Page 43 of Justice

Before Kira could find her footing, Storie came down the stairs behind me with her weekend bag over her shoulder. And on her wrist, catching the foyer light with every step, was Monica’s tennis bracelet.

Kira’s eyes went straight to it.

“Storie.” Her voice changed, went careful. “Is that… that’s your mother’s bracelet.”

“It is.” Storie held her wrist up, let it shine. “Pretty, right? I’ve always loved it.”

“I have too.” Something raw sat under Kira’s words.

“Daddy gave it to me.” Storie said it light, easy, a girl sharing good news. “The other night. He said it wasn’t healthy, keeping all of Mommy’s things locked up in that closet like she was coming back. Said it was time to start letting some of it go.” A small, sweet pause. “He’s been talking a lot about moving on lately. Like, a lot.”

The foyer went very quiet.

I watched the realization spread across Kira’s face. The color drained from it, and her hand went to her throat. She looked at the bracelet on Storie’s wrist, then at me in the red dress, headed to a party she hadn’t been invited to. It didn’t take much to figure out what she was thinking. Monica’s things were being passed around. Justice was moving on. And the nanny was the one walking out the door to be with him.

And God help me, a piece of me wondered the same thing she was wondering.

Moving on. With who?

The thought came before I could stop it, warm and terrible. Is he talking about me? And right behind it, cold and certain, the thing that always came to shut that door: He doesn’t know you. If he knew you, if he knew one true thing about who you are and what you’re doing under his roof, he wouldn’t want you within a mile of his children. Don’t you dare want this. Don’t you dare.

Kira looked like she might be sick right there on the marble.

“Well.” She pulled herself together with visible effort, reaching for her keys, her purse, her dignity. “Storie, go grab your charger, you always forget it. I’ll be in the car.”

Storie went back up the stairs, unhurried.

Kira turned to me at the door. Whatever she was thinking, she hid it quick and gave me a smile that never came close to looking real.

“Have a good night,” she said. “Really.”

She did not mean one word of it, and we both knew she didn’t. I stood there a second trying to settle.

Before she could head out, Storie was on the stairs again, charger in hand, and she stopped a few steps up and looked down at me. Looked at all of me, slow, taking in the dress, the hair, the heels, and it raised the fine hair on my arms.

“You look really pretty, Miss Skye.” She smiled, soft and warm, the exact right expression, the way a sweet girl smiles at a woman she likes. “That color’s perfect on you.”

“Thank you, Storie.”

“Red.” She let the word out gentle, almost fond, coming down the last few steps toward the door. “My daddy loves the color red. It’s his favorite. Did you know that?”

Kira gave a faint smile then headed out of the door. “Well goodnight!”

“Have fun this weekend,” I replied.

She was past me and out the door in a flash, off toward Kira’s car in the dark, her mother’s bracelet winking on her wrist.

As soon as she left, the caregiver arrived and it was time for me to head out and play Cinderella for the night.

I went to Aubrey’s so that we could go to the party together. She was waiting in the car for me when I arrived. By the time I climbed into Aubrey’s passenger seat, she took one look at me and hollered so loud I jumped.

“Oh, it’s OVER for these people tonight!” She grabbed my chin, turned my face side to side, taking in all of it. “Skye. SKYE. You better had come out that house looking like this. I’m calling the ambulance now for whoever sees you first.”

And just like that, some of the cold shook loose. Because Aubrey was warm, loud and real. She was mine, and she was so happy for me it cracked something open. I let her fuss. I let her be excited enough for both of us.

“You ready?” she said, throwing the car in reverse, grinning at me in the dark.

I looked out at the road, at the night, at the one good thing I was finally letting myself have.