you know something I need to know?”
His compassion was limitless. So were his smarts. He knew we, fellow fosters, confided in each other and kept things from him. However, he hoped we had the sense to inform him when in over our heads.
Loyalty. Loyalty. In my mind, I kept hearing my dad telling me, “Sometimes all a man has is his word, so don’t fuck that up.” Feeling so trapped in my promise to Blue, I groaned, “No.”
Noma had told me not all secrets have malice. She was right. I get that. However, I learned some certainly do.
There was nothing I could say that wouldn’t betray a fragile trust. I believed I was doing the right thing as I held Blue’s secret.
Since Blue was in high school, Dale and Harmony had given her a cell phone, and that was the only thing keeping Seb sane. I shivered at the thought of what he was going through, not able to keep a watchful eye over Blue as he’d done, dutifully, for two years.
Sarah wasn’t much better. Even though the girls were similar ages, Sarah appeared as if she had lost her little duckling, always checking her phone. She showed me more than once how often the two of them sent texts. It seemed they checked in on one another regularly throughout the day. And I often found Sarah lounging on her bed, the door to her room open, or out in the gazebo, locked in conversation with her best friend.
At first, Blue sounded good over the phone. Her mom was indeed sober. The beginning of our senior year went without a hitch. However, soon Sebastian was concerned. He claimed Blue was starting to sound different. Sarah was claiming the same. Both were concerned someone was possibly reading Blue’s texts, so they convinced her to start a Snapchat account where messages and pics were deleted by the app within a certain number of seconds after sending. That’s how they found out about Blue returning to ‘some church’. During school hours, Blue was expressing how this church frowned upon so many things she had become accustomed to again. Like a cellphone. Television…
My stomach did flips even though my mind wasn’t detecting a problem. The man who had hurt Blue was still in prison. The pastor, her father, would keep her safe. Right?
On my cell, I called Tallulah one night. Maybe to settle growing nerves. She was elated to hear from me and tell me all about college. She loved it. Was finding like-minded people and believers. Her voice eased me, yet she still asked, “So, what is Nine worried about?”
Smirking, I asked, “That obvious?”
“Your loyalty is endless. Who’s in trouble?”
Surrendering, I did my best to inform her without betraying Blue. Patiently, Tallulah listened until reminding me, “Noma helped you have the strongest instincts. I’m sure she would tell you to listen to them, trust those who mean you well.”
Rolling to my back on the bed, I sighed. “Spill the beans to Dale.”
“Better than letting them overcook in a scalding pot.”
It was quiet before I teased, “Want to marry me someday?”
Her laughter echoed through the phone, and with a sigh, she responded, “If you looked at me like you do water, I would, Nine.”
What an amazing spirit she was, Tallulah.
I was just falling asleep when the actual house phone rang. I leaned over the edge of my bed to put an ear closer to the vent. Immediately, I heard Dale’s alarmed voice. “What?” There was a long pause. “When? … What hospital?”
My body sat up. My heart began to pound.
Then I rushed out of bed, dropping to my knees to not miss a word. “Emergency room? … Was he released from prison? … What do you mean Blue isn’t talking?”
Of their own accord, my bare feet were racing down the stairs and barging into Seb’s bedroom. I grabbed his shoulders, whispering through my gasping lungs, “Get up! Get up!”
Barely blinking away sleep, Seb was rising from bed, grabbing his glasses from a nightstand. “Wh-what is it?”
Caleb was also standing, looking around the room as if under attack. “Johnny?”
I spoke fast and hard. “It’s Blue. A call. Dale on phone. ER?—”
