“She kicked me out tonight,” Leo wailed. “And now I’ve got nowhere to go at all!”
“Well, it’s your lucky day, pal,” Gruff Voice said, grabbing Leo by the scruff of his neck and hauling him off his partner. “We’ve got a place for you to sleep it off. Grab his other arm, will you? We’re taking this one back to the station. Come on.”
Vivian watched, stunned, as they disappeared from sight. She made her way down to the end of the alley, peering around the corner in time to see them frog-marching Leo down the length of the street. He was still singing at the top of his lungs as they turned the corner and disappeared. Vivian looked back in time to see Honor standing and brushing herself off. She still looked cool and stylish as ever. Vivian, meanwhile, felt like a shaking mess. She hadn’t expected it to be such a near thing.
“Do you think he’ll be okay?” she whispered.
“Of course he will,” Honor said confidently. “He’ll call a friend tobail him out, and they won’t look at him twice once they’ve got his cash. If things do get dicey for some reason, he’ll call his uncle.”
Vivian grimaced. He had gotten himself arrested on purpose to help her out, and there was no way for her to return the favor if he needed it. She didn’t have the cash to bail him out. “What if his uncle won’t help out?”
“He will,” Honor said confidently. Her voice was wry with cynical humor as she added, “Fella like Leo, who knows all the suppliers in Chicago and is getting his feet under him here in New York quick as a wink? He’s way too valuable to give up. His uncle will keep him out of trouble, you can bet on it.”
“I hope so,” Vivian said, her eyes still fixed on the street where Leo had disappeared.
“Well, either way, there’s nothing you can do about it tonight.” Honor handed Vivian the bag she had left behind. “We’re on a schedule, and you’ve got a deadline you can’t afford to miss if you don’t want your fella to have been arrested for nothing.”
“He’s not my fella,” Vivian said, automatically and a little defensively.
In the dark, she couldn’t see whether Honor was smiling or not. But her voice was soft as she replied, “I know.”
Part of Vivian wanted to argue further, but she suspected that was mostly because she didn’t want to face what she had to do next. She slid out of the alley, glancing up and down the street as she did. There was no one else around, though she could hear the sound of the elevated train and a lazy shouting match happening not far away. A moment later Honor stood next to her, both of them caught in the pool of yellow lamplight.
“You’re shaking, pet,” Honor said quietly, one hand rising to brush Vivian’s hair behind her ear. “Are you sure you want to go through with this?”
It was impossible to guess what she was thinking as she asked thatquestion. Vivian glanced at the storefront, where the shattered window left a jagged, taunting hole in the middle of the door. The windows around it were pristine, the shop silent and empty.
If they left without calling the police, it wouldn’t stay that way for long, not with the front door busted wide open. And if something happened to Miss Ethel’s shop, who knew what would happen to the people who depended on it to buy their groceries and keep a roof over their heads. Just a few months back, Vivian and Florence wouldn’t have known what to do if they missed even one paycheck. They might have lost their home. She was pretty sure most of the other girls who worked there were in the same boat.
They could look for a telephone, call the police, keep an eye on the shop until they arrived. And if they spent their time doing that, they would probably miss the deadline that the letter had set. There was no knowing what would happen then.
Vivian clutched the bag to her chest, wishing Honor would tell her what to do—Honor, who knew so much more about this world where there were no black-and-white choices, no clear right and wrong. But she had a feeling Honor would refuse to answer. She had agreed to help, but Vivian was the one who had to choose.
Vivian slung the bag over her shoulder. “All right,” she said firmly. “Let’s go.”
They had to go several blocks, to the busier streets that were still crowded with cars and revelers, before they felt comfortable hailing in a cab. This late, they couldn’t depend on the subway or the streetcar. And in case the police tried to hunt down whoever was responsible for the burglary, they didn’t want to risk some cabbie coming forward with a story about two women leaving the area late at night.
And anyway, Honor pointed out, Vivian was carrying somethingpretty valuable. Hopping on a streetcar with that was asking for trouble.
Vivian was shaking with nerves and fatigue when they finally poured themselves into the back of a cab. She felt close to falling over and wanted to just curl up against the door and go to sleep. Honor, by contrast, looked wide awake as she folded her elegant legs into the back seat and gave the driver the cross streets they were heading toward.
Her expression softened when she turned to give Vivian a head-to-toe look, and she lifted one arm. “Come here, pet.” When Vivian hesitated, she smiled gently. “You know I don’t bite. And you look like you could use a hug.”
Vivian’s entire body ached for that embrace. She desperately wanted someone to comfort her, to reassure her that everything was going to be all right. But if she let that line slip with Honor, she didn’t know if she could keep her distance the next time she needed to. “You never struck me as someone who gives out hugs.”
Honor’s smile was wry. “I’ll make an exception for you.”
Vivian was too worn out to resist anymore. Sliding across the seat, she tucked herself under Honor’s arm. They had never sat like that before, so close and easy, the tension that usually sharped the air between them smoothed out by fatigue, by the light and music that floated through the cab’s open window, by facing danger together and coming out unscathed.
“You made the best choice you could,” Honor murmured, her lips brushing the hair by Vivian’s temple. The words sent a shiver skating down her spine.
Honor hadn’t saidthe right choice. There was no right choice, not tonight. There was just the best she could do. Vivian thought of Leo, hauled off to jail to keep her safe, of the jagged hole in that window. “I hope you’re right,” she replied. She didn’t want anyone else to end up hurt because of what she had decided that night. Even Miss Ethel, who she very nearly hated.
“And your sister is going to be okay.”
The soft reassurance was so surprising that Vivian turned her head without thinking and found her mouth only inches from Honor’s. Vivian felt her heart jump. But Honor’s friendly, reassuring smile didn’t waver, as if she didn’t even notice how close they were. “Who are you and what have you done with Ms. Huxley?” Vivian asked, hoping it sounded like a joke, hoping Honor wouldn’t be able to tell how flustered she was.
Honor chuckled quietly and gave Vivian’s shoulder a little squeeze. “Call it a moment of weakness.”
