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“Oh yes,” Nell said as she picked up an armload of dolls and bears and settled back to listen.
Seventeen
An hour later Jecca went back into the living room where Tris was loading a backpack for a hike, and Roan was putting beef into a marinade of lime juice and spices.
“I have to go home,” Jecca said.
Tris reacted instantly. “But it’s not the end of the summer. You still have weeks. Months. Reede wants me to go back to work, but I’ll postpone it. I’ll go to New York with you and we’ll—” He broke off because Jecca was staring at him.
“You mean back to Edilean,” he mumbled.
Roan was chuckling. “Now that ol’ Ken here has hung his heart out for everybody to see, may I ask what’s up?”
“I need to get with Lucy to start making an entire wardrobe for Nell to wear at the fashion show.”
Tris was trying to recover from his embarrassment. “Savannah said she was getting all the clothes.”
“And if I know her,” Roan said, “it will be the best the state has to offer. Her daughter will probably wear some dress with diamonds on the skirt.”
“That’s just the point,” Jecca said.
The two men looked at her with identical expressions of not understanding what she was talking about.
“Tristan,” Jecca said slowly, “last year when you went to see about Rebecca’s injuries, you thought it was funny that Nell was wearing a Mickey Mouse leotard that was two sizes too small for her. How do you think she felt in that getup? And why do you think ‘good girl’ Rebecca didn’t tell very pretty, very smart, fast-thinking Nell that she needed to bring a leotard for the circus party?”
“Oh,” Tris said, “I guess I missed that. So your plan is . . . ?”
“I don’t trust this Rebecca and her mother to give Nell pretty clothes to wear in the fashion show. I have a hideous vision of dungarees and rubber boots floating around in my mind. I think it would be in Nell’s best interest to arrive with a few of her own garments, designed just for her. Actually, I’ve been thinking of a whole line of clothes called Nell’s Closet.”
Tristan blinked a few times as understanding came to him. He didn’t want to say what he thought of Savannah McDowell and her daughter, but it was in his eyes. “How soon can you be ready to leave?”
“I need to pack and—”
“Why don’t you guys go now and I’ll take your clothes down to you this afternoon?” Roan asked. “And I think you should . . .”
They looked at him.
“I don’t know much about little girls, but it might be nice if Jecca made some clothes for the other girls to wear at the show. It might make Nell feel less like an outsider.”
“That’s brilliant,” Jecca said. “You seem to know a lot about mean girls.”
“I’ve met a few. You guys go. It’ll take an hour to get all Nell’s Kirby dolls in the car.”
“Riley,” Jecca said as she headed toward the bedroom.
Twenty minutes later they were ready to leave. Jecca had scooped all her toiletries into her bag, then done the same thing for Tris and Nell. Roan carried the entire lot of Nell’s animals and dolls to the car—and Jecca couldn’t resist taking a photo of him.
“I’ll send it to Berkeley for you to use to get students to sign up,” she said as she got in the car. “The caption will read, HE MAY LOOK TOUGH BUT HE’S A GENTLE GIANT.”
“As Nietzsche would say—” Roan began, but Tris started the engine and drowned him out. Roan took the hint. “Tell the girls I’ll return their pans this afternoon,” he yelled over the noise.
As Tris pulled away from the cabin, Jecca looked at him. “I take it ‘the girls’ are Mrs. Wingate and Lucy.”
“Yes they are,” he said and glanced in the rearview mirror. Nell, snuggled up with her toys, was already asleep. “I want you to tell me everything you have planned,” he said.
“I’d rather hear about you and Reede. When did you two talk?”
“Me and my big mouth. After Reede saw me dancing with you, he suggested that I take care of m
