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“Then where can I go?”
He eyes me. “How old are you?”
“Nineteen,” I say without hesitation, hoping he believes me.
“And you don’t have any family? No parents? Aunts? Uncles?”
“No. I just need a place for tonight.” I look around the small entryway. “I could sleep here, on the floor. I don’t need a bed.”
“Sorry, but we’re at capacity. If I go over it, the fire department could shut us down. Why don’t you see if you can crash at a friend’s house? Then tomorrow you could stop by again, see if we have any openings.”
“Yeah, okay.” I go back outside, into the cold and snow, back to Ted’s shitty, rusted-out car.
Why couldn’t that guy just let me sleep on the floor? How is the fire department ever going to know?
Stay with a friend, he tells me. That’s great advice if I had friends who would let me stay with them. Does he really think I’d go to a shelter if I had friends I could stay with?
Just to prove my point, I call up Rielle.
“Hey, Nova,” she says, sounding happier than usual. “Happy Thanksgiving!”
“Thanks. Hey, um, is there any chance I could stay with you tonight?”
“I’m not home. I’m staying with Karla and Mark. I have my own room. It’s really nice. And the bathroom has one of those whirlpool tubs.”
“You moved in with them?”
“No, I’m just here until I can get back in the apartment. There was a fire there this morning and we had to move out until they fix the damage. My uncle’s staying with his girlfriend’s parents. So why do you need a place to crash? Is Ted having another lady over?”
“Ted died,” I blurt out, realizing I don’t even feel sad about it. My grandfather died and I don’t even feel sad. What does that say about me? That I can’t feel emotions? But I felt them with Easton, or I thought I did. Maybe I imagined it all and was just pretending to feel something when I really didn’t.
“Are you serious or joking?”
“I’m serious. He died this morning. I went to make him lunch and found him in his chair.”
“Oh my God. What did you do?”
“Called an ambulance. I was pretty sure he was dead, but I thought if there was a chance he could still be alive, I should probably call for help.”
“I wouldn’t have. I would’ve let him die.”
Rielle hates Ted, not just because of how he treated me, but because whenever she came over Ted told her she was fat and that no guy wants a fat girl. She’s not fat. Ted’s just a jerk, or he was.
“So the ambulance got there and said he was dead?” she asks.
“I don’t know. I left before they got there. I didn’t want them finding out about me and calling someone.”
“Shit, I wasn’t thinking about that. They’d put you back in foster care.”
“Yeah, and I’m not going back. So anyway, I was calling because I need a place to stay tonight.”
“I could ask Karla if you could stay here, but she’s got all these relatives staying for the weekend so there really isn’t any place for you to sleep.” She lowers her voice. “And honestly, I don’t think she’d let you stay even if she had room. She’s kind of snobby, if you know what I mean. I’m surprised she even letsmestay here.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll figure something out.”
“What about that guy you know? The one you’ve been seeing? Could you stay with him?”
“No. I’m done with him. I found out he lied to me and—I don’t want to talk about it. He’s not an option.”
