Page 18 of Woods of the Raven

“Yes.” She nodded quickly and took hold of Cass’s arm. “Cass has had it rough too. She just lost her mom, and her dad’s not doing well…”

Cass looked at Delia, opened her mouth, then shut it, unable, it seemed, to say anything.

“So, after your Uncle Lorne came over, you and your father moved in with him?”

“Yeah. My dad needed help.”

“Right. I got that. But why move here?”

“Oh, Uncle Lorne, well, his job in Boston was like a twenty-four-seven one, and he wanted to make sure he had time for my dad and me since…”

“Since?” I prodded.

“There was some drinking and stuff with me, just like D, so now he makes sure I’m not running with the wrong crowd or…”

“Or?” I wasn’t going to let it go.

She exhaled sharply. “Yeah, so I was doing oxy and smoking pot, and my dad missed it, but Uncle Lorne saw it right away.”

“And just in case your dad misses anything again, your Uncle Lorne wants to be able to stop it before it ever gets started.”

“Yeah,” she said, exhaling deeply. “He wants to watch out for me, keep me safe. He’s got me seeing a really nice therapist in Westfield. He drives me there twice a week.”

The man worried about his niece and was taking excellent care of her. I would need to reassess what I thought of him. “You realize he’s coming off kind of awesome here.”

“He is.” She sounded pained. “I know. And I know I scared him, but I’m over that now—I’m not going back to the drugs. It’s not part of who I am anymore, but I have no idea how to convince him.”

“Only time can do that.”

Her face scrunched up. “I get that. I do. But he’s overbearing and suffocating, and my dad…he doesn’t stick up for me because he’s got just enough energy to make it through his day. When he gets home, he eats, showers, and goes to bed. The one checking in with me, the one following up on me, at school, with my friends, is Uncle Lorne.”

She sounded pitiful, and all I could do was grin.

“This is serious,” she insisted.

“Oh, I know,” I said with a chuckle.

“It’s not funny.”

“No, it’s not,” I agreed, nodding.

She tried really hard not to smile.

“It’s got to be a major buzzkill trying to make new friends, and then the chief of police rolls up to the school and says, Hey, kids, how ya doin’?” I baited her.

“Oh my God,” she groaned. “He’s so embarrassing. He was dropping me off in the morning in that SUV with the heinous blue lettering. It was horrifying.”

“I know, right? What’s with that blue?”

“It’s hideous. It really is,” she said flatly.

Delia snorted out a laugh.

“Thank God Delia told him that since she had a bike, I should get one too.”

“What happens when it snows?”

She whimpered.