Cary nodded. He hung up the phone.
Twenty-Two
“No car,” Gus said. “No bye-bye.”
“Yes bye-bye.” Shiloh snaked Gus’s arm through his coat sleeve. “Maybe we’ll go to McDonald’s.”
“Iwant McDonald’s,” Junie said.
Shiloh’s mom frowned. “You just had pancakes.”
“Quiet, Mother, I’m bribing them. Put on your shoes, Junie.”
“You’re taking himwhere?” Her mom was still frowning and blowing on her nails.
“To pay his mom’s electric bill.”
“Oh.” She frowned for a new reason. “Well, you better hurry—the window closes at noon.”
Shiloh zipped up Gus’s coat. “I know.” She grabbed her purse and headed for the car. “Come on, Junie!”
“I didn’t know we haderrandstoday,” Junie said, following Shiloh out onto the porch, dragging her feet. Her hair was cut in a short bob. It was thick and straight like Shiloh’s, and it moved like a figure skater’s when she shook her head.
“We’re doing someone a favor,” Shiloh said.
“Who?”
“My friend Cary.”
Junie folded her arms. “You don’thavea friend named Cary!”
Everything Junie said was over-emphasized and over-emoted. If you didn’t know her, it seemed like an act. If you knew her... well, it still seemed like an act, but Shiloh was used to it. She opened the door on Junie’s side. “You don’t know all my friends.”
“Yes, I do, Mommy. Whodon’tI know?”
“Cary, for one. Get buckled up.”
Junie climbed into her car seat, sighing loudly.
Gus had started to whimper. “No bye-bye.”
“Yes bye-bye,” Shiloh said, setting him down in his car seat. “We’ll go for a drive, we’ll get French fries, and we’ll do something nice for someone. It feels good to help people.”
“Doesn’t your friend have a car?” Junie asked.
“Nope.”
Shiloh got behind the wheel and put in a Disney sing-along CD. Even Gus couldn’t resist a Disney sing-along. Hopefully Cary likedHercules.
Did Cary like kids?
She’d only seen him around his nieces and nephews and his mom’s boyfriends’ kids—and he’d never been happy about it.
When Shiloh got to his house, Cary was waiting on the porch with Lois. He’d put on a navy blue hooded sweatshirt. He started helping his mom down the steps.
Shiloh got out of the car. She opened the gate for them.
Cary’s face was flat with stress. “She’s got to go to the bank first.”
