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“Swear on your life that you won’t breathe a word of it to anyone.”
He smiled at her drama. It couldn’t be that bad. Maybe she just enjoyed sneaking out of the house.
Maybe her dad came home drunk. That wasn’t quite as funny, but he’d never seen any bruises or anything else on her. So he knew she wasn’t being beaten or someone was very careful to put the bruises where a normal person wouldn’t see them.
“I swear. You’re awful demanding considering that you crawled into my bed in the middle of the night, and I really should kick you out. You’re worse than a little sister, Beckpet.”
“Shut up, Dixie,” she said, but there was no heat in her words.
She snuggled down a little more, and he tucked the blanket more securely around her, pulling her closer to his chest. He hardly thought if he had a sister he would hold her like this, but there was nothing romantic about it. He was affectionate toward her because he admired her pluck and her scrappiness. Nothing else.
Still, no one would understand that if anyone saw them. And she wouldn’t be the one in trouble. Even though she was the one who kept sneaking into his room, and he was the one who was too kindhearted to send her away. He tried not to hold her too tight because he wanted to know why.
“My little sister is with foster parents just outside of Strawberry Sands. I visit her and make sure that she’s getting everything that she needs.”
“So why don’t you just go back to your house when you’re done? Why do you come here?”
She was quiet for a minute, and then she said, “They took my sister out of the foster home that we shared because these people said they wanted to adopt her. They didn’t want me, because, well, you know. How I am. And they didn’t want two girls, either. Anyway, I ran away.”
She said the last part just as casually as she could, like she couldn’t shock him more if she would have socked him in the stomach.
“You ran away.” He tried to say that as casually as she did, although he suspected he did not succeed.
“Yeah. How else was I going to see my sister?”
“So you’re hanging out outside of your sister’s house?”
“And here.”
“So the day that you were here was the first day that your sister moved into her new house?” He hoped that was true. He couldn’t imagine Becky running around in a Michigan winter. She could have died. She probably would have.
“Yeah, well, it was like the fourth or fifth day. I needed to get something to eat.”
Holy cow.
It was worse than he thought. Becky was...homeless.
“Is anyone looking for you?”
“Probably. Maybe my face is on the wall in Walmart.”
“That’s great. They’ll find you in my room, you’ll be in trouble, and then I’ll have charges brought against me for kidnapping.”
“Relax, Dixie. I’ll tell them you didn’t do it.”
“That’s not good enough.”
It might help him, but he would still be in big, big trouble.
Still, he couldn’t just not do anything. Becky was far worse off than what he thought. She didn’t have a home. No wonder she slipped into his room at night. At least he’d gotten her a job.
“You’re buying food for yourself, right?”
“Sometimes.”
“What do you mean sometimes?”
“There’s no grocery store in Strawberry Sands.” He could feel her thin little shoulder shrugging. “And I can’t hardly go to the diner and eat every day. They’re going to ask a whole pile of questions.”
