“A black coffee, please.”
She taps on the screen and picks up a cup, though she stops with it lifted in midair. “Oh, wait. What size?”
“The one you have is fine.”
“Okay,” she says, staring at it.
The woman standing at the espresso machine sighs. “Just put an X for black coffee.”
“Right.” Halle’s cheeks flame red, her head lowered as she marks my cup with an X and slides it down the counter.
“That’ll be three dollars and fifty-five cents.”
I hand her a five-dollar bill. When she passes me the change I stuff it in the tip jar. “I hope your day gets better, Halle.”
“Do you two know each other?” Seda asks, squinting at me, then Halle.
“She and her brothers just moved in next door to us.”
“Oh.” Seda’s face brightens. “I’ve seen you. Those boys are your brothers?”
Halle nods, swallowing thickly. “They are. I hope they haven’t bothered you.”
Seda shakes her head, blond hair swaying. “No. They’re nice.”
Halle’s eyes go wide. “Oh. Well, good, then.”
“They came over and swam at my house yesterday.”
“They did?” My new neighbor’s once flushed cheeks have lost most of their color. “They didn’t tell me.”
Seda bites her lip, her eyes flitting up to me, then down to the counter. “Maybe I wasn’t supposed to say? I don’t want to get them in trouble.”
“No, no,” Halle says, adjusting her cap. “It’s fine.” To me she says, “I take it this is your daughter?”
Pride fills my chest. “Yes, this is Seda.”
“Nice to meet you,” Seda says with a smile. “I should’ve said that first.”
“Come on.” I squeeze her shoulder. “Let’s leave poor Halle alone.”
For a moment, Halle watches us, but then between one blink and the next, she straightens and focuses on the woman who steps up to the register, pasting on a fake smile.
“You still want to go to the mall?” I ask Seda as the woman who sighed at Halle calls my name and sets my coffee on the pickup counter.
She scoffs. “Of course.”
I should have known better than to hope she might have changed her mind.
“All right, kiddo, let’s go then.”
Hours later, I park in my driveway and follow Seda over to Salem and Thayer’s house. Inside, it smells like a gourmet Italian restaurant, the scent of basil and mozzarella filling the air.
“Seda! Seda! Seda! I missed you!” Seda’s little sister, Soleil, barrels into her, nearly knocking her off her feet. “You’ve been goneforever.”
“Only since this morning, silly goose.” Seda tugs on one of Soleil’s pigtails.
Thayer pokes his head out from the kitchen, dishrag tossed over his shoulder. “You’re back,” he says to Seda. “Hey, Caleb. You staying for dinner?”
