“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know...” Shiloh shrugged. “He could be anybody. He could be that guy.” She pointed at someone walking down the street with a bag of groceries. “My mom doesn’t know who he is—I mean, I guess shemightknow and be lying to me...” Shiloh wrinkled her nose. “I don’t think she knows.”
Cary slid his chin to one side, frowning. It made his face look a little crooked.
“I don’t talk about this at school,” Shiloh said. “Obviously.”
“Me neither. Don’t worry.”
She elbowed him. “I wasn’t worried. I’m just... you know.”
“Yeah.” Cary took a bite of soup.
“So this guy’s your stepdad now?”
Cary sneered. He swallowed. “No. I already had one stepdad. I don’t need another one—I’m not going to start numbering them like British kings. This guy’s just my mother’s husband. He’s... nothing.”
“Does he have kids?”
Cary nodded. “They all have kids.”
Shiloh watched him eat his soup. She was already done with hers. He tipped the mug up to his mouth to drink the last bits.
When he was done, she took the mug. “Wait here,” she said. She went inside and put the dishes in the sink.
Then she went into her mom’s room and scrounged around until she found a box of raspberry Zingers. There were four left. She took three.
Cary was still sitting on the steps. He looked cold.
“Look,” Shiloh said, holding out a Zinger. “Do you like these?”
He nodded and took it. “Thanks.”
They each ate one and split the third.
“I like the red ones better than the vanilla,” Cary said.
“All Zingers are good Zingers,” Shiloh said. “My mom buys them for herself and hides them—but she doesn’t yell at me if I find them, because she feels guilty about being selfish.”
“That’s complicated. I didn’t know I was eating stolen snack cakes.”
“Yeah, now you’re an accessory. She hides cigarettes, too. You want some?”
“No, thanks,” he said. “My mom would just give me cigarettes if I wanted them.”
Shiloh laughed.
“She’s crazy,” he said, “but she’s generous.”
“She likes this guy? Her husband?”
Cary rolled his eyes. “She likes everyone.”
“Oof,” Shiloh said, “I don’t likeanyone.”
Cary looked at her without turning his head. He was smiling a little. “Smart girl.”
Fifty-Two
