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Olivia turned and put her headphones on.
“I’m done talking now, Auntie Willa.”
Thank heaven for small mercies. I went back to the volunteer applications. I pulled the top one off the pile to assess it. Sarah Peterson. Age 35. Occupation: Music teacher. I set it down. No way. I shot off a text to Barrett.
Hey. What’s Sarah’s last name?
Sarah from my band?
Yes.
Peterson. Why?
She applied to volunteer at the shelter.
…
You have nothing to say?
Fuck?
LOL. Okay. I’ll figure it out.
In the notes section of her application, she wrote that she was most interested in working in the veterinary clinic.Ha! I just bet she is.We didn’t accept volunteers into the clinic setting. Interns, yes. Volunteers, no. I put Sarah’s application on the top of the pile to deal with the next time I came in. I’d let Kerry make that phone call. I had to deal with the fact that it looked like Sarah wasn’t going to give up easily.
A short while later, Bex finished her shift and came by my office to pick up Olivia. On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, Olivia was Bex’s charge, I got her Friday to Saturday. At least, that’s how it had been for the last couple of months since Mara’s breakdown. She was doing so much better now. So long as she kept a clear head about our mother’s narcissism, she’d be okay. I just wasn’t sure how clear she was about that, yet.
“Hey beautiful girl,” Bex greeted Olivia. She lay her hand firmly on Olivia’s arm to let her know she was there. Olivia wasn’t a fan of tickly touches.
“Hi Auntie Bex. Is it time to go?”
“Yup!”
Olivia started packing up her things. In the beginning it was beyond difficult to get her here and even harder to get her out, but she’d adjusted to the routine and transitions were now much easier.
“You coming to Mara’s, chickie?” Bex cocked her head to the side, smiling at me.
“Yes, I want to check in on her.”
Bex continued to stare at me.
“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I don’t know,” she mused, “you seem different…”
I startled but covered it with a cough, and replied, “I’m pretty happy lately. Things are going well for the most part.”
She smiled softly. “That’s good. Question: Are you ever going to give Barrett a shot?”
I smiled back, laughed too loud, and ignored her.
“Come on, birdy, let’s go home to Mommy.”
I turned back to Bex who was smiling slyly. “Someone’s getting harder to resist…” she sing-songed.
I rolled my eyes but felt the heat hit my face and glared at her.
She laughed, she was as bad as Junie sometimes, then capitulated, “Okay, okay, you following me to Mara’s now?”
