Never feel alone

Chapter 3

"Stef wouldn't hurt a fly," Lena was telling Sophia. I paused in the bathroom doorway and listened. "She has the biggest, kindest heart I've ever known. You don't have to be afraid of her, sweets."

"I'm sorry," my sister apologized.

"Did something scary happen to you that made you afraid of cops?" she pressed.

"It's not so much cops," Sophia confided. "It's mostly guns..."

I cleared my throat just then, to get their attention before she said something she'd regret. "You can take your bath now, Soph."

"Okay," she said. She looked up at Lena. "Thanks. For talking to me."

"Any time, love," Lena smiled. She rubbed Sophia's arm. "Go ahead and get your bath."

Sophia went to the bathroom carrying her new toothbrush and towel.

She's a sweet girl," Lena told me. "I feel bad that she got so upset at dinner."

I nodded. "She didn't mean it. She's just like that sometimes. She's..."

"Been through a lot?"

"I was going to say sensitive," I shrugged.

"Bill mentioned an accident. In your last home?" Lena quietly asked. "What happened?"

"Look," I said. "I don't want to talk about it."

Before she could ask another nosy question, Mariana came into the room carrying a bundle of clothes.

"Hey there, Miss Thing," Lena smiled. "Oh good. You found some PJs." She took the clothes from her daughter and held them up. "They should fit Sophia."

Mariana glanced at me, then turned to her mother. "Mama, how long are they gonna be here?" she whispered. She thought she was being quiet enough that I couldn't hear. But I could. I made my face go blank so she wouldn't know how strange her words made me feel.

"I don't know for sure, sweets," Lena told her. "Indefinitely. So, I want you to start making room in your bedroom tomorrow."

"I have to share my room?" Mariana cried. "With both of them? But that's not fair!"

Lena gave me an apologetic look. "Callie, honey, could you step outside a minute?"

I shrugged. "Whatever." I had Mariana pegged from the moment I saw her: spoiled, bratty, princess. I sank down to the floor in the hall, feeling like crap. I could still hear them talking through the wall.
Life isn't fair," Lena said patiently. "Mari, don't you remember how it felt to be in a strange place, scared, with nothing of your own?"

"But everyone else will have their own room but me!" she insisted. "This sucks! I wish they never came here."

"She can hear you," Lena snapped. "I need you to take a deep breath and calm down for me."

"I don't care if she hears," she pouted. "They're weird. I won't share my room with them!" She stormed out of the room without looking at me, and went to her own room, slamming the door so hard the pictures on the wall shook. I sat alone, my eyes stinging.

"Callie, honey." Lena was standing over me. "I'm so sorry you had to hear that."

"Look, we'll just go," I said softly. "I don't want to cause trouble for you guys. You can call Bill tomorrow."

"I most certainly will not," she said, sinking down beside me. "You and your sister aren't going anywhere. Mariana really is a sweetheart, I promise. She's just a little high strung sometimes. She didn't mean the things she said."

"It sure sounded like she did."

"We love Mariana dearly, but it won't hurt her to find out she's not the only pebble on the beach," Lena told me, patting my hand. "Stef and I want you girls here. And that's all that matters."